That weekend, Ravenna came back with photos from the Family Day at school.

It was a truly enviable family portrait.

Aside from the annual Christmas photo that Leo insisted on taking, Mom and Dad never took pictures with me alone.

Every year at my school's Family Day, they would refuse to attend, always using work as an excuse. They were afraid of people finding out that someone as crude as me was their daughter.

I used to think it was because they didn't like my grades, so I worked hard and got straight A's. Later, I realized—it wasn't about my grades.

They just didn't like me.

Outside, the blackened exterior of the building was being repaired.

As Dad watched the workers repainting the walls, he suddenly asked, "Honey, I called Danica again today, but she still won't pick up. She hasn't even responded to Leo's messages as well. Do you think something really happened to her? Should we report it to the police?"

Mom cut him off impatiently. "Don't bring up Danica when Raven is home. You know how sensitive she is—it'll upset her.

"Danica is just hiding. She's trying to make us worry and go looking for her. Don't fall for it. Once she runs out of money, she'll come back on her own. Stop sending her living expenses, dear."

"What? I thought you were the one sending her money?" Dad looked at Mom in confusion.

"No. She never asked since last year, so I stopped giving her any. I thought you were giving it to her."

"I didn't either. So, Danica hasn't been getting living expenses for a year? Then how has she been getting by and still managed to buy my medicine?"

A serious expression crossed Dad's face as if something had just clicked in his mind.

"She became an adult last year. Maybe she found a part-time job? If she were still living in the countryside, she'd probably have started working already. There's no need to worry about her."

How had I been surviving this past year?

Besides attending school, I worked at a café in the afternoon, washed glasses at a bar at night, and delivered milk in the early morning.

That was the only way I could afford to live—and to buy Dad's medicine.

Actually, every time Mom and Dad sent me living expenses, Ravenna would get seniors to corner me in the bathroom and take the money from me.

At first, I went home crying and told my parents.

Dad would say, "Why would they rob you and not anyone else?"

And then, Mom would say, "Are you trying to scam us out of more money?"

Ravenna then would put on her usual innocent act and say, "Mom, Dad, don't scold Danica. I saw her go into a bar with someone—maybe she got drunk and someone stole her money. Just take some from mine and give it to her. I don't need much anyway."

After that, Mom and Dad never sent me money again. And I never asked.

The sound of the front door opening broke the silence—Leo was home.

He was carrying a large cake. A mango-flavored one—my favorite.

Ravenna saw it and ran over excitedly.

"Leo, you're back! I missed you so much! Thank you for getting me a cake! Even though I like strawberries better, anything from you is my favorite!"

Mom also walked over happily, but when she saw the cake, her tone turned slightly irritated. "You're her brother—how could you not know Raven's favorite flavor? Why did you buy the wrong one?"

Still taking off his shoes, Leo lifted the cake high above his head, keeping it out of Ravenna's reach. "This cake isn't for Raven. It's for Dani. Today is her birthday—October 3rd."

A brief silence filled the room.

Ravenna pouted and buried herself in Mom's arms. "But, Danica isn't even coming home. Maybe she doesn't want to celebrate with us."

Mom was just about to agree and criticize me for not coming home when Dad suddenly spoke, "October 3rd… Honey, that date sounds so familiar."

He walked over to the storage room and took out the case report, flipping to a photo of a pendant necklace.

"Look—is this it?"

Mom stared at the numbers engraved on the pendant, a trace of surprise in her eyes. She seemed to recall that that was my birthday.

Leo immediately set the cake down and said, "October 3rd, 2015—that was the day Dani came home. Did you forget? Did you mention this when the police questioned you?"

Mom and Dad remained silent.

Growing anxious, Leo dialed the police.

The moment he mentioned the date on the pendant, the officer on the other end of the line responded, "Perfect timing—we just found the engraver."

The police told them to wait for further notice before Leo ended the call.

Mom and Dad avoided eye contact—after all, they hadn't even finished reading the police report.

In their hearts, nothing was more important than Ravenna.

If they had just turned a couple more pages, they would have seen that a shattered glass lunch box was found at the crime scene. It was the same lunchbox I used every time I brought Mom food when she worked late.

