Chapter 3
In my last month alive, I set aside my pride. I tolerated Tylor’s blatant provocations, pretending not to notice.
But she wasn’t planning to let me off so easily. One evening, I discovered razor blades hidden in my piano keys.
When Benedict came home, he saw me shouting at the teary–eyed Tylor.
“Did you really have to go this far?” he scolded, his voice sharp and cold.
Silently, I raised my hand, showing him the blood dripping from my wrist.
“Benedict! Don’t you know what she…”
Before I could finish, Benedict’s gaze fell on Tylor, trembling in the corner with fearful eyes. His face twisted in anger. The next thing I knew, a sharp slap landed across my cheek.
“If your hand’s injured, go to the hospital. Stop making a scene here! You really are just a piece of trash with no one to teach you any better!”
Every ounce of pride and ambition I had built up in my life crumbled in that moment.
The man I had once leaned on now mocked me with disdain.
“If you can’t play piano, then don’t. It’s just a tool you use to fish for attention, anyway.”
My desperate, hysterical questioning only made me look like a lunatic in his eyes.
He scoffed, “How dare you compare yourself to Tylor? She plays piano because it’s her dream. You? You only do it for your pathetic vanity and self–interest.”
Tylor picked up a glass of water, pouring it over her head before smashing the glass onto the floor.
With her drenched face and trembling lips, she looked pitiful as she turned to me. “Kendra, I didn’t mean to… Is this enough for you?”
Benedict immediately rushed to her side, cradling her in his arms as he led her away to change clothes.
Before leaving, he threw a cold glance my way. “Kendra, Tylor is like a sister to me. Watch yourself.””
His gaze lingered on my bleeding hand, softening for just a second.
Tylor seemed to notice this change. Her eyes fluttered shut, and she collapsed dramatically into Benedict’s arms.
“Tylor!” he shouted, his voice panicked.
Without another word, he carried her away. That extinguished the last flicker of hope in my heart.
K
<
Left alone, I hailed a cab and went to the hospital to get my wounds treated.
