I Saved My Brother, But He Killed Me Softly Chapter 02

I Saved My Brother, But He Killed Me Softly Chapter 02

The next day, Nadia’s parents came over.

Ethan wheeled me into the living room and told me to greet them.

“Mr. and Mrs. Vance,” I said softly.

Nadia’s mother didn’t say a word. I only heard the heavy clunk of her teacup being slammed onto the coffee table.

“Ethan, since we’re here to discuss the wedding, let’s lay our cards on the table,” Mrs. Vance said.

“Please, go ahead, Mrs. Vance.”

“You have a good job, and you’re ambitious. Our Nadia is completely set on marrying you, and as her parents, we won’t stand in her way.” Her tone suddenly sharpened.

“But marriage involves two families. How are you two supposed to build a life when you’re dragging a blind cripple of a sister along with you?”

The words blind cripple pierced my ears like a needle.

Ethan didn’t say a single word to push back against the insult.

It used to be that whenever he took me out for some sun, if any brat so much as whispered those words, he would have crossed the street to beat them half to death.

“Mrs. Vance, Sienna can take care of herself. She’s really no trouble.”

“No trouble?” Nadia’s father chimed in with a cold sneer. “Do you have any idea how much it costs just to maintain that high-end prosthetic of hers every six months? And she’s completely blind. Once you two have kids, who’s going to be taking care of whom?”

“I’ll take on a few more shifts,” Ethan replied.

“You’re going to work yourself into an early grave? My daughter is marrying you to build a comfortable life, not to fund a charity project!”

The living room fell so quiet that the only sound left was the ragged pattern of my own breathing. Fumbling blindly, I began to turn my wheelchair.

“Mr. and Mrs. Vance, please don’t worry,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper. “I already talked to my brother yesterday. I’m moving into a care center.”

Nadia’s voice suddenly cut in.

“A care center? Sienna, do you have any idea how much a private facility costs every month? It’s easily eight grand! Ethan’s take-home pay is only twelve thousand a month!”

I bit my lip.

“I have my disability allowance.”

“And what is that pittance supposed to cover?” Nadia exposed me without a shred of mercy. “In the end, Ethan’s still going to be the one footing the bill!”

Mrs. Vance spoke up again. “We actually looked into it. There’s a county-run asylum on the south side of town. It’s practically free. It’s mostly just abandoned seniors and severe disability cases, but they provide meals. She won’t starve.”

A county asylum—a place meant for the homeless and the completely destitute.

“No,” Ethan finally spoke up, his voice tight. “The conditions there are awful. Sienna’s health can’t handle a place like that.”

“So what if the conditions are bad?” Mrs. Vance raised her voice. “She’s a useless burden! What, does she expect to live in a five-star hotel?”

“Mrs. Vance, please show some respect!”

“How am I being disrespectful? Ethan, let me make this entirely clear. Either you ship her off to that county facility, or this wedding is off!”

The front door slammed shut violently as Nadia’s parents stormed out, with Nadia running right after them.

The living room fell back into a dead, suffocating silence.

Sitting in my wheelchair, I felt like a trash bag left out on the curb, batted back and forth between everyone.

Ethan walked over and knelt down in front of me.

“Sienna, don’t listen to them. I would never send you to a place like that.”

I reached out and found his hand. It was trembling.

“Ethan… actually, the county asylum doesn’t sound that bad.”

“Shut up!” he suddenly snapped, shouting right in my face.

I flinched, completely startled.

“I said I won’t send you there, so I won’t! Can you stop playing the martyr all the goddamn time? Acting like this only makes me feel like an absolute monster!”

He ripped his hand out of my grip and stood up.

“I’m going out for a smoke.”

The balcony door slid open.

Through the glass, I heard the sharp flick of his lighter. Once. Twice. Three times.

He was losing his mind with frustration.

I lowered my head, staring blindly at my lap.

Five years ago, when the landslide came tearing down the mountain, I had used every ounce of my strength to push him out of the way.

The rocks crushed my skull and shattered my legs.

When I finally woke up in the hospital to realize I was blind and crippled, I didn’t want to drag him down with me. I found a shard of broken glass and sliced my wrists.

He had saved me, holding me tight as he wept.

“Sienna, you’re all I have left. If you die, I won’t survive a single day without you.”

For the sake of those words, I had fought through the despair. I mastered braille, forced myself to learn how to walk on a prosthetic, and practiced feeding and washing myself in the dark.

I wanted to prove to him that I wasn’t completely useless.

But to the rest of the world, I was still just a blind, pathetic cripple.

And now, even he was starting to see me as a ball and chain he couldn’t shake off.

That night, Ethan didn’t come to his room to sleep.

Fumbling my way to the kitchen to pour a glass of water, I passed his bedroom. The door was cracked open an inch.

He was on the phone.

“Nadia, please, stop backing me into a corner, okay? A county asylum? No human being should have to live in a place like that.”

“Oh, so you’d rather watch me suffer instead? Ethan, I’m pregnant!”

My hand shook violently, and the water spilled over, washing cold against my prosthetic leg.

Ethan’s voice completely changed.

“What? You… you’re pregnant?”

“If you choose your sister over us, I’m getting an abortion!”

“Don’t! Nadia, please… just let me think,” Ethan stammered, his resolve cracking entirely. “I’ll… I’ll go check out the conditions at the asylum tomorrow.”

I swallowed the bitter, metallic taste in my throat. Holding the empty glass, I slowly turned my wheelchair around and went back to my room in the dark.