He Only Saw His Stepsister

Chapter 4

The ambulance arrived.

Daniel took a blow to the back from a precast concrete slab, and he needed to go to the hospital for a checkup.

Lily scraped her forehead open, so she got in the ambulance too.

When the stretcher passed me, Daniel called my name.

"Olivia."

I stared right back at him.

"Are you okay?"

There it was. He finally asked me.

It came after everyone else had already gotten into the ambulance, when the stretcher was already lifted.

That question was just to make himself feel better, nothing more.

I shook my head.

"I'm fine."

He didn't say anything else.

The doors slammed shut, and the ambulance roared away.

I stood alone on the construction site, surrounded by scattered bricks and shattered glass.

Someone pressed a bottle of water into my hand and asked if I was hurt.

I said no.

And I really wasn't injured.

The collapsing wall didn't touch me.

It crashed into me three years ago.

It hit the day I said yes to his engagement proposal.

It crushed me every single day I spent stupidly believing he would slowly fall in love with me.

It hung over me for more than a thousand days and nights, when I kept lying to myself that he just wasn't good at showing his feelings.

By the time I left the construction site, the sky had already gone dark.

A text from Daniel sat waiting on my phone.

Daniel: Lily's test results are back. Just a soft tissue injury. She's fine.

A moment later, a second message came through.

Daniel: Lily got three stitches on her forehead. Don't blame her. She just wanted to finish the project faster.

I stared hard at that message.

He'd thrown himself in front of Lily to shield her. That's why the slab hit him.

He was in the hospital texting me, asking me not to blame Lily.

He never even bothered to ask why I was standing next to that wall in the first place.

Never asked if I'd been scared.

Never asked how I was getting home.

All he had was, don't blame Lily.

I stuffed my phone back into my pocket and didn't reply.

My taxi crossed a bridge, and the cold wind from the river came pouring in through the open window.

It was icy cold, like something inside me had finally died.

The next morning, I handed in my resignation.

My team lead asked why I was leaving.

I told him I wanted to switch industries.

He sighed. "You've actually got real talent here. You just lack confidence."

Lack confidence.

I turned that over in my head. Yeah, that sounded right.

But when did that self-doubt start creeping in any way?

It started the day when Daniel said "You're just a draft person. What the hell do you know about structures?"

It started when Lily started looping her arm through his and walking ahead of me, and he never once pushed her away.

It started every single time the three of us walked somewhere together. I was always the one left trailing behind alone.

They made me feel like I was completely worthless.

Worthless enough that I didn't deserve to be loved.

Worthless enough that when the wall came crashing down that day, I didn't even deserve someone to pull me out of the way.

But I know the truth now.

I'm not worthless.

I just picked the wrong person to love.

The paperwork for my resignation went through fast.

I packed everything from my desk into a cardboard box, and walked right past Daniel's office on the way out.

The door was closed.

Through the glass wall, I could see him leaning over his desk drafting.

Lily sat right beside him, that gauze bandage wrapped around her forehead, pointing at the screen and saying something.

Daniel turned his head toward her, listening intently.

And then he smiled.

I'd seen that smile before.

It was never for me.