Livestreaming the Low-Budget Life

Ruby yanked my hair. Pain shot through me as I stared at her twisted face, a shiver of fear running down my spine.

She was terrifying. How had the sweet, gentle girl from six years ago become this?

Not satisfied, she raised her hand. The girls behind her surged into the stall, tearing at my clothes.

Ruby lifted her phone, recording every second. "Look at your body. What a waste if no one sees it. With Mom and Dad treating you like that, as your sister, I definitely can't fall behind."

She laughed, loud and unrestrained.

I swallowed my sobs, forcing myself not to cry. Any tear would only fuel her excitement.

After what felt like forever, she finally seemed satisfied and left, her group trailing behind her.

I crouched on the floor, soaked and shivering from the cold. She might still be laughing now, but who knew how long that would last.

…

That night, Dad came home, which didn't happen often, carrying a bag full of food.

"Aria, I won some money playing cards, so I got you a few treats."

He pulled the snacks out of the bag, mostly imported. They were probably leftovers from the villa that Ruby didn't want, handed down to me like charity.

Dad stood before me, looking like he had something to say. Just as I opened my mouth, he suddenly started crying.

"I'm sorry, Aria. I have cancer. I don't have much time left."

Cancer? Really?

Before I could say anything, he grabbed my hand and poured out his plea. "I don't want to die, Aria. You have to save me. I've got some money with me. How much do you have? We can sell your grandma's bracelet to pay for my treatment."

The moment he mentioned Grandma's bracelet, my guard went up. "I can give you money, but not the bracelet."

It was something Grandma had left me before she passed. In the six years I'd lived in this apartment, she'd been with me for half that time.

Even Grandma had been fooled. Like me, she thought that after the divorce, Dad had spiraled into ruin. He was cruel enough to lie even to his own mother.

Thinking about Grandma, who had been so old and had endured hardship with me, made my chest ache unbearably.

I frowned. "Dad, are you really sick, or are you trying to trick me out of my money and Grandma's bracelet for gambling?"

His eyes darted away for a moment before he pulled a stack of medical reports from his bag. "I'm really sick. Look at these results. How could I lie about something like this?"

I had given him the chance to be honest, yet he still wouldn't tell the truth, stubbornly trying to deceive me.

Glancing at the reports, I immediately noticed they were fake. He hadn't even bothered to make them look convincing.

A deep, sinking disappointment settled over me.

Seeing that I wouldn't give him the bracelet, Dad had no choice but to back down. He even put on a look of grievance.

"Fine, I'll figure something out myself. I poured you a glass of milk. Don't forget to drink it. You've been putting a lot of effort into your studies."

I drank the milk and went to bed, carefully sliding the bracelet I had hidden onto my wrist, worried he might try to take it.

That night, I slept soundly.

But when I woke the next morning, my wrist was bare. The bracelet was gone. I quickly opened the live stream to see what had been recorded the night before.

I realized that Dad had slipped sleeping pills into my milk while I wasn't looking. While I was out cold, he had quietly taken the bracelet from my wrist and gone back to the villa.

No wonder I hadn't noticed a thing last night. He had drugged me.

People in the comments were talking about it.

"This is too cruel! That bracelet was the heirloom Aria's Grandma left her, and he just took it like that."

Dad actually fired back in the comments. "She doesn't deserve my mother's bracelet. It was meant for me. Taking it is just a way to toughen Aria up."