My biological mother looked at me with a face full of guilt. “Avie, I know I’ve wronged you. I want to make it right!”

Can a few empty words of apology make up for three years of dark, endless days?

I kept my distance and said coldly, “I’ve told you before—your family of four, no, five. Wasn't Sarah pregnant three years ago? You should be happy together. Just forget about me!”

The mention of that “child” from three years ago made my mother and Bradley look uneasy.

Bradley even shielded Sarah behind him.

Sarah, gently touching her slightly rounded belly, spoke softly, “Avie, we’ve come to bring you home. We’ve missed you all these years. Mom and Brad have been longing for you.”

I glanced at them and turned away, heading in the opposite direction.

They were a family; I was not. That is their home, not mine.

I was just Avery Chasey.

“Avie!” My mother’s voice called out from behind, filled with sorrow, as if she truly had deep feelings for her biological daughter.

Her self-pitying calls only made me feel mockery. There was no mother-daughter bond; now she pretends to be affectionate.

Bradley hurried after me, “Avie, where are you going? Our home isn’t this way!”

“Where’s Avie going… oh, Brad, my stomach hurts a bit!” Sarah clutched her belly.

Bradley stopped in his tracks and, without hesitation, turned his attention to Sarah.

Even my mother, who had seemed reluctant to let me go moments earlier, rushed over to Sarah with a concerned expression, “Are you okay, Sara?”

Seeing this, I told myself I didn’t care, but a twinge of pain still ached in my heart. These were my blood relatives—

Perhaps they had some feelings for me, though not much.

I had no expectations from them.

I had a small house in the suburbs where I was headed.

It was the house my grandparents left me before they passed away. This was my real home. The two black-and-white portraits on the wall were covered in dust. The faces of the two kindest people to me were now blurred.

I gently dusted off the portraits, “Grandpa, Grandma, I’m back. I’ll take good care of myself, don’t worry! They sent me away, so I’ll send them away too. You won’t blame me, will you?”

The smiling faces in the portraits would never answer me again.

It had been three years since I’d last been here, and the furniture was covered in thick layers of dust as I was busy cleaning.

There was a knock at the door.

A voice called out, “Who are you looking for?”

“I’m looking for my sister, Avery!” It was Bradley’s voice.

I had no intention of answering the door and continued tidying up the house methodically.

“Stop knocking. There’s no one next door. If you keep knocking, I’ll report you for disturbing the peace!” Someone outside scolded Bradley, showing no respect.

“I’ll knock more softly.” Bradley lightened his knocks, like a cat scratching at the door.

I had even less reason to open it now.

Bradley called from outside, “Avie, I know you’re in there. You have no other place to go. Apart from here, you won’t be going anywhere else.”

In theory, aside from the house my grandparents left me, the only other place I could go would be my mother’s, but since there were no relatives left there, why would I go?

Ignoring Bradley outside, I turned on the computer. Countless messages flooded in on WhatsAPP, most from three years ago, but only one contact had reached out to me as recently as last week.