Approved for Her, Rejected for Me Chapter 02

Approved for Her, Rejected for Me Chapter 02

Dinner ends on a bitter note.

Adrian walks over to the couch and speaks to me in a soft voice.

“Don’t be upset. It’s just dinner.”

He bends down, his voice gentle.

“I’ll sneak you out later. You can pick whatever you want.”

He squeezes my fingers, just like he has countless times before when he tries to cheer me up.

“Come on. Give me a smile. I got you something.”

He brings two huge shopping bags over and unzips them.

They’re stuffed with the latest collectible blind boxes and limited-edition figures.

Every single one is a newly released item.

He has clearly gone through them all beforehand. Almost every blind box has a sticky note attached, marking exactly what’s inside.

“I know you love these, so I spent the last few days going from store to store and buying everything I could find.”

“I spent an entire day opening them all. The rare ones are in here. I only kept a few of the regular ones.”

He looks at me expectantly, “Do you like them?”

My eyes still drift toward the collectibles despite myself.

It hits me that I haven’t bought anything like this in two whole years.

“Of course I…”

Before I can finish, Phoebe suddenly runs over and throws herself in front of the shopping bags.

“Are these all for me?”

The smile that has just begun to form on my lips disappears instantly.

As soon as she straightens up, I reach out and pull both bags behind me.

“They’re MINE.”

Phoebe freezes.

She looks at the bags, then at Adrian. The disappointment in her eyes is impossible to hide, and within seconds, her eyes turn red as she bites her lip and stands there silently.

Of course, Adrian can never stand seeing her like this.

“Amelia, maybe you could…”

He hesitates, “Let Phoebe pick a few?”

“No.”

My answer is immediate.

“Then I’ll take you shopping again tomorrow.”

“No.”

Adrian frowns, “Don’t be so stingy. Phoebe is your sister now, too.”

I finally look up, “What sister?”

Adrian’s expression stiffens for a moment.

He seems to realize he has let something slip. He immediately looks away, clearly uncomfortable.

Phoebe speaks in a small voice.

“Mom and Dad… they made me their daughter a while ago.”

I bite down hard on the inside of my lip, and the faint taste of blood spreads across my tongue.

I want to ask why they never told me, but something seems to block my throat, and for a long moment, I can’t get a single word out.

Something this important, and they never even thought I deserved to know.

“Amelia, I’m sorry…”

Phoebe looks at me cautiously, “I just wanted a family so badly. I begged them to take me in…”

“This isn’t your fault.”

Adrian immediately cuts her off.

The look he gives Phoebe is filled with sympathy, as if she is the one who has been wronged.

I let out a bitter laugh, “How is it not?”

“If it weren’t for her, I could’ve gone on living the way I always did. Everyone in this family used to love me.”

My voice grows more and more choked.

“If it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t have lost the friends in the Pack who actually liked the same things I did.”

I can’t hold it in anymore.

“If it weren’t for her, I could like what I like and do what I want without checking her face first. I wouldn’t have to submit an application every time I wanted something and wait for all of you to approve it!”

All the resentment I’ve kept buried for so long finally explodes.

I grab the shopping bags behind me and start throwing the blind boxes and figures onto the floor one by one.

Within seconds, the living room is a complete mess.

But after I finally let everything out, I don’t get comfort.

Everyone looks at me like I’m just a spoiled child throwing a tantrum.

“Are you serious?”

Adrian crouches down and starts picking up the figures scattered across the floor.

“You’ve been protected your whole life. We’re just trying to teach you to think about other people.”

He puts one of the figures back into the bag.

“And it’s not like we reject everything you ask for. If an application is reasonable, we approve it.”

“Anything we turn down is because you’re asking for too much.”

I stare at him, suddenly feeling like the man in front of me is both familiar and completely foreign.

He still looks like the Adrian I remember, the boy who grew up beside me and knew me better than anyone.

The same man who once promised that no matter what happened, he would always protect me as my fated mate.

So why has the person who knows me best become the person who understands me the least?

For the first time, I wonder if I have ever truly known him at all.

“These gifts. Do you still want them?”

Adrian asks.

I don’t answer.

He stays silent for a few seconds before finally nodding. Then he turns toward Phoebe.

“Fine. Phoebe, go ahead. Pick whatever you want.”

The hurt expression disappears from Phoebe’s face instantly.

She walks over and casually picks up both shopping bags.

Just as she is about to head upstairs, she suddenly stops.

Then she turns back to me.

The corners of her lips slowly curl into a strange, knowing smile.