He Traded His Future to Spite Me

After the College Entrance Assessment ends, Chayce Clarkson, the younger brother I have raised for seven years, looks me in the eye and says calmly, "I turned in blank exam papers." I instantly freeze, unable to utter even a single word. A look of vengeful satisfaction flashes across his face as he delivers his next blow. "Jill and I never broke up, either. And it's for her that I didn't write a single word in the exams. She's not book-smart, so she won't be able to get into a decent college. I've already promised her that I'll spend the next four years just playing around with her." My heart shatters into a thousand pieces, but he clearly doesn't believe that he's done anything wrong. He meets my gaze without guilt, and his expression remains cold. "Either way, the exam is over now. If you accept my relationship with Jill, I'll still consider you my sister. If not, we'll sever ties right here, right now." His eyes drift to my trembling hands. After a slight pause, he adds, "But if you still want me as your brother, that's fine too. Just give Jill every dollar you've earned over the past seven years. Consider it your 'welcome-to-the-family' gift to her." Chapter 1 Celia's POV Even now, I couldn't tell whether I was dreaming. What did my brother, Chayce Clarkson, mean when he said he'd turned in blank exam papers? What did he mean when he said he hadn't broken up with his girlfriend, Jill Lange, and that he was going to spend the next four years just hanging around with her? He looked at me coldly, a mocking smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "You've controlled me my whole life, Celia. I wasn't allowed to date or have fun. All you ever did was force me to study and do practice exams, treating me like a puppet. "So I turned in blank exam papers. I wanted to destroy the future you planned for me. I wanted to let you know that your need to control me doesn't mean a damn thing to me!" His words hit me like a slap across the face. My ears buzzed loudly, and my whole body shook uncontrollably. My need to control him? He actually thought everything I'd done for him was just me trying to control him? Seven years ago, our parents were killed in a car accident. Chayce was only ten years old then, while I was 17 years old. To keep him in school, I had no choice but to drop out and start working. I wore bargain-bin clothes so I could buy him the best study materials. I couldn't bring myself to spend money on takeout, but I still gritted my teeth and enrolled him in the most expensive tutoring programs. I'd skimped and saved all these years. I'd poured all my money, time, and effort into his future. But now, he stood right in front of me, flippantly telling me that all of it was just my need for control? "Chayce," I choked out, my voice trembling so badly I barely recognized it. "That's the College Entrance Assessment! It'll determine your future!" But he only looked at me with utter impatience, as if he'd just heard something ridiculous. "My future? My future is with Jill! Also, stop lecturing me already. I've heard it so many times my ears are going to start bleeding. "I'm telling you one last time. Transfer every penny you've earned over the years into Jill's account before 7:00 pm. Otherwise, I won't consider you my sister anymore." I stood rooted to the spot, staring blankly at him—at my younger brother, whom I'd protected so fiercely ever since he was ten years old. He was the one person whom I once believed would stand by my side, even if the whole world abandoned me. But now, he looked at me with nothing but hatred, as though I were his enemy. Just then, a syrupy-sweet voice called from nearby. "Chayce!" His eyes lit up instantly. "Jill!" He ran straight to her, hugged her tightly, then kissed her right there in front of everyone. I looked at the young woman. She had a ponytail, wore a short skirt, and had a sweet smile that made her look harmless. Yet, it was this very same person who texted Chayce in the middle of the night, coaching him to run away from home. She was also the one who taught him to lie to me and turn against his own family. I don't even remember rushing toward them. By the time I came to my senses, my hand was already raised high in the air. A loud smack rang out as I slapped Jill across the face. She shrieked, clutched her cheek, and stumbled backward. Tears welled up instantly in her eyes. "Chayce… it hurts…" Chayce's expression shifted instantly, and he shoved me away with all his might. "What the hell are you doing?" I stumbled backward and crashed to the ground. The skin on my palm was scraped raw, and beads of blood began to seep out. He carefully pulled Jill into his arms. When