“Wait, family?”

Hearing these words, he looked surprised and glanced back and forth between me and Julia.

Just then, the two called Dad and Mom intervened.

“Oh dear, Daniel, I’m truly sorry. We have a problematic eldest daughter. She’s such an embarrassing subject that it’s awkward even to mention her, and we’ve managed to hide this fact until now. In truth, we kicked her out of the house 9 years ago. How did she even find out about Julia’s wedding? What does she intend to do by coming here uninvited? Surely she isn’t planning to ruin the wedding, is she?”

“Actually, Daniel, this girl is stupid. She only graduated high school and couldn’t attend university. After graduating, she just loitered around, doing part-time jobs, staying at home, and being a real nuisance. She was like a parasite. She should be grateful we provided for her through high school. Why did she sneak into the wedding?”

I had received such harsh treatment, yet I had long severed ties with this family and effortlessly brushed off all their insults.

These people were, in fact, my family. At least, that’s what the family registry stated. However, my parents doted on my sister, who is 6 years younger than me, and had neglected me from the time I began to develop my own identity.

My father’s family has been producing doctors for generations, and our home was a clinic. My mother worked as a nurse in the family-run clinic. To an outsider, our family might have appeared to live without any want.

However, the reality was a home filled with toxicity.

I remember trying hard to earn my parents’ love when I was young, but I gave up all expectations from my family because the reason for favoring my sister was incomprehensible to me.

She was deemed attractive, and I was not.

Fortunately, although it might sound odd to evaluate myself, I was intelligent and excelled academically. Therefore, I focused on my studies with the goal of leaving home early. During that time, I felt like I was acting the role of the defective elder sister in the family.

“Listen. I won’t allow you to go to university. You are inherently a defect. There’s no way you could get into university. Start working immediately after school graduation. Become independent and contribute financially to the house. It’s thanks to us that someone as unattractive as you could grow up at all. You owe us a debt of gratitude.”

“That’s right. You never seem grateful. As for college expenses, we might consider it for Julia, but there’s not a single cent available for you. You will spend your life serving us. Even if you do get a job, it won’t be anything significant.”

This is what my parents told me during my senior year of high school.

By the way, this conversation was recorded at the time and has been preserved to this day. During my high school years, I recorded almost all of the verbal abuse and irrational behavior from my family.

My sister, Julia, seeing the consistent behavior of our parents, also scorned me and always tried to assert her dominance.

“I will become a doctor and take over Dad’s job in the future. I’ll work hard enough for both of us, since my big sister can’t.”

“Oh, that’s so nice to hear. Yes, learn from her failures and do your best.”

“Don’t worry, Julia. You can do it.”

“Yes, we will support you fully, unlike your sister.”

“Julia, you are truly our pride.”

They would have these kinds of conversations blatantly in front of me. It was like something out of a play.

After graduating high school, I worked various part-time jobs for about 3 years. I still lived at home. Technically, they said I was a nuisance, but they wouldn’t allow me to leave on my own terms because they wanted to use me as it suited them.

However, I had secretly rented an apartment. Although my family continuously told me, “We won’t forgive you if you do this,” and, “We won’t allow you if you don’t do that,” after becoming an adult, I realized I didn’t need their permission anymore.

Of course, there were complications, like needing a guarantor for certain things.

By the way, I intentionally reported less income from my part-time jobs so the amount of money demanded by my family was minimal. Additionally, I began investing and gradually increased my savings.

When Julia was preparing for her high school entrance exams, she used the convenient excuse that she couldn’t concentrate with me around, and I was kicked out of the house.

My parents seemed to assume I would eventually return, but for me, it was a perfect opportunity to become independent. It must have been a surprise for them that I, who was belittled as incapable of doing anything on my own, didn’t return.

However, that soon became irrelevant to them. As far as my parents were concerned, having Julia was enough.

Nine years have passed since then.

While lost in thought alone, I overheard an escalating argument between Julia and a man named Daniel. In fact, today was their wedding day, so they were now married.