My Parents Deleted My Only Graduation Photo for My Bestie Chapter 05

My Parents Deleted My Only Graduation Photo for My Bestie Chapter 05

I was gone for a month. Not one of them came looking for me.

Whenever a relative asked about me, my mom brushed it off.

“She’s always been difficult. She threw a fit because I asked her to give up her room for Chloe, and then she ran off just to make a point.”

My dad didn’t seem worried either.

“She’s not going to find anything out there anyway. Once the real world knocks some sense into her, she’ll come crawling back.”

Julian shrugged. “She’s always been like this. Ignore her long enough and she’ll come back on her own.”

Logan said I had changed.

That I used to be so low-maintenance, and now I was tearing the whole family apart over a necklace.

Not one of them ever asked where I had actually gone.

They were all so sure I’d come running back eventually, with my tail between my legs, ready to apologize.

A month later, Chloe started at Zenith.

The whole family showed up for her first day, escorting her into the corporate lobby like it was her first day of kindergarten. My dad, my mom, Julian, and Logan. All of them.

In the lobby, my mom straightened the lapels of Chloe’s new suit, beaming.

“Look at our Chloe. Starting at Zenith right out of college! I always knew she’d do great things.”

Then she sighed, as if she had just remembered I existed.

“Unlike Audrey. No common sense, no job, and God knows where she’s disappeared to.”

Julian was holding Chloe’s bag, smirking.

“Where’s she going to go? She’s probably couch-surfing somewhere, trying to prove a point.”

“Like she’d land anything decent.”

Logan didn’t argue.

He probably figured the best I could do was that receptionist opening he’d tossed my way like a handout.

My dad brought Chloe over to meet his old friend, Mr. Sterling.

Sterling headed the new materials division at Zenith. He was also the one who had pulled strings to get Chloe hired in the first place.

My dad was smiling from ear to ear. He nudged Chloe forward.

“Sterling, this is Chloe. She’s the neighbor’s daughter, but she might as well be mine.”

“It’s her first day. I’m counting on you to show her the ropes.”

Chloe tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, playing the perfect, bashful protégé.

“Thank you so much, Mr. Sterling. I really appreciate this.”

Sterling smiled, polite but guarded.

“Well, she passed the interviews. That speaks for itself.”

My mom smiled even wider.

“Chloe’s always been a go-getter. Not like Audrey. She can’t even land a job, burns bridges with everyone, and now she’s vanished.”

My dad shook his head.

“She’s always been difficult. Stubborn. I told her a hundred times. Just take whatever you can get. But she never listens.”

Sterling’s smile froze. He looked at my dad.

“Hold on… you’re telling me Audrey doesn’t have a job?”

My dad completely missed the change in his tone. He laughed it off.

“You know how she is. What’s she going to find?”

Sterling frowned.

“You don’t know where your own daughter works?”

My dad blinked.

“What?”

Something shifted behind Sterling’s eyes.

“We’re submitting a major bid to Westridge Aerospace Materials Institute right now. Do you know who’s handling the initial review on their end? That’s your daughter. That’s Audrey.”

My dad’s first instinct was denial.

“No way. It has to be a coincidence. It must be someone else with the same name.”

“I know my daughter. Trust me. There’s no way she got her foot in the door at a place like Westridge.”

Sterling didn’t raise his voice. He didn’t need to. The whole lobby could hear him.

“You went out of your way to pull strings for the neighbor’s daughter’s career.”

“But you can’t even tell me where your own daughter works?”

The lobby went dead silent.

One second my dad was grinning. The next, the smile slid off his face.

Sterling pulled up the project contact list on his phone and held it out.

“See for yourself.”

“Tell me this isn’t your daughter.”