The SAT results have been released, and my younger brother, Alvin Bellamy, got a score of 1400. To celebrate his achievement, I set aside my usual frugal habits and throw him a party.

Amid the lively cheer, he suddenly says, "Sandy, I'm legally an adult now. It's time for you to give me Mom's life insurance payout, yeah?"

I shake my head in response, but just as I'm about to explain why, he flies off the handle.

"I've had enough of the pressure of studying in this country! I didn't even bother applying to any colleges, and the application deadlines have closed, so I'll be stuck attending a community college. If you don't want to ruin my future, you have to give me the money so I can study abroad instead!"

Feeling disappointed and disheartened, I transfer Alvin 5,000 dollars on the spot.

However, he assumes I'm keeping the lion's share of the money to myself. Not only does he threaten me in front of everyone, but he even teams up with our biological father, who cheated on our mother many years ago, to spread lies about me.

"You've been hoarding all of our dead mom's life insurance payout, living it up this whole time while refusing to give any of the money to me, your own brother! What did I do to deserve a sister as vicious as you?"

Looking right into the eyes of the nasty ingrate I've doted on for over a decade now, I scoff and throw out a pile of invoices.

"Where do you think the money that's been spent on you all these years came from? In fact, if we're going to settle the score properly, you owe me 580 grand."

"When it comes down to it, you just don't want to give me the money! How can you have the nerve to call yourself my older sister when you're trying to keep all of Mom's life insurance payout to yourself?"

Alvin Bellamy, the younger brother whom I'd painstakingly taken care of for ten long years, was now glaring resentfully at me. My throat tightened. I couldn't speak.

Our relatives, who'd come for the party, all assumed I'd been caught in the act, so they started chiming in at once.

"You're definitely in the wrong here, Sandra. Sure, you've worked hard taking care of Alvin all these years, but what kind of older sister doesn't look after her younger brother? Keeping the money for yourself is such a heartless thing to do."

"Alvin scored 1400 on his SAT! Just give him the money. As long as you two maintain a good relationship, he'll definitely repay you in the future."

"That's right. We know you've had a hard time all these years, but that's no excuse to keep all that money to yourself."

Their doubts and accusations came crashing over me, making it hard for me to breathe. "I'm not trying to keep the money from him…"

After Mom died, I ignored my teachers' advice and gave up my education. Throughout these years, for Alvin's sake, I worked all kinds of jobs, even waiting tables and standing for hours on end along factory assembly lines, doing whatever I could to earn money. At my most desperate, I even sold my blood.

But in the end, what did I have to show for it?

Alvin, my own brother, chose to put me on the spot at the celebration party I organized. Right in front of all our guests, he accused me of keeping Mom's life insurance payout to myself.

This is what I got in return for all my years of sacrifice.

Perhaps my expression had turned stormier than Alvin anticipated, for he relaxed his stance a little. "I only want to use the money to study abroad, so just give it to me. I'm all grown up now. I can make my own decisions about how I want to spend the money."

"Your SAT score is good enough to get you into a decent college right here in the country. There's no reason for you to study abroad instead," I advised.

Regardless of everything, he was still the brother I'd loved and protected for years now. I didn't want to see him go down the wrong path.

"Discounting the fact that you'd be all alone in a foreign country, your health won't allow you to—"

"At the end of the day, you're just coming up with excuses not to give Alvin the money!" Jimmy Sloan shouted even before I could finish speaking. "Half of the payout belongs to Alvin. How can you think about stealing your mom's life insurance payout from him?

"Do you even have a conscience? What did he do to deserve a sibling as despicable as you?"

"This is none of your damn business."

I glanced icily at Jimmy, our biological father, who'd ignored us for years. I couldn't find it in me to show him even the slightest semblance of courtesy. In fact, I wouldn't even have let him into the party if Alvin hadn't insisted on it.

"You didn't show us an ounce of concern all these years, so don't try to butt in now either," I declared without holding back.

"Why, you!" Jimmy turned purple with rage, but he couldn't find the words to retort.

"That's enough!" Frowning, Alvin walked over to Jimmy. "No matter what, he's still our dad. How can you talk to him like that? How can you be this cold to your own family?

"All these years, you kept using my health as an excuse to control what I do. Don't tell me you've lied so much that you've even fooled yourself into thinking it's true. Why wouldn't I know how my body feels, huh?

"I'm going to be straight with you now. I didn't bother submitting any college applications, and the deadlines have passed. If you don't give me the money to study abroad, you'll be ruining my future."

My face instantly paled as I stared at Alvin in disbelief. "Are you out of your mind? How can you joke around with your own future like that?"

"Just tell me whether you're giving me the money or not!" Impatience flashed in Alvin's eyes. "You've been controlling every aspect of my life all these years.

"If you really care about me, you'll send me abroad instead of expecting me to continue struggling in this country's cutthroat academic environment. I wouldn't even have been able to hang in for so long if Dad hadn't been there to give me the guidance and support I needed."

I looked at Alvin—and the smug Jimmy standing beside him—and scoffed.

Alvin had always been in poor health. He even had several surgeries done when he was younger. Because of that, I devoted all my time and attention to taking care of him. I couldn't even sleep soundly at night for fear that I wouldn't hear him call for me.

It took years of sacrificial care and unfailing attentiveness to nurse him back to health. That was the only reason why I restricted him from doing certain things.

Yet according to him, I was just being a controlling person and somehow wasn't as good to him as Jimmy, the guy who abandoned us as children and only showed up occasionally to say a few empty words to him?

"Do you know that it was his extramarital affair that resulted in Mom's car accident?" I snapped at Alvin, feeling a mix of exasperation and frustration. How I wish I could slap some sense into him. "But now, you're taking his side and pressuring me for money. How is this fair to Mom—or me?"

