They Wanted Me to Chaperone My Sister Abroad, So I Vanished Chapter 12

They Wanted Me to Chaperone My Sister Abroad, So I Vanished Chapter 12

Linda’s world hadn’t just cracked-it had dissolved.

She could no longer travel overseas for school, and she’d failed to earn scores good enough for any

respectable domestic university.

Her parents’ every thought revolved around Bella, and Owen no longer showered her with his usual doting

affection.

Every single misfortune traced back to Bella.

Linda sat weeping for hours, until she felt she’d cried every last tear from her body. The furniture around her remained unchanged, yet the house felt utterly alien. Nothing tangible had shifted, yet everything about their family dynamic was irreparably broken.

She roughly wiped the tears off her cheeks and sprinted out the front door.

She couldn’t bear to stay in this suffocating house another minute-she needed to find Marcus, who lived in the adjacent apartment building.

He was always so gentle; surely he’d think Mom, Dad, and Owen had all lost their minds, and hold her while

she cried.

Before she reached the building entrance gate, she spotted Marcus’s silhouette on the swings in the complex’s small garden. He sat hunched over, radiating overwhelming loneliness, talking on a phone call.

Who was he speaking to? Could it be Bella, who’d vanished without a single reply to anyone’s messages?

Anxiety coiled in her chest. She slowed her steps, easing closer to catch his words.

Marcus spoke in a quiet, low tone, every word clear enough for Linda to catch.

“Do you know Bella got 1580?”

“I missed my dream university again this year-only fifteen points.”

“I’m drowning in regret. If I’d joined Bella’s study group and reviewed material with her more often, I might’ve gotten accepted this time around.”

“You’re right. I wasted all my spare time catering to Linda when I should’ve prioritized my own academics. I repeated senior year solely to get into my dream school, yet I spent every day running errands for her and indulging her silly, pointless whims.”

“When Linda flunked her SAT, she could simply pack her bags and fly overseas to any university that would take her-someone like her never cares about education. But I’m different; I have goals I refuse to abandon.”

“James, I regret every single choice I made this past year. Truly, I’m filled with endless remorse.”

“I’ve tried messaging Bella repeatedly, but she never replies to any of my texts. Do you think if I properly apologize to her, she’d share all her review materials with me?”

Linda clapped a hand over her mouth, staggering backward in stunned disbelief. Her shoe crunched down hard on a dry twig, a sharp snapping sound cutting through the quiet garden and alerting Marcus to her

presence.

Panic seized her. She spun on her heel and ran blindly, paying no attention to the path beneath her feet.

She sprinted until her lungs burned, then tripped over a loose brick. She stumbled forward and crashed heavily onto the gravel walkway.

Her thin summer skirt did nothing to cushion the fall. Knees met gravel, skin tore open, and blood welled up in angry red lines.

The pain left her unable to stand, so she sank to the pavement and sobbed uncontrollably. In eighteen years of sheltered upbringing, she’d never sustained even a minor scrape before.

She couldn’t tell if her tears stemmed from the physical pain of her fall or the crushing heartbreak of everything that had unraveled over the past few days.

The upscale residential complex was quiet and sparsely populated, and no one from her household had

noticed she’d run off.

After crying alone on the pavement for a long while, she dragged herself shakily to her feet and limped all the way back home.

To her shock, every family member sat inside the house, yet not a single person had gone searching for her. They didn’t even spare her a glance or word of concern when she stumbled in covered in dirt and scrapes.

“Mom, I fell down and hurt my leg really badly…” Linda stepped beside her mother, lifting her skirt to show her bleeding knees, only to receive a dismissive, half-hearted response.

“Next time, watch your step. First-aid kit’s in the kitchen. Iodine and cotton swabs-handle it yourself.”

Linda stood utterly dumbfounded, half-convinced the past eighteen years of unconditional spoiling had all

been some elaborate dream.

Once, the tiniest cut or bruise would send Mom, Dad, and Owen into a panic, fussing over her nonstop. Now her knees were raw and bleeding, and no one cared enough to check on her.

Her gaze drifted to the dining table, covered with printed banquet menus and wine lists-all prepared exclusively for Bella’s send-off party. Their neglect all stemmed from Bella’s unexpected academic success.

Linda gritted her teeth and limped off to treat her wounds alone.

She couldn’t fathom how unbearable these few days of indifference felt to her. Yet Bella, who outshone her in every way imaginable, had endured eighteen full years of this cold, loveless neglect every single day.

Owen stepped back inside from the balcony, holding a stack of printed contact lists.

“I’ve reached out to every guest we need to invite. The party’s locked in for this Sunday. Our out-of-town relatives from the countryside will arrive Saturday evening, and all hotel accommodations are fully

arranged.”

Linda’s eyes flew wide in alarm. “This Sunday? That’s barely a few days away! But we still haven’t gotten any response from Bella.”

Mom’s eyes never left the wine selection sheets as she replied. “We’re already behind schedule; it’s better to host early rather than delay further. Her phone still goes straight to voicemail, but I’ve sent multiple detailed messages-she’s definitely seen them by now.”

Linda refused to drop the subject, pressing anxiously for answers. “What if we still can’t reach Bella by the

day of the party?”

Dad let out a calm, confident laugh. “That’s impossible. This celebration is entirely for her benefit. Bella would never turn down such a wonderful honor for herself. We specifically scheduled it on a Sunday to avoid conflicting with her university classes.”

“Don’t worry-she will absolutely show up.”