They Chose My Twin, So I Chose a Life Without Them Chapter 03

They Chose My Twin, So I Chose a Life Without Them Chapter 03

After washing up, I lay down, and Nathan Reed sent me a message.

He went straight to the point.

“Did you submit your enrollment decision? You chose Lakeside State University, right?”

Nathan had always dreamed of Boston. He used to say he wouldn’t consider any school but Harvard.

A month before the SAT, however, he suddenly announced that he would never leave home and moved Lakeside State University to the top of his list.

I finally asked him why.

Nathan stumbled through his answer.

“Lily’s scores on her last few SAT practice tests were too low. She has a better chance of getting into a local school.”

I could barely believe what I was hearing.

“So you’re giving up your dream just to attend the same school as her?”

Nathan sounded unconcerned.

“It’s only a college. How could any school matter more than Lily?”

I suddenly wanted to laugh.

When Nathan told me Harvard was his dream, I had been so anxious that I couldn’t eat or sleep for days.

At the time, my grades were barely good enough for an average state school. Harvard had seemed impossible.

But because I wanted to stay beside him, I pushed myself until I was studying day and night.

When my SAT score appeared on the screen, I stared at the 1580 and cried with joy.

Yet he had abandoned his dream without hesitation so he could keep taking care of Lily Parker.

He had abandoned his promise to me too.

I swallowed the pain and asked another question.

“Then why did you insist that I apply to Lakeside State University with both of you?”

Before he answered, I imagined a thousand possibilities.

Maybe he couldn’t bear to leave me. Maybe he worried about me living far from home alone.

Nathan gave a knowing little laugh.

“Lily was born to stand in the spotlight. You’re better suited to stand beside her and make her look brighter.”

“Without you there for comparison, how would anyone see how exceptional she is?”

His words crashed into my chest like a hammer, making my whole body shake.

The idea that one of us existed to shine while the other existed as background had haunted me since birth.

Everyone around us, including our family, used that excuse to raise Lily up by tearing me down.

Nathan had been the only one who once told me, “You’re you.”

“Other people may think you’re ordinary, but you’ll always be one of a kind to me.”

I believed him. I had foolishly thought I would always be his exception.

Then he met Lily, and the gentle eyes that used to follow me never left her again.

I closed my eyes and forced the bitterness down.

“If that’s all, I’m going to sleep.”

I ended the call before he could answer.

As I reached for the light, I saw Lily standing in my doorway with a glass of milk.

“Claire, can I come in?”

I nodded, and she handed me the glass.

“By the way, we’re taking a family portrait tomorrow. Don’t oversleep again.”

She winked playfully and left.

I almost told her I wasn’t going, but the words died on my tongue.

Lily had been frail as a child. To free up more time to care for her, our parents sent me to our grandmother’s farm in rural Iowa.

They always claimed they were too busy to visit, but every Christmas and birthday, they mailed me a family portrait.

In every picture, Lily stood in the center, surrounded by our parents and Mason, smiling as if she had everything.

I envied her, and taking a family portrait with them became one of my deepest wishes.

After I came home, I had plenty of chances to make that wish come true.

Strangely, on every scheduled portrait day, I overslept despite my normally strict routine.

I slept so deeply that even my parents pounding on the door couldn’t wake me.

After it happened several times, they lost patience and stopped waiting.

I had already decided to leave, but I didn’t want to carry that regret with me.

To make sure I didn’t miss this one, I set three alarms at full volume.

I normally went to bed at ten, but that night I turned off the light before nine.

Even so, history repeated itself.