Chapter 9
My eyes turned red; even a stranger understood this, but my brothers didn’t.
A
Or maybe they did understand but were just biased towards Chloe, choosing not to see it.
Chloe’s expression froze, her teeth clenched in frustration. What did this doctor mean? Didn’t he see her sick and still wanting to serve me? Why wasn’t he moved by her kindness and instead spoke for me? This wasn’t right. Her tactic always worked before.
Chloe couldn’t find her voice, lowering her head in grievance.
Caleb stepped forward to defend Chloe.“Chloe came to school sick because the exams are in less than a hundred days. She couldn’t miss class. She wanted to reconcile with Alice, but some people just don’t appreciate it.”
I found it all so ironic.
This morning, Caleb told me to care for Chloe, get her water, food… Didn’t that interfere with my studies? It turned out he knew the exam was coming up in less than a hundred days.
It was just that my exams weren’t as important as Chloe’s.
Noah said.“Caleb, take Chloe home.”
“Noah!”
“Are you ignoring what I said?”
Caleb fell silent and took Chloe away.
The infirmary was silent again.
Noah frowned.“Alice, if you don’t want to take care of Chloe, that’s fine. But don’t do anything like this again.”
I kept my head down. My throat hurt and I didn’t want to speak. I pulled the blanket over my head. I didn’t want to see them.
“Alice, if you keep acting out like this, I can’t protect you anymore.” Noah was getting annoyed. He pulled back the blanket.“Come home with me!” He needed to talk to me. Chloe couldn’t keep getting hurt.
Jack held Noah’s arm, his gaze cold.“She can’t leave until this IV is done; family members wait outside!”
His tone was firm, leaving no room for argument.
I iɔoked up in shock, seeing him standing tall in front of my second brother. I noticed a scar on his wrist, a deep, ugly red, strikingly noticeable. I had a similar scar on my leg from the car accident. Had he also been in an accident?
Noah stood his ground. “I’m her brother. I’ll take her home. We have a doctor at home.”
“Since you have a doctor at home, why let her suffer with a fever for so long?”
Seeing my pale face, Noah felt a twinge of guilt as he replied.“She didn’t tell us she was sick.” And he’d tried to touch my forehead, but I’d dodged him. Could he be blamed for that? Maybe I was just dragging out my illness to avoid responsibility.
Jack’s voice turned displeased.“Sir, if you try to forcibly take her, I’ll call the police for child abuse. And legally, if a child suffers domestic violence, she can apply for personal safety protection.”
“I’m her biological brother; I’m her guardian!”
“But just now, I saw you
hit her, assault her. There are security cameras as evidence. I’m sure the police will make a fair judgment.” Jack was calm and resolute.“She doesn’t want to go with you. You gonna force her?”
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