Have me committed to a mental hospital
They said I wasn't their real son.
?
My sister, ignoring my pleas, was determined to throw me in a mental hospital.
You're a menace, why don't you just die?
And my beloved fiancée?She not only watched with cold eyes but used her connections to make sure I suffered every kind of torment inside.
Five years.
Five years and I finally learned my lesson.
So, why do they suddenly want me to go back to being the spoiled, arrogant brat I used to be?
*****
"Ryan, what's with the Mr.Big Shot act again?It's late, why aren't you home?Are you trying to make us all worry about you on purpose?"
My sister, Ashley's voice blasted from the phone.
After five years, the Miller family finally arranged for me to be released.
Because today's Brandon's birthday.
He said he was willing to give me a chance to apologize.
Then, Dad took the phone.
"I know you resent us putting you in the crazy house, but who told you to be such a bully to Brandon?We did it for your own good!"Ashley chimed in.
"Exactly, and we got you out now, didn't we?What more do you want?"They kept nagging me.
Half an hour later, after they finished lecturing, they started asking where I was.
"Where are you right now?We'll send a car to pick you up!This time, be good.Don't go wandering around again!"
I swallowed hard, my voice extremely hoarse.
"The hospital."Yeah.I'd been waiting here, from day to night, without moving.
There was a pause on the other end.
Then, they yelled at me, even louder than before.
"At the hospital?Can't you get yourself home?Do we really have to come get you?It's not like you don't know the way back!"
"Who are you trying to fool with this act?Are you still resentful of us?
I knew you hadn't learned anything.I knew we shouldn't have gotten you out!"But they seemed to forget.
They were the ones who told me to wait here and not move in the first place.
"S-sorry, Mr.and Mrs.Miller, Ashley.I didn't mean to."I apologized without thinking.
They were stunned.
Maybe they were shocked by my obedience, or maybe they were surprised by how I addressed them.
Five years ago, we were a close family.
If it hadn't been for that DNA test, I never would've believed I wasn't their real son.
Not when I looked so much like my parents.
"Whatever!"They seemed to have lost their temper.
"I'll have Ashley pick you up!"
I sat there quietly, letting the cold wind and hunger wash over me.
"Need a ride, buddy?"A cab stopped in front of me.
I shook my head.
"Waiting for someone."Taxi after taxi left the curb.
It wasn't until after 10 pm, when the hospital was almost closed, that I still hadn't heard from the Miller family.
Not a single message on my phone.
The security guard took pity on me.
"You've been waiting all day.
Why aren't they here yet?I'm about to get off work, and it's pretty isolated out here.
It's dangerous for you to be alone at night!"I just tugged at the corner of my mouth and didn't say anything.
I'd waited five years.
What's one more day?The guard sighed.
He got some water and a sandwich for me.
Seeing I was alone and in danger, he stayed late to keep me company.
"Thanks, man!"I ate the sandwich obediently.
This was the best birthday I'd had in five years.
?
In the end, the Miller's car never came.
The security guard gave me a ride.
It was after midnight when I got back to the Miller's house.
My phone still had no messages.
The lights of the house were shining bright, and you could hear the laughter and chatter from outside.
I didn't question them.
If the maid hadn't opened the door, I might have stayed outside forever.
"Wow, what happened to you?You look terrible.
Your clothes are all dirty.
"Ashley burst out as soon as she saw me.
Mom didn't seem to believe it either.
"Ryan, have you lost a lot of weight?"
Why, in just five years, had I gone from a somewhat beefy young man to someone who barely weighed 80 pounds?Dad's eyes showed a hint of pity.
He immediately told the housekeeper to cook something for me to eat.
"We were going to pick you up, but Brandon wasn't feeling well, so we…"I knew.
This was their special way of making amends.
They could neglect me, put me down, and not have to worry about whether I was sad.
Afterwards, they'd give me a treat to make me forget the pain.
In the past, I would've been ecstatic.
But now, I didn't care.
I was about to say something when Ashley interrupted.
"It's just a guilt trip.He's probably pretending to be pitiful so you feel bad for him.Then he can stay here!"
Mom huffed and turned to me with a kind and gentle look.
"Anyway, we haven't found your real parents, so you can live here.You can call me Mom, just like before.I still think of you as my son!"
"It's okay, Mrs.Miller. I'm grateful that you're taking me in!"
That polite form of address was more than just words.
It had placed a chasm between the two of us, people who had once been as close as a person could be with their mother.
Mom couldn't hold back.
Tears instantly welled up in her eyes.
I wasn't the arrogant son she once knew.
I should complain.
I should rant about how they'd abandoned me all these years.
Anything would have been better than this pathetic and meek version of myself.
?
Brandon visibly trembled when he saw me, as if he'd seen something terrifying.
After a while, Brandon finally gathered the courage to hold out his hand.
"Ryan, let's shake on it!"I stood there, stunned.I'd never argued with him, so why would we "shake on it?"Five years ago, I'd just started college.
Like always, whenever I was in a new place, I would stake my claim on Emily.
Emily was my fiancée.
I loved her, and, being the Miller family's oldest son, I'd always been arrogant.
Naturally, I couldn't stand any guys who looked at her the wrong way.
Brandon was one of them.
Brandon had grown up in an orphanage.
For some reason, the cold and aloof Emily always seemed to pay special attention to him.
Even my sister, who was always on my side, turned against me.
I confronted Brandon once.
After that, Brandon started facing various forms of bullying at school.
Everyone said that I couldn't stand him.