he turned to look at me again, the look he gave me was as though he wanted to tear me apart. "Celia Clarkson, listen carefully. Jill is the person I want to protect more than anyone else in this world. If you dare lay another finger on her again, I'll make sure you pay!" Chapter 2 Celia's POV "And you'd better give Jill the money she deserves," Chayce continued. "Or I'll make sure you regret it!" With that, he wrapped an arm around the sobbing Jill and walked away without even a glance back. I collapsed onto the ground, staring at their retreating figures. Around me, students leaving the exam site and their parents cast strange looks at me. Their hushed whispers pierced my ears like needles. The sunlight was blindingly bright, yet my entire body felt icy cold. This was the little brother I'd given everything to raise. This was the little brother I'd been willing to sacrifice everything for. I sat there on the ground, laughing and crying at the same time. Tears mixed with the blood on my scraped palm until I could no longer tell which pain was worse. … I walked home in a daze. Along the way, Chayce's words kept replaying in my mind. He said he'd handed in blank exams. He said he was going to spend the next four years just hanging around with Jill. He said if I didn't give Jill the money, he'd make me regret it. Every sentence felt like a knife that repeatedly carved into my heart. It wasn't until I reached our apartment that I finally understood what he meant by making me regret it. My clothes, shoes, and toiletries had all been thrown into the hallway. Even the family portrait that I'd always treasured above everything else had been smashed onto the floor, the frame shattered into pieces. That was the last photograph of our family of four. These past years, when I felt like I couldn't carry on anymore, that was the only keepsake I had that I could look at. But now, it lay broken, discarded in the hallway like trash. The sight made my blood freeze solid with anger. I raised my hand and pounded heavily on the door. After a moment, the door swung open. "Who is it?" The person who opened the door was none other than Jill. She didn't look guilty in the slightest when she saw me. Instead, her gaze was filled with disdain. "Oh? What are you doing here?" I stared at her, doing everything I could to keep my emotions under control. But my hands wouldn't stop shaking. "This is my home. What? I need to let you know before I come home? And who gave you the right to throw my things out?" Jill leaned casually against the doorframe, twirling a lock of hair around her finger. "Oh, I told Chayce to throw them out," she said flippantly. "After all, it's not appropriate for an outsider like you to keep living here." Outsider? She was calling me an outsider? This was my home. This was the apartment my parents had left behind, the home where Chayce and I had lived together for all these years. She, a girlfriend he'd only known for a short while, was actually standing in my doorway, calling me an outsider? My whole body trembled. I tried to push past her and go inside, but she shoved me hard. Caught off guard, I stumbled backward and slammed into the hallway wall. The back of my head cracked against the wall, and a buzz rang in my ears. For a split second, everything went black. "You—" I'd barely opened my mouth when a familiar voice came from inside. "Stop making a scene, Celia." Chayce walked out. He wrapped an arm around Jill's waist and looked down at me from above, as if I were some stranger who'd come to their doorstep to cause trouble. "This is my apartment. And in the future, it'll be mine and Jill's home. So of course she can do whatever she wants." I froze. It felt as though something heavy had slammed into my chest. The pain was so sharp I could barely stay on my feet. But he wasn't finished. "Besides, the assets our parents left behind after they died are supposed to go to me anyway. After all, I'm the son—the pillar of the family. "I've already been generous enough to let you stay here for free all these years." He said those words completely unapologetically, as though I'd truly taken massive advantage of him. I opened my mouth, wanting to say something, but my throat felt as if something had been lodged inside, and I couldn't squeeze out even a single word. I couldn't believe my little brother—the boy I had raised since he was ten years old, the same child who used to cling to me and cry, saying, "You're all I have, Celia"—was actually saying those words. Now, he was standing in front of me, basically saying that I'd been freeloading off him, and how he'd already been more than generous to me. Jill picked up right where he left off, raising her fingers as she