I Moved 1,500 Miles Away, Now You Can Favor Her Openly Chapter 05

Only one day was left before I had to report to college.

I went to the hospital for a follow-up appointment.

There, I ran into Harold Brooks, the specialist who had treated me years ago and had since retired.

He stared at my name for a long moment, then spoke hesitantly.

“Hannah? Why didn’t you ever go to Aldermark for that minimally invasive surgery?”

A dull roar filled my head.

“What surgery?”

Brooks frowned and pulled up my old records, and the words came up on the screen line by line.

[Auditory nerve in right ear not completely dead.]

[Recommend minimally invasive surgery in Aldermark. Prognosis good. Most hearing may be restored.]

[Estimated cost: fifty thousand dollars.]

Brooks sighed.

“Your father had already paid a ten-thousand-dollar deposit. But the day before you were supposed to book your flights, he came in and took all of it back.”

“He said the family couldn’t come up with that kind of money, so they had to give up on the treatment.”

I looked at the printed copy of the refund slip.

The refund date was exactly ten years earlier, the day before Chloe left for a six-week elite art boarding camp in Alpenvale.

And the camp fee was ten thousand dollars, not a penny more or less.

It turned out my world could have had sound in it.

They were the ones who had shut my ears with their own hands.

When I pushed open the front door, everyone was in the living room, helping Chloe pack for college.

I walked over and put the copy of the refund slip on the coffee table.

“So Chloe’s summer camp mattered more than letting me hear again. Is that it?”

The air in the living room froze instantly.

Gregory flinched, but he quickly squared his shoulders.

“Yes, I canceled the surgery. Even the doctor said there was no guarantee it would work!”

“Back then, Chloe felt so guilty that she fell into a severe depression. If she hadn’t gone overseas to clear her head, it would have wrecked her.”

“We had to spend what little money we had on the kid with more of a future.”

So, once again, I was the one being unreasonable.

Without thinking, I turned to Ethan, hoping for even a little support.

But he looked away, unable to meet my eyes.

It hit me at once. “You knew too, didn’t you?”

Ethan’s lips trembled, and his voice came out hoarse. “Hannah, Chloe was crying every single day back then. She didn’t mean to…”

My tears finally dried up.

“So my ears turned into her summer camp in Alpenvale.”

Mason slammed his hand on the table, furious and embarrassed.

“What are you trying to do, bringing home that stupid piece of paper?”

“Put the whole family on trial? That’s Mom and Dad’s money. They get to decide who they spend it on.”

“Right.”

I looked at him calmly, and there wasn’t a trace of warmth left in my eyes. “Spend your money however you want.”

“But of that ten-thousand-dollar deposit you scraped together, five thousand was money Grandma left to me and me alone before she died.”

I held out my hand, palm up, in front of them.

“Give me back that five thousand. Otherwise, I’m calling the police right now and reporting you for taking my money.”

Gregory, Diane, and Mason all froze.

They couldn’t seem to believe that the daughter they had “spoiled” for ten years, the one who had always been so understanding, would turn on them over five thousand dollars.

“Have you lost your mind?”

Mason flew into a rage, tore a check out of his checkbook, and threw it at me.

“Take the money and get out of here until you cool off! You’re impossible.”

I crouched down and picked up the check.

Then I grabbed my suitcase and walked straight to the front door.

I didn’t say a single word of goodbye.

Three hours later, I was sitting at my gate at the airport.

The boarding announcement came over the speakers.

I opened my email and sent everything out in one batch, the refund slip that had cost me my hearing along with every recording I had made over those days.

I said a silent goodbye to my dear “family.”