I Was Their Lab Rat, Not Their Daughter

Chapter 3

Rohan stood up and instinctively pulled Odette into his arms to shield her. When he looked at me, the tenderness in his eyes was gone completely.

"Noemi, what do you think you're doing?"

I stared at the hand he had placed between us.

Once, he had told me those hands would shelter me from every storm. Now, those same hands held me firmly outside his world.

I gave a faint smile. "Stop pretending, Rohan. You invited me to this dinner just to see what state I'd be in, didn't you? Well? Isn't the test subject losing control of exactly what you wanted?"

Rohan froze. He opened his mouth, but no words came out.

Odette stepped forward, eyes glistening. "I'm so sorry, sister. I asked him to help me. If you're angry, blame me."

Rohan frowned, and a flicker of something like sympathy crossed his face. "This has nothing to do with you."

He looked down at me, barely keeping his anger in check. "Noemi, you took her place as the heiress all these years while Odette suffered. I don't see anything wrong with helping her."

'Nothing wrong.'

I looked at Rohan's face, and something heavy and finally sank deep inside my chest.

It was true I had held Odette's place. But while Odette was being held and loved by our real parents, I was alone in a dark house with the electricity cut off.

I was six years old. They told me the heiress must learn to be independent and brave.

While Odette received an allowance of two thousand a month, I had only two hundred for my meals. They said not comparing oneself to others was the finest virtue a child could have.

I believed they simply loved me in their own quiet way.

But when Odette came back, they would drive an hour out of their way just to take her to candlelit dinners for the three of them alone. They gave her an unlimited credit card and said a girl should be raised with every comfort.

"Noemi, you're the older sister. You've had her place all these years. Don't be envious."

For a long time, I truly believed I was the wicked, ungrateful one.

The truth was simpler. I was just never loved.

Not by family, and not by him.

I swallowed the ache rising in my throat and turned to leave.

The professors shook their heads at the video they had been recording on their phones. "The sample is still insufficient. We can't verify the results stated in your report. Odette, I'm afraid your recommendation is in jeopardy."

Odette grabbed my arm, her voice trembling with tears. "Sister, please, you're already here. Just stay a little longer and help me. I only need you to stay for a little while longer and I'll get the spot! I need this so badly, sister, please!"

I gritted my teeth. "Let go!"

But she held on tight.

In the struggle, my stomach struck the corner of the table. A dark, spreading stain seeped through my clothes.