In fact, I was already giving him a sugarcoated version of the truth. In reality, Jimmy's mistress had deliberately called Mom to let her hear what she and Jimmy were doing in bed. It'd been such a huge shock to Mom that she lost control of the car and got into an accident.

I'd kept the truth from Alvin all this time because I didn't want it to affect him. I never thought I'd end up spilling the truth now.

"So what?" Alvin retorted.

The anger burning inside of me seemed to solidify as I paused, struck dumb by Alvin's response. Staring at him in disbelief, I asked, "What did you just say?"

"Dad has nothing to do with Mom's death. It was just an accident." Alvin didn't look at me, possibly because my expression was too incredulous, but that didn't stop him from talking.

"All men do these things. Mom's the one who was too weak and sensitive and got into an accident because of it."

All men did these things, huh?

Stunned, I turned woodenly toward Jimmy, who was still standing beside Alvin with a gloating expression on his face. He rubbed his protruding belly and eyed me mockingly.

I turned my gaze back to Alvin, who was starting to resemble Jimmy more and more.

"Is that how you've thought about this all along?" I asked.

This whole time, I'd assumed that Alvin was unaware of the past and still harbored a childlike desire for fatherly love. Never did it occur to me that he was indeed his father's son. The apple didn't fall far from the tree, after all.

"Either way, half the payout belongs to me. I have every right to get it back from you."

Alvin didn't respond to my question outright. Instead, he brought up the money again. Nevertheless, his attitude alone was all the answer I needed, and my heart turned cold with disappointment.

"Why are you wasting your breath on her? It seems to me she just doesn't want to give you the money!" Jimmy started shouting again.

With him leading the charge, the rest of our relatives started voicing their agreement as well.

"Sandra, regardless of the situation, that money belongs to Alvin. It's not right for you to keep hiding it from him and refusing to hand it over."

"Alvin's future is in your hands now. You're his sister. You can't ruin his life."

"If your mother knew things had come to this between you two, she'd be heartbroken."

The invisible pressure surrounded me once more. It suddenly hit me that Alvin must've planned this from the start—he'd already decided to force me to hand over the money during the party.

When did he stop trusting me? When did he start plotting against me?

"Fine. You want the money, right?" I snorted as I pulled out my phone. "I'll give it to you. You'd better not regret it."

Since I'd given in and got my phone out, Alvin finally broke into a smile. "Why would I regret it?"

But just moments later, he cried out, "Five thousand dollars? Why is it only five thousand dollars?"

"How's that possible?" Jimmy snatched the phone from Alvin's hand. After seeing the transferred amount on the screen, he frowned grimly before suddenly pointing at me as if he'd realized something.

"Sandra Bellamy! How can you steal your own brother's money? Have you no shame? The money comes from your mom's life insurance payout!"

"Oh, so you do know it's the life insurance payout for my mom's death, huh?"

Clutching my phone tightly, I scoffed at Jimmy. "Sure, it seems like you're speaking up for Alvin, but anyone who isn't aware of the situation might think you're trying to take the money for yourself instead."

After all, if I hadn't held a knife to my throat back then, this money would have already ended up in his hands. Now that he and his mistress had another son, it was hard not to suspect it was his own pockets he wanted to line with that money.

Jimmy's gaze flickered, but I didn't bother with him anymore. I simply looked at Alvin, still hoping to see even a trace of realization on his face.

"What the hell are you playing at?" Unexpectedly, he avoided my gaze and snapped irritably at me instead. "I've already told you I want to use this money to study abroad. Do you really want to ruin my future?

"Just what will it take for you to give me the money? Do you think Mom would want to see you being this heartless toward your own family like this for the sake of money?"

"You're calling me heartless?"

Fuming, I jabbed a finger at Jimmy. I had to hiss out the words to avoid shouting them instead. "If you cared about this family at all, you wouldn't have invited him over—and you wouldn't be taking his side to demand money from me in front of everyone!

"I'm guessing this wasn't a spur-of-the-moment thing, huh? You planned this from the beginning, didn't you?"

Alvin said nothing, but the evasive look in his eyes gave him away.

Even though I'd already suspected it, seeing his reaction still made my heart sink. The brother I'd devoted a decade to caring for didn't trust me at all. He even teamed up with the father who cheated on our mother to publicly pressure me into giving him money.

What a mockery it made of everything I'd done for him!

"There's only five thousand dollars. I didn't take a single cent. I've already given everything to you."

Suppressing my anger, I picked up my bag and turned to leave. "Since you're an adult now, we'll go our separate ways from here on out."

All I got to show for ten years of undivided care and attention was a nasty ingrate. Well, I wasn't going to foolishly carry on making the same mistake.

"Hold it right there!" Jimmy shouted behind me. "How dare you say you didn't take any money when you only gave Alvin five thousand dollars? Who do you think you're fooling, Sandra? You even bought a house recently! How can you say there's only this little sum of money?"

I stopped in my tracks. My blood seemed to freeze over as I whipped around and stared at Alvin. He was the only one I told about the house.

"You just bought a house this year, Sandy. How can you say that's all the money you got?" Alvin met my gaze without a hint of guilt, his tone accusatory. "If you're going to lie, at least come up with a better one.

"I know you've sacrificed a lot all these years, but half of Mom's life insurance payout was always mine. No matter what, you should give it to me. Don't you think you're crossing the line by using that money to buy yourself a house instead?"

"I used my own money to buy the house! As for your share of the payout, five thousand dollars is truly all that's left of it. If you don't believe me, I can print out the account statements tomorrow," I replied coldly.

Seeing the uncertain flicker in Alvin's eyes, I snorted and left.

Behind me, Jimmy's furious shouts and our relatives' overlapping chatter kept going.