Selena's hollow gaze met Ian's.

His gaze wavered for a moment.

But then he thought of Vanessa, who was also in the hospital. Clenching his jaw, he turned and left without hesitation.

Henry watched in shock.

He had secretly liked Selena for a long time. But after hearing that she had a childhood sweetheart and that their relationship had always been strong, he had forced himself to suppress his feelings.

Once, he had been so jealous of this man he had never even met.

Yet, he never would have thought that in Selena's moment of greatest need, this man would leave her to care for another woman.

Selena's wound was still bleeding, but she seemed completely numb to the pain. Her eyes looked lifeless.

Henry's heart ached so much that his lips trembled. He couldn't imagine how deeply Ian must have hurt Selena to turn his once bright and cheerful senior into this hollow shell.

"Selena, I'll go get some gauze and dress your wound."

After her wound was treated, Selena asked Henry to help her with the discharge paperwork.

Before leaving, Henry gently held her back to talk.

He knew the Carter family had no place for her anymore. If she didn't mind, she could stay here for a few days. He was willing to take care of her.

However, Selena merely smiled and shook her head.

She didn't want to drag Henry into this. It was enough that she alone bore the pain.

-

Back at the Carter family home, Selena received a text from Zachary.

"Vanessa just had her gastric lavage. She needs someone to take care of her, so we won't be coming home tonight. I left some food for you in the kitchen. Eat when you get home."

On the dining table, there were only a few scraps of vegetables, meat, and a bowl of cold soup.

It wasn't food left for her. It was Vanessa's leftovers.

Selena showed no expression. She had long used to this long ago.

Since the day Vanessa arrived at the Carter family home through a sponsorship program, Zachary had doted on her.

He said she had grown up in the mountains and had been malnourished since childhood. So, whenever there was good food, Vanessa was given priority.

Selena was older, so she was expected to be understanding. She was expected to willingly give up everything.

Selena had never been the type to fight for anything. So all she could do was watch as Vanessa took everything from her.

Even her former bedroom had been given to Vanessa. Selena had been moved to the shabby attic with its hard wooden bed.

Perhaps in Zachary's eyes, Vanessa—sweet-tongued and good at winning people over—was the ideal daughter he had always wanted.

Just then, the door opened.

Her younger brother, Ryan, walked in carrying a bag. When he saw Selena, he froze for a moment. Then, his expression darkened in irritation, as if he had seen something disgusting.

"I'm just here to grab some toiletries for Vanessa.

"And by the way, Ian asked me to pass on a message. He's done with you. You should just let it go. Vanessa's depression has relapsed, and he can't leave her side right now.

"This is something you gave him before. He told me to return it to you."

He pulled out a tape recorder and handed it to Selena.

It was the first gift she had ever given Ian.

Back then, she'd had no money to buy anything expensive. She had saved up half a year's worth of breakfast money just to buy this tape recorder and had recorded all of Ian's favorite songs on it.

She still remembered how Ian had cried as he hugged her, swearing that he would cherish this gift for a lifetime.

And now?

Not only had he broken that promise, but he couldn't even be bothered to return it to her himself.

Selena's gaze was filled with mockery.

Now that she was thoroughly disappointed, she no longer had any expectations for Ian. She calmly uttered two words.

"Got it."

Ryan, however, looked at her in disbelief. "Ian took such good care of you all these years, and that's all you have to say? Selena, ever since Mom passed away, you've been acting so strange.

"Vanessa nearly lost her life because of you, and you haven't even shown any concern for her. I get it now. You blame Vanessa for stealing our family's love from you, and deep down, you're hoping she dies, aren't you?

"She's already suffered so much, yet you're still jealous of her? When did you become so evil?"

Hearing this, Selena suddenly found it laughable.

If Vanessa had truly intended to take her own life by overdosing, then why was the dosage so precisely controlled? Why was it just enough for her to be found by the Carter family in time?

For years, Vanessa had been using such despicable tactics to slowly steal the affection of everyone in the family. By now, it was second nature to her.

Besides, no matter how much Selena explained, it would be pointless. Just like now, she hadn't even said a word, yet she had already been branded as the villain.

Even staying silent was a crime.

As Ryan was about to leave, his voice turned cold, as if he had completely given up on her.

"Do you know how much I wished that the person who donated blood for me that day was you, and not Vanessa? You're my real sister, but when I was in danger, you hid away. I hate you."

With a loud slam of the door, Ryan walked away without ever looking back.

Six months ago, Ryan had been hit by an out-of-control car. He had lost a massive amount of blood and had been in critical condition.

The hospital's blood supply had been running low, and they had still needed forty seven ounces of blood.

