I thought I had kept my feelings well-hidden, but Natalie was always the first to notice whenever I was in a bad mood.
“This is about your family, isn’t it? I bet you gave in again, didn’t you?”
Natalie was so smart that she figured it out without me saying anything. After all, my family matters were the only things capable of stressing me out.
Seeing as she had already guessed it, I decided to not keep it from her and said helplessly, “Nat, I know it’s best if I just ignore it, but… they’re my family, and I can’t bring myself to be so heartless toward them. My parents would be so upset if anything happened to Steven.”
I sometimes hated myself for being so soft-hearted as Steven probably wouldn’t have turned out like this if I stood firm back then.
Natalie gave me a pitiful look and grumbled, “Your parents are taking advantage of your filial piety. That’s why they always count on you to solve every little problem. Honestly, I don’t understand them at all! You’re both their children, yet they treat you and your brother so differently. Is it really just because of your genders?”
“You know how it is, Nat. Patriarchy is a very serious problem in the village, and every family there practices it. If my brother would just get himself a proper job and work hard like he’s supposed to, I wouldn’t have to work my butt off like this!” I said with a helpless sigh.
Although I had gotten used to the patriarchal ways of my parents, Steven gambling away all the money I sent them took a huge toll on me over the past few years.
My parents would always have me pay off his gambling debts. It wasn’t that bad when he first started out, so I was still able to afford them. However, his gambling addiction worsened over time, and I found myself no longer able to pay them anymore.
“I feel really bad for you, Anna. I really want to help you out, but… Well, you know how much a regular office worker makes, right?” Natalie said regretfully.
I knew she was sincere about lending me a hand, but Steven owed way too much money for her to be of any help.
“It’s okay, Nat. You’ve helped me out a lot over the years we’ve known each other for.”
Natalie was always the first to come to my aid whenever I found myself in trouble, so I was grateful to her even if she couldn’t do much this time.
“Here, take my card, Anna. It’s not much, but it’ll have to do for now. As for the remaining amount… Well, I’m sure we’ll figure something out!” she said while handing me a bank card from her wallet.
“No, these are your savings. I can’t take this money!”
I refused her offer as I knew she didn’t have a lot of money left for herself, and I couldn’t possibly pay her back anytime soon either.
“All right, then. Just let me know if you ever need it, okay?”
Natalie chose to respect my decision and not force the money on me.
The next morning, I saw Yuval’s car parked outside my residential area when I left for work.
I assumed it was over between us as it had been a few days since he last contacted me, so I was quite surprised to see him there. Feeling curious, I walked over to his car.
He got out of the car and opened the door for me when he saw me approaching.
While getting into his car, I couldn’t help but wonder if he had come to break up with me or if he was okay with my family.
Yuval started the car after getting into the driver’s seat, and the atmosphere felt a little tense as I wasn’t sure of his intentions.
After a few minutes of silence, I looked at him and asked, “Um… So, why did you come to see me today?”
“I had a lot of cases to deal with in the past two days, so I was in court most of the time. I’m sorry I haven’t had the time to contact you. I hope you’re not mad at me,” Yuval replied, his tone as gentle as always.
Judging by his tone and attitude, he doesn’t seem like he wants to break up with me… Well, I can’t say for sure, though. After all, the situation with my family isn’t something that most people find acceptable.
“I see… I thought you didn’t contact me because you weren’t okay with my family.”
Yuval claims he was too busy with work to contact me, but I know my family situation must have played a huge part in it too. I bet he gave it a lot of thinking ever since I told him about my family, so he must know the burden he would have to bear in the future if we get married.
“It’s true that the situation with your family is a tricky one, but I believe that marriage is between the two of us. Of course, that doesn’t mean we’ll ignore the problem. I just think that we should keep our involvement to an appropriate level, that’s all.”
Although Yuval didn’t plan on breaking up with me, I could tell he wasn’t too comfortable about the situation either.
“Yeah, I get what you mean. I know it’s not a good idea to get too involved with them, but… every time my mom calls me, I just can’t bring myself to refuse her…”
Yuval and I had the same thought in mind. I had told myself that I wouldn’t help them this time, but hearing Mom’s cry softened my heart instantly. They were my family, after all.
“All right, enough talk about this depressing topic. We need to get to the root of your brother’s problem if we are to solve it.”
Yuval dropped the topic when he saw how uncomfortable I was.
“Mom said they would break Steven’s legs if he couldn’t pay up today. I’m worried that they’ll actually do it.”
The deadline to pay up was tonight, but I couldn’t even fork out ten thousand.
