"Duane, let me be honest with you. Louise is in love with your brother Percival. Taking your admission letter and letting Percival take your place—that was her idea."

"Percival isn't like you. He donated a kidney to Norma. Just let him have this one. You can try again next year."

That was the result of my hard work. How could I just hand it over?

And on top of everything, Percival had stolen my fiancée!

I tried to argue, but the Pruitts tied me up and threw me into the woodshed.

Afraid I'd ruin things for the happy couple, they cut off my food.

I starved for seven days straight.

Then came the rats. A swarm of them. I caught the plague and burned with fever.

Just when I thought I'd die in that filthy shed, Norma—Louise's older sister—appeared before me with a bowl of porridge.

"Duane, hold on. You can't die. You still have your dreams!"

To get me treatment, Norma cut ties with her own family. She carried me on her back all the way to the clinic in town.

I was too delirious to swallow medicine, so she fed it to me mouth to mouth.

Under her care, I clawed my way back from death's door.

Then Norma knelt before me and confessed her feelings.

"Duane, I've always loved you. I just couldn't say anything because of Louise."

"Will you marry me? Whatever Louise owes you—I'll make up for it."

I wept with gratitude.

My fiancée and my brother had both betrayed me, but I still had Norma, who loved me with everything she had.

We got married.

For three years after the wedding, Norma kept her promise. She wouldn't let me work odd jobs—she wanted me to focus entirely on studying for the exam.

I appreciated how hard she worked running the school, so I came to help out.

Everyone said I was lucky. A principal for a wife, and such a devoted one at that.

I thought so too.

Until today.

Now I knew the truth. Every ounce of suffering I'd endured—it all traced back to Norma.

The soup crashed to the ground, and the sound cut through the room.

Inside, Norma froze. She set down the admission letter and stepped outside, her expression guarded.

When she saw it was me, that wariness didn't fade. If anything, it sharpened.

"What are you doing here?"

"How long have you been standing there?"

Two rapid-fire questions, like an interrogation.

My heart went cold.

I wanted to ask her—after burning my admission letters all those times, didn't she feel even a shred of guilt?

But I knew the answer better than she did.

No. She didn't.

She was just like Louise. The only person in her heart was my brother. Percival.

I swallowed the accusations rising in my throat and forced my voice to stay casual.

"I just got here. I heard your parents were coming, so I made some soup for everyone. Didn't expect to spill it..."

Norma's gaze dropped to my scalded hand, the skin an angry red. Her expression softened. She pulled me inside to treat it.

"You—I told you to leave these things to me, didn't I?"

"Let me put some oil on this first. I'll take you into town to get it looked at."

Her movements were gentle, careful, as she dabbed the oil onto my burns.

My eyes swept the room. The elder Pruitts sat there wearing hollow smiles.

But unlike before, there was something else behind those smiles now. A flicker of guilt.

The admission letter was gone from the table. They must have hidden it. Still, I couldn't resist testing Norma.

"Honey, I heard everyone's admission letters have been arriving. Have you seen if mine—"

"I already checked. There's nothing for you."

"Duane, don't be too upset. Worst case, I'll take care of you for the rest of your life."

She lied without a single crack in her composure. And then she comforted me.

My heart had already sunk to rock bottom, yet I still clung to our three years of marriage, wanting to give Norma one last chance.

"But I heard my name was clearly on the admission list..."

"You heard wrong." Norma cut me off without hesitation, her brows knitting together as she spoke.

"Duane, I know you can't accept it, but this is just fate."

"You're not meant for college. Don't bother applying again..."

Fate?

But Norma knew better than anyone that my grades were good enough for university!

She was the one who'd torn up every single acceptance letter—torn away the wings that could have carried me toward my dreams.

Bitterness flooded my chest. I turned my head away, barely managing to hold back tears of disappointment. The Pruitts noticed something was off and shot Norma a look before stepping in to smooth things over.

"Norma! Is that any way to talk to your husband?"

"Duane, don't take her words too seriously. What she means is that even without college, with her by your side, you'll be just fine."

They gave Norma a pointed look.

Only then did she put on a show, leaning into my arms.

"Mom and Dad are right. I'm the principal—more than capable of providing for you..."

"Principal Pruitt! Mr. Percival Fox is on the phone! He says he's already on the train and wants you to pick him up!"

Before Norma could finish, someone outside interrupted.

"Really? Why am I only hearing about this now?"

"I need to go right away. It's so hot out—if Percival gets heatstroke, that would be terrible."

Her eyes lit up instantly. Without another word, she abandoned me and rushed out the door.

The Pruitts looked embarrassed, but they didn't forget to make excuses for their daughter.

"Louise called and asked Norma to look after Percival."

"After all, Louise is still Norma's sister, and Percival is your own brother..."

