After I Left They All Said They Loved Me Chapter 02
Vivian yanked off my necklace.
And smashed it onto the floor.
That was the baptismal cross pendant Grandma Dorothy had given me for protection, and now, it shattered on the ground, pieces scattering everywhere.
My heart seized violently; it was something I valued more than my own life.
She was crying hysterically, yet she seemed so much more alive: “There she goes again. Keep it up. Keep faking”
“Weren’t you smiling so happily when Grandma died? She loved you so much, yet just to keep up your lie, you actually laughed out loud?! You heartless monster!”
My eyes were fixed on the fragments, and as I tried to reach out and pick them up, my sister forcefully dragged me away.
She forced me to kneel in front of Grandma’s memorial portrait on the mantel. Caleb wanted to pull me up, but he wanted to see my reaction even more.
He pulled his hand back, watching as I suffocated in my memories.
In the past, because I couldn’t express the correct emotions, I offended a lot of people.
Some street thugs hated my guts, thinking I was faking it. They tied me to the edge of a rooftop, wanting to see a terrified look on my face.
Even though I was terrified to death inside, my face still couldn’t show it.
I thought in despair that even if I died, it would be a way out.
But I never expected Grandma Dorothy to show up.
She plummeted straight down while trying to save me. They tried to resuscitate her all night, and I didn’t close my eyes for a single second.
Right before she passed, Grandma clutched my hand and hung the pendant she had kept all her life around my neck:
“Don’t be afraid, Evie. Grandma is here.”
With trembling hands, I touched my chest, feeling my empty neck.
That intense grief surged straight to my head. I couldn’t control my facial expressions, but the bridge of my nose stung.
Frowning tightly, I collapsed onto the floor, struggling to breathe for the first time in a long while.
But I couldn’t cry.
I hated myself.
Because I had never felt love before, I wanted to stay. I desperately traded everything I had for their happiness.
Why, then, did I become the source of their pain?
“Is it all my fault?” I muttered, asking myself over and over.
Vivian smiled through her tears.
She zeroed in on my twisted expression like she’d just won a prize.
“See? I told you she was faking it!”
“Just provoke her a little, and her true colors show.”
Mom leaned into Dad’s embrace, her eyes full of bewilderment.
She hesitated but finally asked.
“All these years, Evie. All of it. Was any of it real?”
“I don’t even know who you are anymore.”
As she spoke, the power suddenly went out in the room. Dad reached out to check the breaker box.
Exposed electrical sparks flashed in the dark for a second.
Yet Dad remained completely unharmed.
I stared stiffly in that direction, secretly wiping the blood from my mouth.
[Host, eight days remaining on the countdown.]
But my face remained numb.
Seeing me revert to that state, Caleb bent down, pressing his lips tightly together until they went pale:
“I know the combination to your home safe.”
That single sentence nailed me to the spot.
Only my eyes stared wide in terror, but he couldn’t see my panic.
Not even when he smashed my academic trophies onto the floor.
“If you could just show the slightest bit of emotion.”
“I’ll stop.”
Shards of glass were everywhere, cutting into my knees.
I trembled from the pain, tears welling up in my eyes.
They thought it was working, but they forgot that physical pain and emotion are two completely different things.
He pulled out a lighter again.
Aiming it at the lace designs I treasured like my own life.
I had personally designed each piece, pouring an immense amount of effort into sewing them.
And destroying them…
…only took a single flame from Caleb.
The smoke scorched my eyes, choking me unbearably.
During the brief moment I raised my hand to rub my eyes.
Vivian slapped me across the face: “There. Right there. That’s the real you, isn’t it?”
She grabbed my arm and forced my entire right hand down onto the shattered glass.
Mom and Dad simply turned away in silence and walked out the door.
My hand trembled, yet even so, my expression remained entirely out of my control.
“Look, Caleb, it’s not that she doesn’t have emotions. It’s just that after completing her objective…”
“…she couldn’t keep acting anymore. She just never loved you at all.”
Vivian looked at me with a sweet smile:
“Caleb and I are getting married.”
“You really love designing and dressmaking, don’t you? Sewing a wedding dress for me shouldn’t be a problem, right?”
Caleb frowned.
But he didn’t refuse her request. Instead, he stared fixedly at me, trying to catch a glimpse of my pain. Unfortunately for him, there was none.
Not a single trace of emotion.
Caleb closed his eyes:
“If you want to pretend, then keep pretending for the rest of your life.”
“The wedding is in a few days. You won’t let us down, will you?”
