They Valued a Guinea Pig More Than Me, So I Left Chapter 01
Our family had a group chat called “The Happy Family.”
The members were my dad, my mom, my older brother, my younger brother, and my younger sister.
Plus my brother’s Golden Retriever, my younger brother’s Ragdoll cat, and my sister’s guinea pig.
Every pet had its own profile.
I was the only one not in that group.
Once I asked my sister, “Can you add me?”
She was trimming her guinea pig’s nails and didn’t even look up.
“That group’s only for actual family. You joining wouldn’t really fit, would it?”
I looked at the guinea pig cooing in her arms.
That pig had its own dedicated spot in the chat.
And me, her own sister—I wasn’t allowed in.
***
My parents were business execs and a top surgeon.
My older brother was a pro esports star.
My younger brother was a genius kid.
My sister was a YouTuber with ten million followers.
Even my sister’s guinea pig had three hundred thousand followers on Instagram.
I was the only one in the family who wasn’t verified on any platform.
Oh, wait—that wasn’t completely true.
Once, my sister posted a video on YouTube called “Guess How Many People Are in My Family.”
She laid out photos one by one—my dad, my mom, my older brother, my younger brother, her.
Then the guinea pig, the Ragdoll cat, the Golden Retriever.
Eight photos, perfectly lined up.
Not one of me.
Someone in the comments asked, “Aria, don’t you have an older sister?”
Her reply floated across the screen—just one line.
“Oh, she’s not really family.”
Not really family.
The person I’d called “sister” for twenty years said I wasn’t really family.
It trended for two hours. Over a hundred million views.
Aria’s team didn’t clarify a thing.
They didn’t just stay quiet—they put out a press release. “Statement Regarding Aria Vance’s Live Stream Remarks: It Was for Entertainment Purposes. Please Do Not Overinterpret.”
Entertainment purposes.
I held my phone and read those words. My hands were shaking.
Not from anger.
From cold.
A cold that went all the way through me.
