Chapter 2

The date was set for Sunday. I had five days left to say goodbye to my past.

The next morning, I went to the hospital for my shift as usual. But when I got home, I found my bedroom completely ransacked.

The birthday gifts Julian and Tristan had given me over the years were scattered carelessly across the hardwood floor.

Dirty, muddy footprints stained the entire room.

And the three culprits were huddled in the corner, acting like they were the victims.

"What is going on here? Who gave you permission to enter my room?!"

My voice, laced with fury, rose sharply. Olivia whimpered, shrinking behind Julian and Tristan.

"Audrey, don't get mad," Julian said quickly.

"Olivia had a horrible nightmare last night. She was convinced there was an intruder in your room trying to hurt you."

"She was crying so hard she could barely breathe. We couldn't calm her down no matter what..."

Hearing this, I stared at them, completely dumbfounded. "So you just let her run wild and destroy my room like this?"

The two of them lowered their heads in guilt, offering no further explanation.

My heart ached as I bent down to pick up a stuffed teddy bear from the floor.

Tears welled up instantly.

When I was a kid, my parents were always traveling abroad for business.

The task of looking after me fell on Beatrice.

Beatrice was a wolf in sheep's clothing. Her own marriage was a disaster, so she secretly despised my mother.

Naturally, she took her resentment out on me.

She made me take freezing cold showers in the dead of winter.

She fed me nothing but cold, stale leftovers.

When a teacher made inappropriate advances toward me at school, Beatrice slapped me across the face in front of the entire administrative office.

She called me dirty. She said I was a little whore who asked for it.

That trauma triggered a year-long cycle of severe nightmares.

I eventually ended up hospitalized with a nervous breakdown. Ever since, I couldn't handle sudden scares. If I got too startled, I would go into temporary shock.

When Julian and Tristan found out, they pooled their allowance together to buy me this teddy bear.

It was the first birthday gift they ever gave me. It wasn’t expensive, but it was my most prized possession.

I wiped my tears, turned, and glared at Olivia, my voice cold as ice.

"Olivia, I only took you in because I pitied you for having a toxic mother."

"And this is how you repay me?"

My words turned Olivia's face white. She began to hiccup uncontrollably.

"I’m sorry... It’s all my fault..."

"Pack your bags and get the hell out of my house. Now."

As soon as the words left my mouth, Julian and Tristan looked at me in utter disbelief.

"Audrey, are you serious? Olivia only did this because she was worried about you!"

"Yeah, Audrey... you have no idea how hard she was crying this morning..."

I let out a bitter, mocking laugh. I slammed the teddy bear directly into Julian's face.

A few crocodile tears from her, and these two idiots were wrapped around her finger.

Maybe I should quit being a surgeon.

I’d probably make a fortune selling them snake oil.

Julian's eyes darkened as the bear hit him. Tristan's voice trembled with accusation.

"What is wrong with you? You’re throwing this away too?"

So, they did remember. They hadn’t forgotten how much that teddy bear meant to me.

They just decided Olivia's feelings were more important.

My eyes burned with hot tears, but a second later, all the fight drained out of me.

Forget it. I was an adult now. I was past the age of needing a stuffed animal to fall asleep.