The night I was kidnapped, I was about to leave the house to bring her dinner.

"Why are you glaring at me? You're becoming more and more like that Danica. Remember this—Raven is the sister you grew up with. Danica was raised on a farm in the countryside—she's rough and vulgar. What kind of decent child could she be?

"Do you know how many people have birthdays on October 3rd? That doesn't mean it's her. A silver necklace? I don't believe she could afford that—she probably stole the money. If she turned into a thief, she might as well be dead."

Mom was furious and unusually agitated.

The date that I wanted to cherish so badly turned out to be a sin worthy of death to Mom.

"The police haven't found the killer yet, and there's no DNA match for the body in the missing persons database. Maybe the victim's family hasn't even reported them missing. Mom, we need to find Dani, or at least report it to the police."

Mom immediately took out her phone and dialed my number—twice. No answer.

"See? I called, and she didn't pick up. Danica is so disobedient."

"Honey, don't be upset. We just need to take care of Raven. Look at that victim's family—their child has been missing for so long, and they haven't even reported it. They're such irresponsible parents."

"People like that don't deserve to be parents. They don't care about their child at all!" Mom spoke with righteous indignation.

They condemned those so-called negligent parents, yet it never even crossed their minds that they, too, didn't care about their own daughter's disappearance.

I thought of my foster mother and what she told me before she passed away.

"Sometimes, blood is not necessarily thicker than water."

I didn't believe it. I thought no parent could truly not love their own child. That was why I came back.

But I should have understood from the very beginning that I wasn't welcome.

I stood at the doorstep, wearing a dress made from my foster father's old shirt and socks with holes in them.

Meanwhile, Ravenna, dressed in a designer gown, was nestled in Mom and Dad's arms when they opened the door.

The moment I called them Mom and Dad, they covered Raven's eyes—afraid that just looking at me would dirty her eyes.

But I was the one who had been stolen from my parents.

Still, their love had never belonged to me.

Leo flipped through the police report and immediately spotted the familiar lunch box. He held up the photo in front of Mom and Dad.

"This lunch box—Dani used it every time she brought you midnight snacks when you worked late. Don't you recognize it?"

Dad studied it for a long time before mumbling, "It's just a lunch box. Who pays attention to that?"

Maybe Leo, like me, couldn't understand why our parents were so reluctant to connect the body to me.

Maybe it was just indifference.

They didn't care that I had disappeared. They didn't care about my safety. They only cared about whether I'd cause them trouble.

Leo paced the room twice before finally deciding to go to the police station himself to report my disappearance.

Just as he turned around, he saw Ravenna had already opened the cake box, using a spoon to smear the delicate frosting into a complete mess.

She didn't even like mango—she was mildly allergic to it. She was doing this on purpose.

But when Leo confronted her, Ravenna immediately put on a pitiful look. "Leo, I just wanted a bite of cake."

"Dani isn't back yet. This is her birthday cake. You like strawberry cake—I'll buy you one tomorrow."

Leo stepped forward to take the cake away.

"But she isn't coming back anymore." Ravenna immediately argued.

Leo's hand froze for a second. "How do you know Dani isn't coming back? What do you know?"

"I don't know! I just mean, maybe she prefers celebrating with her delinquent friends. She doesn't like me—she doesn't want to see me. And now even you're being mean to me. Mom, maybe I should just leave..."

Ravenna quickly shifted the topic, bursting into tears and throwing herself into Mom's arms.

Not wanting to listen to her nonsense anymore, Leo grabbed his coat and walked out, heading straight for the police station.

At the station, he officially reported my disappearance and provided his own biological information for future DNA comparisons.

Just as he stepped out, he ran into the officer in charge of my case.

Before he could exchange pleasantries, the officer spoke with a serious expression. "Good timing. We retrieved the surveillance footage from the engraving shop. You should bring your parents to take a look."

Back home, Mom and Dad were busy comforting their precious daughter.

And of course, the way they comforted her was by cursing me—just to make Ravenna feel better.

It took two calls before Dad finally picked up, sounding reluctant.

Leo spoke urgently. "Dad, Mom—the surveillance footage from the engraving shop is back. Get over to the police station now."