Near the end of the semester, Brandon finally snapped and jumped from the top of the school building.
They saved him.
He wasn't hurt.
But he left a suicide note.
It was full of accusations against me!No one believed me.
Emily broke up with me.
I thought that was the worst it could get.
Then, they announced that I wasn't the Miller's real son.
The real son turned out to be Brandon.
As for where my real parents were?No one told me!In one night, I fell from heaven to hell.
In the end, the family I'd known for over twenty years sent me to a mental hospital.
A place worse than prison.
"I don't want to worry the family. I don't care what you did to me. It's all in the past."
"If you promise not to upset Mom and Dad, I can treat you like a brother!"Brandon smiled.
He was well-behaved and generous.
Anyone would praise him, saying he was the Miller's first son.
Everyone around him looked at him with approval.
Dad nodded.
"That's right. If you're willing to change, you'll always be the Miller's oldest son!"Ashley scowled.
"I'm only forgiving you for Brandon's sake.
You better thank him.
If you bully him again, I'll make you pay!"Five years ago, I would have tried to explain myself to everyone.
I didn't bully Brandon.
He staged all those things himself.
But now, I wasn't going to act like a clown, explaining myself to people who didn't care about me.
"I'm sorry.I came back mainly to get my ID…"Everyone's face darkened.
They all thought I was ungrateful.
"Why are you always stuck on small things?If you're so difficult, do you want to go back to the mental hospital?"
"We raised you for so long.
Why can't you be good like Brandon?Why are you always disobeying your parents?"Mom seemed a bit out of control.
I didn't understand why she was overreacting.
"But… I'm not your real son!"Wasn't it normal for me to leave and take my ID?Mom froze.
She looked at me blankly.
I guess I looked like a stranger.
Ashley scoffed.
"You're dreaming if you think you can just leave after living the high life at the Millers' for over twenty years. Do you think you can ever repay all that?"I lowered my head.
I couldn't understand these people.
They hated me.
I wasn't even a Miller.
Now that I was leaving, wouldn't that make them happy?In the end, I stayed at the Millers' for the time being.
My old master bedroom had become Brandon's room.
Now, I was in the maid's room, a place I'd never set foot in before.
I didn't complain.
I went to bed early.
Even in that soft bed, I still had nightmares.
I dreamt of my days in the mental hospital.
Those terrible people didn't care about my cries and tore at my clothes.
I begged them, telling them that my family and my fiancée would never let them get away with it!But my resistance only made them more violent.
They laughed at me for daydreaming.
They laughed that I thought I was still the Millers' oldest son.
They laughed at my stupidity.
Because everything that had happened to me was approved by the Miller family and Emily!Again, I woke up from a nightmare.
I felt cold all over.
?
When I went to the living room to get a glass of water, I saw Ashley sneaking out of her room.
She had a helmet in her hand, like she was going racing.
I pretended not to see anything and kept pouring my water.
Ashley paused.
Then, she came over.
"Don't you have anything to say to me?"
"Say what?"I asked.
Ashley was the Miller's daughter, but she loved riding motorcycles.
I remembered Ashley had been in an accident before.
Every time she snuck out to ride her motorcycle, I would curse her and tell her to be careful.
Ashley always acted like I was a pain in the ass.
"Why are you being so annoying?I'm riding a motorcycle, not going to war, so chill out!You're not my brother, Brandon doesn't even say anything, so why should you?"Even though I knew she was annoyed, I would still tell her to be careful before she left.
But all those times I'd cared about her vanished with the unanswered cries for help over the past five years.
Ashley's face darkened.
"Aren't you afraid I'll crash if I drive too fast?"I shook my head.
"I don't know about that. Isn't the thrill what it's all about?"
"If you don't have anything else to say, I'm going back to my room?"Ashley blocked my path.
I tried to go around her, but she stopped me.
"So, we sent you to the crazy house for five years.Are you going to hold a grudge forever?If you hadn't been bullying Brandon, would we have sent you there?"She smiled coldly.
Every time we argued, she would accuse me of bullying Brandon.
Then, she would watch me break down.
But this time, I just shook my head calmly.
"I'm not angry.Really."She seemed very angry and kicked the table.
?
When I saw Emily again, I thought I would be emotional.
I thought I'd tell her about the pain I'd suffered all these years, but nothing happened.
Not even a ripple in my heart.
She and Brandon stood together, a perfect match, and she looked at him with a tenderness I'd never seen.
When she saw me, she frowned.
I'd always thought of myself as Emily's fiancé.
Out of all my dreams of being a scientist or a doctor, I wrote that I wanted to marry Emily.
Now that I think about it, I was probably always chasing after Emily.
And Emily never said anything.
People said that Emily was only nice to me because of the Miller family.
Now, Emily had probably gotten her wish.
"Ryan, I saw that your clothes were all dirty yesterday. I got you a few things. Don't worry, I've only worn these once, so you'll be fine, right?"
Brandon pulled out his old clothes like he was trying to get a reward.
Everyone's eyes were on us.
I remembered how embarrassed I'd felt so many times in the past when I'd lost to Brandon.
But all that embarrassment was nothing compared to the hell I'd been through for five years.
"Thank you, Brandon!"I took the clothes obediently.
I could sell them for money when I left the Miller's house.
The once-proud son was now so humble.
Even the maids couldn't help but whisper to each other.
The Millers looked displeased.
"Ryan, are you kidding me?"Ashley seemed to be losing it.
She threw the clothes on the floor.
"How can you wear other people's clothes?Don't you know that you're part of the Miller family......"
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