started calculating. "You've lived here for seven years. Let's say the rent is 3,000 dollars a month. That's 36,000 dollars a year, which brings us to 252,000 dollars for seven years. And that's not even including utilities or property management fees." She looked up at me with a smug smile. "So, when do you plan to pay us for that?" Chapter 3 Celia's POV 252,000 dollars in rent? I looked at the young teenage couple standing in front of me. One was the baby brother I'd raised with my own two hands. The other was the young woman who repeatedly claimed she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. They stood at the doorway of my home, unapologetically wanting to kick me out. And on top of that, they even wanted me to pay them back rent? A peal of laughter escaped me. But as I laughed, my eyes started burning. "Do you even know that this apartment stopped belonging to us a long time ago?" Mom and Dad were found to be primarily at fault for the car accident, and we had to pay a massive compensation to the other party. This apartment was sold just two months after they passed away for 800,000 dollars, and every single penny went toward paying off that debt. Back then, Chayce was still in school. I was afraid he'd worry and that he'd feel like he no longer had a home. And more than anything, I was afraid he'd feel inferior and sensitive—unable to hold his head high in front of others. So I hid this from him and signed a contract with the landlord, renting this same exact apartment for 3,500 dollars a month. I always paid it in full, just so Chayce could come home to the same bedroom he knew all so well. Just so he could feel that, even though our parents were gone, our home was still here. But now, he was standing right there, telling me to get out. "What are you talking about?" Chayce roared. He stared at me in disbelief, as if I'd told the biggest lie in the world. Jill, however, just crossed her arms and sneered at me. "That's quite the convincing story you made up." Then, she turned to Chayce, her voice softening instantly. "Don't believe her, Chayce. She's just making that up because she doesn't want to give you the apartment. A person like her will say anything for money." Unbelievably, Chayce actually nodded at her words. When he looked back at me, his gaze had turned icy again. "I never expected you to be this kind of person, Celia. You'd even drag our dead parents into your lies just to keep this apartment." My heart sank. I'd explained things to him, but he didn't believe me. I'd told him the truth, and he still didn't believe me. All it took was one sentence from Jill for every sacrifice I'd ever made, every secret I'd kept, and every hardship I'd endured to be twisted into malicious manipulation. He pointed at my belongings scattered in the hallway. "Get out!" he barked, his tone venomous. "Take your stuff and get the hell out of here. Right now!" His voice echoed loudly through the hallway, and apartment doors started opening one after another as neighbors poked their heads out to look. Poppy Shea, the middle-aged lady from next door, frowned as she stepped outside and saw the absolute mess in the hallway. "What's going on here?" I took a deep breath, about to explain, but Jill beat me to it before I could even open my mouth. "Everyone, please come look," she started, her voice catching. "This is my boyfriend's sister. After their parents passed away, this apartment was left to my boyfriend, Chayce. Feeling sorry for her, he let her live here all these years." "But who would've guessed she'd be so promiscuous, bringing different men home all the time? We really couldn't take it anymore, so we asked her to move out. "And yet, here she is making a scene, refusing to leave. She insists the apartment is hers and even wants to take us to court…" As she spoke, her eyes reddened and tears shimmered in them, making her look like she'd suffered a monstrous injustice. Her acting was flawless—so flawless that if I hadn't known the whole truth myself, I might've been fooled by her. But the neighbors didn't know better. Poppy turned toward me, the look in her eyes shifting subtly. Even more neighbors started coming out, murmuring and gossiping among themselves. "The young lady looks rather respectable. I never expected her to be that kind of person…" "You can't judge a book by its cover." "Her brother isn't even a legal adult yet. How could she?" Each word cut into me like a blade. My whole body shook with rage, and my vision started to go dark. I could endure Chayce misunderstanding me. I could endure his immaturity. I could even endure him taking my sacrifices for granted. But what I couldn't endure was Jill standing in my doorway, twisting