Part 2Second Chances and Stolen Lives: The Brother I Didn't Deserve

At the shelter, I lay in bed, unable to sleep.

Staring at the dark night sky, memories flooded in.

In the last life, the police rescued me from the mountains that same year.

I cried, giving them Mom and Dad’s names and address, thinking I was finally going home.

But when I was brought back, there was a stranger—a different girl—in my house.

Mom and Dad awkwardly explained that they adopted her because they were so heartbroken after I was kidnapped.

Her name was Amy.

They looked at me with complex eyes, as if I were a stranger who had suddenly intruded.

They were warm and affectionate toward Amy, treating her like their true daughter.

But... they used to love me the most.

I broke down, screaming hysterically.

I pointed at the girl, calling her a thief who stole the home that was rightfully mine.

Mom and Dad scolded me, calling me selfish.

I cried until my throat was raw.

“I suffered so much! Why does she get to enjoy the love that belongs to me?!”

Mom and Dad stared at me in silence. There was pity in their eyes, but also hesitation.

That night, the girl left a note and quietly slipped away.

She said she was going back to the orphanage; she didn’t want their family to be torn apart because of her.

I was nervous.

But Mom and Dad didn’t scold me. They just sighed, saying they would go to the orphanage to bring her back.

They stopped my brother from going with them.

“You stay with your sister. She just came home. You need to take good care of her.”

They never came back.

Their car crashed on the way to pick up the girl.

All three of them died.

From then on, my brother hated me.

He hated me for ten long years.

The thought made my throat tighten and my eyes burn.

I wiped the tears away.

Now, since I can’t go back to the Green family, I have to figure out what to do next.

I’m under sixteen; I need a guardian.

A name suddenly surfaced in my mind.

Shane Yu.

A skinny boy who always protected me during the beatings.

In the last life, if it hadn’t been for him, the village idiot—the son of the family who bought me as a child bride—would have ruined me.

When we were locked in the pigpen, shivering, he wrapped his only shirt around me.

“I’m your big brother now. I’ll protect you.”

We endured countless horrible days together.

But later, he was sold to a different village.

When I was rescued, the police said the people in his village had been rescued before us.

In the last life, I wanted to find him.

But the sudden tragedy in my family kept me from going.

This time, I decided to find him.

The next morning, I went to the police station at dawn.

“Officer, I remember where my family is.”

After giving my information, I turned to leave the station.

But Zack Green suddenly grabbed my wrist, rushing in.

“You tricked me again! You were faking it before!”

“Why do you insist on going back to the Green family? We don’t want you.”

His voice trembled, suppressing massive anger.

“Don’t you get it? I already have a sister. Mom and Dad love her to death. They don’t need an extra daughter.”

I yanked my hand away and kept walking.

Zack was so angry his eyes were red. He suddenly yelled,

“You were kidnapped! Why didn’t you just stay in the mountains forever?”

His hysterical outburst was identical to when he had pointed at me after our parents died, screaming,

“Why didn’t you die instead of them?”

I raised my hand and slapped him hard.

“Slap!”

The loud noise silenced him instantly.

“Who do you think you’re talking to?”

I stared at him, asking deliberately.

“People who get kidnapped deserve to die out there, in your mind?”

The slap seemed to wake Zack up.

He stumbled back a step, his eyes showing regret.

“I’m sorry…”

The female officer finally walked over, frowning as she shielded me.

“Sir, watch your language. This young lady is looking for her family. Who are you to interfere?”

Zack was silent for a while. Finally, he looked at me coldly and grabbed my arm.

“You want to go home? Fine. Let’s go.”

But I pulled my hand free. To his astonishment,

I hid behind the female officer.

“I am going home, but what does that have to do with you?”