99 Times Repeated, Not Once Did They Say I Love You Chapter 03

99 Times Repeated, Not Once Did They Say I Love You Chapter 03

Silas’ face went dark with rage.

He forced the words out through clenched teeth. “If you don’t do what I say, don’t even think about coming back to the Lioraen house.”

I waved him off without missing a beat. “As if I’d want to.”

That pathetic threat didn’t stop me from taking first place again in the second mock exam.

This time, Silas didn’t come looking for me. Instead, he sent invitations to Maeve’s birthday party to the entire grade.

Everyone got one except me.

Maeve and I shared a birthday, but every year, when the Lioraens threw a party, I somehow got forgotten.

After the sixty-second failure, even the God of Time, who loved his jokes, started to crack. He finally gave in.

“The old win condition is void. If you can get them to promise you a birthday party, I’ll count it as a pass.”

So for the next thirty days, I dropped hints. I left the calendar open to the date. I practically begged.

Every day, their awkward, complicated looks told me the same thing.

“If we promise you a birthday party, Maeve will read into it.”

Then they called Maeve over and asked, “Maeve, what kind of theme do you want for your birthday party?”

The God of Time watched me fail again and again, and he went from impatient to truly uneasy.

“How can you not manage something this basic? Are these people even your family?”

By then, I had failed ninety-nine times.

Ninety-nine days of rejection, ninety-nine days of resets, and ninety-nine days of them finding every possible way to tell me they didn’t love me.

I was too tired to do anything but smile bitterly.

Silas probably thought I was crying into my pillow over the missing invitation.

He probably expected the whole thing to sting.

But I didn’t need any of it anymore.

A birthday alone was fine.

So I went out, treated myself to a good meal, bought a new pair of shoes, and only then headed back to school.

When I reached the dorm building, I saw them waiting there.

It was my parents, Silas, and Maeve.

Silas’s eyes dropped to my shoes, and his brow furrowed at once.

“Those shoes are a few bucks at least. Wasn’t your card frozen? Where’d the funds come from?”

I hadn’t touched the card the Lioraens gave me since I left, so that was the first I’d heard of them freezing it.

They could do whatever they want.

They only gave me a few hundred a month anyway.

My parents always said that because of my “unfortunate background,” I needed to learn “the value of finances.”

But I knew the truth. They were afraid that if I got more than Maeve, she’d feel overlooked.

That was why I couldn’t figure out what they were doing there.

If Maeve’s feelings were the only thing they’d ever cared about, why bother showing up at all?

The evening wind swept through the courtyard, and when I spoke, my voice was every bit as cold.

“Mr. Lioraen, Mrs. Lioraen, we’ve severed ties.” I looked at them with no expression at all. “Where my funds come from is none of your business.”

I turned to leave.

That was when Maeve spoke up behind me, her voice bright with fake innocence.

“Hazel, what’s that red mark on your neck?”

She gave a soft little intake of breath. “You exchanged your dignity for a pair of shoes?”