The Unloved Replacement

Caelum nodded quietly.

A memory suddenly surfaced from the day the Gomez family found me. Linda had held me tightly, tears streaming down her face as she cried herself hoarse. "If your father hadn't brought your brother back to keep me going, I don't think I would've lived long enough to see you again. You have to treat your brother well from now on. He'll never look down on you."

At the time, I had thought Caelum could not have sincerely hoped for me to return. He was the youngest in the family and the only son at the time. Aside from my dad, George Gomez, no one knew he was not their biological child, so he must have grown up surrounded by love. But now that the family's biological son had been found, his status had become awkward.

When I arrived home last night, I had not even seen him.

Linda had brought me to look for him, but he hid and refused to meet me.

Linda said, "It's not his fault. Your father and I suddenly brought you back, so he must be feeling rather upset right now. He isn't deliberately giving you attitude."

If I had not seen how thin and timid Caelum was today, I really would have believed her and thought Caelum disliked me.

I had not expected Linda to favor daughters over sons like this.

I sighed softly and reached out to pull him over, but he quickly dodged away. I took his hand and pulled up his sleeve before he could refuse. Only then did I discover that both his arms were covered in bruises.

"She hits you, too?" I asked in shock.

Caelum shook his head. "Not long after I was old enough to remember things, whenever Mom and I were alone together, she would always have accidents. When George and my sisters rushed over to comfort her, they would also worry about me since I was there.

"Later, after it happened too many times, they thought I was deliberately hurting Mom. As soon as they arrived, they would push me aside and gather around her. Hannah practices kickboxing, so she's very strong. Every time she pushed me, making me fall or crash into something, they would yell at me for pretending to be weak to win their sympathy."

I pursed my lips and fetched the first aid kit. While applying ointment to his bruises, I discovered that his arms weren't the only places that had been hurt. His waist and back were also covered in bruises.

We could not stay in the Gomez family.

No wonder my mentor said I would go back soon.

I was only halfway through applying the ointment when someone suddenly started pounding on the door. Caelum panicked and hurriedly reached for his clothes. Before he could put them on properly, the person outside kicked the door open.

"Caelum! What did you do to hurt her so badly this time?!" I looked up to see Hannah, my second-oldest sister, glaring at us with fury written all over her face. She had barged straight into her own brother's room without a second thought. If Caelum had been even a moment slower just now, she would have seen everything.

I was a little angry. "Hannah, Caelum is an adult, too! Don't you know you should respect other people's privacy?!"

Hannah's eyes darted away nervously.

Linda immediately rushed over to mediate. "Oh, I'm really alright. Stop involving your two brothers in this."

It would have been better if she had not come. The moment she did, Hannah looked at the ice packs on her arm, and her anger flared.

Hannah shoved us aside as she snapped, "If you two hadn't been so picky and insisted on eating the foie gras Mom cooked herself, would any of this have happened?!"

Caelum ran over to help me, and each of us grabbed one of her hands.

[Hit them! Hit them hard!]

[I want this little bastard to know who's truly the most loved in this family!]

That voice was just too familiar.

Hannah froze, confusion written all over her face. Then, she turned to look at our mom with a complicated expression.

My mom looked anxious, as if she was worried that we would start fighting. But in her heart, she was gloating and waiting for Hannah to beat us up.

After a while, Hannah let go. "Mom, something came up at the company. Olivia is still waiting for me. I need to grab the documents and head out."

Mia yelled at her in anger. "Why are you so worried about company matters?! You should teach those two a lesson first!"

Watching Hannah leave in a hurry, Mia could only give us a vicious glare. She then warned us, "If you dare hurt her again, I'll make you pay!"

She then snorted coldly and left as well.

Our mom's expression became somewhat odd as she said, "Silas, Caelum, I'm so sorry about this. It's all my fault. I'll go talk to them right now."

After everyone left, Caelum and I held each other's hands and could not help smiling at each other.

It turned out that as long as our sisters were in physical contact with us, they could hear Mom's inner thoughts as well and see through her facade.