the truth and smearing filth all over my name. "Shut up!" I roared. Losing all control, I lunged at her and grabbed a fistful of her hair. She screamed and stumbled backward. Chayce froze for only a split second before roaring, "Let go of her!" Chapter 4 Celia's POV But I didn't let Jill go. I clung to her with a death grip. The only thought that consumed my mind was to tear apart that lying mouth of hers. I wanted to make sure she'd never spread another lie again. "Chayce," Jill shrieked. The next second, a heavy fist slammed into my shoulder—Chayce's. The blow sent me stumbling sideways. My foot missed its footing, and the back of my head cracked against the sharp edge of the stairs. Then, my body, like a puppet with its strings cut, tumbled all the way down the flight of stairs. Chaos rang in my ears—the sound of the neighbors' horrified gasps, Jill's crying, Chayce's angry roars, and the dull, heavy thuds of my own body colliding with the steps over and over again. As the world spun around me, the last thing I saw was Chayce shielding Jill. Then everything went black. … When I woke up again, I was in the hospital. The fluorescent lights overhead stabbed at my eyes, while the sharp smell of disinfectant filled my nose, leaving my throat painfully dry. I twitched my fingers. The hospital room was completely empty. There wasn't a single soul. No Chayce, no familiar faces. Just then, a nurse pushed the door open and walked in. The moment she saw I was awake, she let out a visible sigh of relief. "Thank goodness, you're finally awake! Do you realize you needed six stitches in the back of your head? Your shoulder blade is also fractured, not to mention the countless cuts and bruises all over your body. "You're a young woman. How can you be so careless?" She continued to chatter on while changing my bandages. Though her tone carried reproach, there was obvious concern beneath her words. I merely lay on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. I didn't shed a single tear. I supposed this was what people meant when they said there was no greater despair than the death of the heart. After collecting myself, I asked the nurse to bring me my phone. The screen lit up with dozens of unread messages, all from either Chayce or Jill. Chayce: "Sis, I'm out of money. Send me 2,000 dollars." Chayce: "Why aren't you answering me?" Chayce: "If you don't transfer the money right now, I'll never consider you my sister again!" Jill: "If you don't come get your stuff out of the hallway, I'm throwing it all away." Jill: "Do you hear me?" Jill: "Fine. Don't regret it." I read every message. That unbearable pain from before was gone. All that remained was a numb, icy emptiness. As it turned out, me being pushed down the stairs and rushed to the hospital didn't matter to Chayce at all. What mattered was that I hadn't sent him his money yet. What mattered was that my belongings were in his way. I tapped on Chayce's profile and promptly blocked and deleted him. Then I did the same to Jill. After that, I called my boss. The call connected almost immediately. "Sir, I've decided to accept that outstation assignment you mentioned before." I hadn't dared to accept it before, because the posting was incredibly far away, and it'd last about two years. I was worried that if I went that far away, I wouldn't be able to look after Chayce. I was afraid that he wouldn't eat well, he'd be mistreated, and that he might stray down the wrong path without me to keep an eye on him. But now… I wasn't worried or afraid anymore. On the other end, my boss sounded pleasantly surprised. "You finally came around, Celia. The salary over there is three times what you're making here. Since you're willing to go, I'll have HR start processing the paperwork right away." After hanging up, I found my landlord's number and sent a text. "Hello, sir. I won't be renewing the lease on the apartment. Please go ahead and look for a new tenant. After hitting "Send", I stared at the screen for a long time. It felt as though something inside my chest had finally snapped, and with it, a great weight had finally been lifted. … Three days later, HR notified me that the approval process was completed. That same day, I packed up everything I owned. Dragging my suitcase behind me, I left the city I'd called home for the past 27 years. … Third-Person POV That evening, the apartment doorbell rang. Chayce muttered a curse under his breath, tossed aside his phone, and opened the door. "Who is it?" It was the landlord, Bruce Osmond. Bruce looked Chayce up and down before waving the workers behind him inside. "The lease on this apartment has ended. Throw everything in here out." Both Chayce and Jill froze where they stood.