The fifteenth!
It was the only day of the month when my brother agreed to have dinner with me.
During the eight years I’d been living away from home, my brother always told me,
Even if I couldn’t return to the Gardner family for a while, I would always be the eldest daughter of the Gardner family, his only precious sister.
The fifteenth of every month is the night of the family reunion.
For eight years, he had never missed this day.
My brother smiled suddenly and gently rubbed my head.
"Well, let’s go. I’ll have dinner with you."
I had just taken a bite of my food when the doorbell rang. Emily arrived uninvited. "Brother, I came specially to have dinner with you."
Just as I was about to refuse, she squeezed in.
"Wow, so many delicious dishes, all seafood! Brother is so kind to me! I don’t have the luxury of eating his own cooking."
She picked up her chopsticks and was about to take some food, but I raised my hand to stop her.
"I didn’t invite you. Please leave."
She froze for a moment, her lips trembling slightly, her face full of grievance.
"Brother, I mean no harm. I just wanted to have dinner with you."
I looked at her, my voice soft. "Every month, you have twenty-nine days to eat with him. I only have one day."
Andrew Gardner frowned; his steps about to move forward stopped abruptly.
Emily’s tears suddenly fell.
"I… I understand."
"You’re siblings. I’m an outsider, sobbing. I’m leaving now."
She choked out, turned around, and ran out. I accidentally knocked over the potted plant by the door and fell.
My brother’s hand on the shoe cabinet suddenly tightened, and he stepped forward to help her up with a harsh tone.
"Emily, there should be a limit to your pretentiousness. Today was supposed to be my day to have dinner with Vivian. Who asked you to come?"
"Don’t think that just because Vivian can’t return to the Gardner family for the time being, you’ve truly become the eldest daughter of the Gardner family."
"If you’ve fallen, go to the hospital yourself. I won’t take you."
Emily bit her lip, tears welling in her eyes for a long time before she finally couldn’t hold back and ran away crying.
My brother stared at her back, then stiffly closed the door and sat down.
"Vivian, don’t worry about her. She’s a bad habit. Today, I’ll be with you no matter what."