Chapter 172:
I tried to explain to Betty, but she wasn’t having any of it. She continued to yell, “You’re such a hypocrite. You told me you wouldn’t hold onto the past. You said you had nothing to do with Hank, then why are you stopping us from being together now?”
“I really have nothing to do with Hank! I’m doing this for you. If…” I started.
“Enough! Don’t try to deceive me anymore! I know that because of brother-in-law, you don’t like Hank. Now that brother-in-law has divorced you, you’re thinking about Hank again. You’re just afraid Hank will like me!” Betty said quickly.
I couldn’t stand it anymore. In a fit of frustration, I pushed Betty.
I didn’t expect that in my sister’s heart, I was such a bad person. I just wanted Betty to stop, but I didn’t anticipate that she lost her balance and fell to the ground.
“You pushed me?” Betty looked at me, aggrieved, tears welling up in her eyes.
“I…” I stammered, looking at my trembling hands. I regretted my impulsive action.
Once I confirmed that Betty wasn’t injured, my heart grew even heavier. This was my younger sister, the one I helped my mother raise for many years. How could she treat me like this? She called me selfish and hypocritical. Those words hurt deeply.
If it had been anyone else, I wouldn’t have cared. But Betty was my sister, the person I trusted most. Her words felt like a knife, piercing through my heart.
“Humph!” Betty huffed angrily and ran into the corridor.
I stood there, feeling utterly defeated. I grasped the handle on the stairs and sat on them for a long time. Slowly, I mustered the strength to stand and walked up.
As soon as I entered the house, I heard my mother’s scolding.
“Bella, why did you push your sister?”
“Why didn’t you ask her what she said?” I replied.
Mother began reprimanding me.
“If Betty said something wrong, you could have scolded her. Why did you push her?”
I didn’t respond. I didn’t want to explain myself to her.
“If you didn’t talk to me properly, do you think I have to hit you?” Mother slammed the table in frustration.
Impatiently, I said, “Mom, these are two different things! I didn’t want Betty to get hurt.”
“Betty has already gone to university. What’s wrong with her dating?” My mother asked.
I didn’t want to be too direct, as that would hurt Betty even more. But if I didn’t make myself clear now, I would be the one to suffer in the end.
“Hank doesn’t love her! If he liked her, would he have denied it so quickly? What she should focus on now is not chasing a man who doesn’t love her, but on her studies. In the end, we can only rely on ourselves.”
At that moment, my mother said, “Haven’t you been relying on yourself all these years? Now you don’t even have a job!”
This sentence hit my heart again. I touched my chest and said, “Mom, although I don’t have much ability, I have been supporting you all these years, haven’t I?”
I didn’t understand why my mother and sister, who had always been very close to me, suddenly quarreled with me and exposed my vulnerabilities.
“Do you mean that I am useless and can’t support you?” Mother seemed to be deeply hurt and began to cry.
“I didn’t mean that,” I said quietly, feeling the weight of frustration as I turned and walked to my room.