Originally, Zachary and Selena had planned to donate together.

But after just seven ounces, Zachary had started shouting that he couldn't take it anymore and had the doctor remove the needle.

Selena, on the other hand, had already been losing consciousness after twenty seven ounces.

But thinking of her younger brother lying on that hospital bed, she had clenched her jaw and forced herself to hold on, letting the doctors take a total of forty one ounces from her.

When she had woken up, she had found herself in an unfamiliar ward. There hadn't been a single person by her side.

It turned out that Zachary, wanting his son to get along with the newly arrived Vanessa, had lied and told Ryan that it was Vanessa who had saved his life by donating blood.

After being discharged, Selena had forced herself to go find Ryan and explain everything. But all she had gotten in return was a slap across the face.

With tears streaming down his face, he had screamed at her, demanding to know why she wasn't there when he needed her the most.

Why did Vanessa have to give him so much blood, nearly losing her own life in the process?

Fighting back the bitter chill in her heart, Selena had told him to check the hospital records. He would know the truth then.

But to this day, he had never done so.

Instead, he wholeheartedly believed that a fifth of his blood came from Vanessa. In his mind, his own sister was nothing but a cold-blooded traitor who had abandoned him.

No matter what she did or said, it was always seen as malicious.

It didn't matter anymore. Selena was done explaining. She was done with all of it.

Selena sat on the couch in the empty house.

There wasn't a trace of warmth left in this place.

Outside, the wind howled against the windows. She closed her eyes and covered her ears.

But she still couldn't escape the suffocating pressure that pressed down on her. It felt so strong, as if it could crush her at any moment.

Since no one in this family cared about her or needed her anymore, she might as well disappear forever.

Selena's phone buzzed.

It was a post from Vanessa, letting everyone know she was fine.

"Thank you all for your concern. I'm okay now. And thank you, Ian, for always being by my side when I need you. I'll use the rest of my life to repay you."

The attached photo showed Vanessa lying in a hospital bed, her fingers intertwined with Ian's as he sat beside her. They looked like the perfect couple.

Selena barely glanced at it before locking her phone and tossing it aside.

She and Ian were over.

Whatever Vanessa's intentions were—whether to flaunt her victory or provoke her—Selena didn't care. She would feel neither joy nor sorrow.

That night, she made herself a warm dinner and went to bed.

For the first time in years, with the house empty, she finally slept soundly.

The next morning, she brewed herself a cup of hand-ground coffee, sat in a wicker chair in the yard, and listened to the morning radio as she stretched.

For the first time, free from the weight of family burdens, she truly enjoyed the feeling of simply being alive.

She should have done this long ago.

After breakfast, she returned to her room, intending to gather all the gifts Ian had given her and send them back to him.

But as she went through them, she realized there were barely any.

The few gifts he had given her over the years were nothing but cheap trinkets, things that had meant the world to her at the time, things she had carefully stored away in a drawer like treasures.

Yet now, as she pulled them out, she saw they had yellowed with age, mold creeping along their edges.

It was just like Ian's so-called love.

Selena shook her head.

Ian was a germaphobe. He wouldn't want them back.

So, she tossed everything into a metal bin, along with every photo of them together, and set it all ablaze. The flames roared, devouring every last trace of the past.

Once this was over, she went to collect the paperwork to withdraw from school. She planned to spend the last few days traveling and clearing her mind.

She was scrolling through travel guides when Ian showed up.

Unlike her, relaxed and at peace, he looked like he hadn't slept all night.

Ryan had told him about the returned gifts and how Selena had barely reacted. He didn't believe it. He knew how much she had loved him. He couldn't accept that she would be so indifferent.

However, he saw the burned gifts and photos in the metal bin outside.

These were things Selena had once cherished, but now she had discarded them like garbage.

"Why did you burn everything?" His voice trembled.

Selena lifted her gaze to his pale face.

"They were moldy, so I burned them," she said in a flat voice.

Ian froze. Then, as if suddenly realizing something, he scoffed. "You did this on purpose. You knew I'd come, so you put on this whole act, trying to play hard to get, hoping I'd come back to you. Selena, why do you always have to be so unreasonable?"

He turned to leave, frustration boiling over, until his eyes landed on the papers on her coffee table.

It was the withdrawal paperwork.

His mind went blank.

"You're withdrawing from school? Was it because we asked you to hand over the patent to Vanessa?" His voice was shrill.

"Say something. Where are you going?"

Panic surged through him as he grabbed her arm.

Selena was right in front of him. He could see her and touch her. Yet, for some reason, he had this feeling that she would disappear forever.