Chapter 12
Chapter 12
Ronald questioned, “Why only three meals? Isn’t Aubree’s diet specifically customized to follow the principle of frequent, smaller meals?”
Carmen, sitting in the middle, started to panic, fidgeting with her fingers uneasily. “Maybe the kitchen was too busy and made a mistake?”
Even Trevor, who usually took things lightly, looked surprised. ‘Aubree couldn’t even eat enough here?’ he said inwardly.
Alice also felt a vague sense of unease, but since everything had already passed, perhaps, as Carmen said, it was just a mistake in the kitchen.
“The mistake has already happened, and there’s nothing we can do to change it. We’ll just have to make it up to Aubree when she comes back,” she said, trying to brush it off.
Emery suddenly thought of what Aubree said to him at the school gate today. “If it were Carmen, would this matter just pass by so easily?”
He suddenly felt unsure, asking inwardly, “Were our actions really right?’
It was suffocating. The pain in his heart seemed to spread to his limbs. His eyes were sore, and without looking, he knew they must be red.
“Today, I went to Rithol High School to see Aubree. Do you know what she told me about the school forum?” Emery repeated what Aubree had said.
“If this happened to Carmen now, Mom, would you just brush it off so lightly? Earlier, you said Aubree might have bribed the doctor to fake this report, but have you thought about where Aubree would get the money?
“She left the Wilson family; where would she live? Does she have enough money for food?”
Emery practically shouted the last sentence.
Daxton immediately felt annoyed, as these words had placed Carmen in an unfavorable light.
“Emery, you’re playing the saint now, but don’t you remember how you treated Aubree before?” he snapped.
The sentence deflated Emery instantly. He looked like a lost soul, his eyes blank. “Right, I’m not a saint either.” Even the slot they were celebrating now was one he decided to give up for Aubree.
So the little girl who used to follow him around, sweetly calling him, had been lost by him.
He walked up the stairs in a daze. By the time Emery snapped back to reality, he was already standing at the door of Aubree’s old room.
He pushed the door open, only to find that the room’s layout hadn’t changed at all, as if the owner were still there.
Emery sat on the bed like a lost soul, and at the sight of the stuffed bear on the bed, his eyes went blank again.
He still remembered how excited Aubree was when she first came back and saw the room, holding that little bear with sheer joy.
But actually, this room was originally a storage room with poor lighting and space. Since everyone in the family was busy, they didn’t have time to set up a proper room for her. The little bear she loved so much was also something Carmen didn’t
want.
Emery felt his whole body trembling.
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Chapter 12
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In contrast, Carmen’s room was the largest and best in the entire Wilson family, filled with limited edition dolls that were almost overflowing.
Feeling a chill on his face, Emery reached up to touch it and realized he had been crying without knowing when.
“Aubree, I’m wrong.” A low sob echoed in the small room.
Emery regretted not standing up for Aubree when she was being doubted and accused, and he shouldn’t have rushed to school and blamed her without thinking clearly.
On the very first day she came home, he stood before her, extended his hand, and told her, “Don’t be afraid. I’ll always protect you.”
He failed to keep that promise.
If he had thought from Aubree’s perspective even once, he would understand that she was the one who suffered the most injustice.
‘How could I make her give up her spot at Rithol Art School training camp so easily!’ Breathing heavily, Emery suddenly remembered something and got up to flip over the mattress.
“Emery, I’ll tell you a secret. Under my mattress hides my most precious thing,” Aubree once told him.
It was a painting of their family together.
With trembling fingers, Emery picked up the painting and turned it over.
“To always be together with Mommy, Daddy, brothers, and Carmen!” the words on it read.
Heartbroken beyond words by what he had done, Emery couldn’t hold back any longer and burst into tears.
He had lost his sister… again.
