- 8.
When I came put the next day, it was almost lunchtime. The whole family was already at the table with a spread of food.
Jake, seeing me, did his friendly act. “Danny, you’re up. I ordered this just for you, it’s our family’s fave, I got it to go”
く
“You gotta try this, I bought this with my own
money.”
There was a moment like this in my past life.
Jake insisted on making me birthday noodles
to celebrate my birthday. I flipped the bowl. I
was allergic to seafood and those noodles
were full of it.
Mom and Dad and Sarah also acted like they
forgot about my allergy, and were ready to
pounce on me. And after they knew it, they
didn’t even bother to apologize, saying things
like.
“Why didn’t you say you didn’t want it instead
of ruining Jake’s efforts? He didn’t know your
were allergic.”
How could he not know? I first got sick from
く
seafood at their place. I never had seafood
before. After eating a shrimp at their place, I
broke out into hives, and everyone went
crazy.
Back then, Sarah was still my sister. She
watched too many dramas and was convinced
my aunt was trying to kill me. Sarah, who was
eight, pushed her and yelled at her in front of
everyone. She was always nervous and afraid
to ask a price but was still able to do
something like that.
But that was before.
I blinked away the sting in my eyes. Seeing
that I hadn’t moved, Sarah had enough.
“Danny, have you no manners? The whole
family has been waiting for you, who are you
giving the stink eye to?”
L
I glanced at the seafood feast on the table,
and seeing no surprise on their faces, I spoke up. “I’ve been living here for over a decade, and Jake hasn’t even been here a year. How could you forget about my seafood allergy?”
Everyone was silent, even Sarah. They used to be so worried about me, even Dad threatened to cut ties with my uncle and his family. And Sarah cried all the time, saying she wanted to give me her favorite doll.
And Jake hid in the corner, watching. He knew.
Ever since I found out about my allergy, the
dinner table had been a no–seafood zone.
And even if they ate outside, they never ordered seafood.
<
But now, they’d forgotten. They were all
about Jake now.
Mom and Dad looked a little guilty. Jake
started crying again. “I’m sorry, Danny. I
didn’t know, it’s all my fault. Don’t blame
Mom and Dad, I’ll just leave.‘
33
He was staggering to the door when Mom
and Dad rushed over to comfort him. “It’s
okay, you didn’t do it on purpose.
“Yeah, Danny didn’t get hurt, so don’t blame
yourself.”
“Danny, why don’t you comfort Jake?”
I was the one who was hurt, why should I be
the one to comfort the jerk? I walked out, not
caring what happened.