I looked at these two—my in-laws who had wept and knelt before me after Norma and I got married, swearing that everything before had been their fault, promising they'd never contact Louise or Percival again, begging for my forgiveness.

Now I understood. They were cut from the same cloth as Norma.

I shook my head slightly and said words that completely betrayed what I felt inside.

"Percival is my brother and Norma's brother-in-law. It's only right that she picks him up."

The Pruitts praised me for being sensible and understanding, yet they made no move to leave.

I knew why. They couldn't tell whether I knew about the acceptance letters.

I made an excuse about going into town to buy medicine and left.

At the pharmacy, I searched every pocket and couldn't scrape together enough for a tube of burn ointment.

I was about to leave when I heard Percival's familiar voice from behind a curtain.

"Norma, it's just low blood sugar. You really didn't need to bring me to the clinic."

"You spend so much money on me all the time. Doesn't my brother have a problem with it?"

Norma's voice dripped with indifference. "He's a man I support. What opinion could he possibly have?"

"Besides, you're down one kidney. You need to be extra careful."

"Doctor, I'll take all those supplements you mentioned. And throw in some candied fruit—he doesn't like bitter things. Something sweet for him to snack on."

"Thanks, Norma. Maybe... get some for my brother too? I don't want him overthinking."

Percival spoke, but I heard the contempt in Norma's reply.

"Why waste the money?"

"Besides, he can stomach any kind of bitterness. He doesn't need it."

"Last year, when those two fat pigs at the school got sick, he insisted on taking them all the way to town to see a vet."

"I didn't bother with him, so he dragged that flatbed cart off by himself. Wore himself out completely. If you ask me, he brought it all on himself."

"The pigs were sick—just slaughter them and be done with it. Why go through all that trouble?"

Percival let out a snort of laughter.

"Those two pigs had to weigh at least two hundred pounds each, right? Gotta hand it to my brother—he's really something else."

"Still, good thing he hauled them off to the vet. Otherwise, I wouldn't have touched meat from sickly pigs!"

Percival took Norma's hand, and the two of them emerged from the back room laden with shopping bags. My body went colder than before.

Norma was a school principal—a respectable position with a decent salary.

But only I knew that more than half of what she earned went to the students at her school who couldn't even afford to eat.

Our life together had been painfully meager. Some months, we didn't see a single scrap of meat.

I'd felt sorry for her. I'd bought two runty piglets at a discount from a farm owner and raised them with care.

When they got sick, no one was more frantic than me. I'd hauled them on a flatbed cart to a town dozens of miles away to see a vet.

Blisters formed on my feet, but I didn't stop to tend to them. Every penny saved was another dose of medicine for those pigs.

But they still didn't make it.

I would never forget that weekend—Norma had asked me to come home, then told me both pigs had died and she'd disposed of the carcasses.

I'd blamed myself for so long. I was convinced that my decision to save money on a pair of cloth shoes by bringing the medicine home to inject them myself had been a fatal mistake. That my incompetence was why Norma couldn't even have meat on the table.

Never once did I imagine that she'd given those pigs to Percival—as a gift to curry his favor.

And now, looking at the bags of supplements in Norma's hands—every single one expensive—where was the woman who supposedly couldn't afford meat?

Tears surged to my eyes. For her deception. And for my own stupidity.

Norma spotted me too. Instinctively, she moved to hide those pricey supplements behind her back, but Percival gripped her arm and held her in place.

He even shot me a look of pure provocation.

"Hey, bro. I haven't been feeling well, so Norma picked up some supplements for me. You don't mind, do you?"

His words seemed to hand Norma a ready-made justification. Before I could even open my mouth, she was already frowning at me.

"Duane! Percival is your own brother! He fainted at the train station from low blood sugar. What's wrong with me buying him a few supplements?"

I said nothing. But the young nurse behind the pharmacy counter chose that moment to speak up.

"Sir, did you still want that burn ointment?"

"It's not expensive—eighty cents a bottle, and it lasts a long time!"

I looked at the bags of supplements in Norma's hands. Then I looked at the fifty cents I'd been clutching in my palm—money I'd scraped together over weeks.

A bitter smile crossed my face. I thanked her for her kindness.

"No, thank you. I can't afford it."

I walked out of the pharmacy. Norma's expression turned ugly.

Percival was right there to fan the flames.

"Norma, you make at least thirty or forty a month, right? You couldn't afford a bottle of burn ointment?"

"Looks like my brother's still holding a grudge over what happened back then. He's deliberately trying to humiliate me!"

"Fine. I'll just leave."

Percival made a show of crying and turning to go. Norma's face went cold. She strode forward, blocked my path, and demanded that I apologize to Percival.

I almost laughed at the absurdity of it.

"Why should I apologize?"

Norma's reasoning was impressively self-righteous.

"All these years, Percival stayed away to spare your feelings."

"He finally comes to visit, and you treat him like this—embarrassing him in public? What kind of brother are you?"