On Halloween, I Put a “Silver Bracelet” on My Younger Brother’s First-Time Sister-in-Law

When I came home for Halloween, my brother brought his fiancée over to meet the family. She insisted I go to the mall with her to buy her a welcome gift. In the fitting room, she suddenly pointed at the ugly scar across my stomach and cried out in exaggerated shock: “Oh my God, Nora! That C-section scar is so badly raised!” “Judging by how old it looks, your kid must be in elementary school by now. How come Ethan never mentioned your husband?” The sales associate gave me a disgusted look. My mother, who had been about to pay, was so furious she threw the bank card in my face. “You shameless little tramp! No wonder you keep refusing to let me set you up with someone. You’ve been sleeping around!” My brother told me to get lost before I offended his girlfriend any further. I picked up the bank card, slowly buttoned my shirt, and gave a cold laugh. “Of course it’s a bad scar. Have you forgotten, Lily?” “We met during a vice investigation. But that wasn’t the name you were using then, was it?” I’d finally managed to take some time off and wanted nothing more than to catch up on sleep. Instead, my mother dragged me out of bed. “Your brother’s bringing his girlfriend home for the first time. As his sister, you should do something for her.” She lectured me while slipping my bank card into her pocket. When we got to the mall, my brother, Ethan Bennett, immediately shot me a look. That was his signal for me to pay. I sighed. I’d been sick of these fake family outings for a long time. I just wanted to get it over with, pay, and go home to sleep. Lily held an outfit up against me, her voice syrupy sweet. “You have such a great figure, Nora. Let’s try matching outfits!” I frowned. “I don’t wear things like that. I can’t move properly in them.” Wearing something that restrictive outside was practically asking to get myself killed. My mother pinched me hard and lowered her voice. “This is her first visit. Don’t you dare give her attitude! Just try it on!” Ethan came over, looking irritated. “Lily’s trying to be nice. Could you stop looking so miserable?” I sighed. I’d barely stepped into the fitting room when Lily slipped in behind me with another outfit. “Oh my God, Nora! Your stomach…” Her shriek drew everyone’s attention. Instinctively, I tried to pull my shirt down, but it was too late. Lily covered her mouth and shouted in mock surprise: “Nora, that C-section scar is so badly raised!” “Judging by how old it looks, your kid must be in elementary school by now. How come Ethan never mentioned your husband? Unless…” Everything went quiet. The sales associate stared at me with contempt. Whispers drifted into my ears. “She looks so respectable. Guess you never can tell.” “An unwed mother, with no man around? Bet she was someone’s mistress and got dumped.” I took a deep breath, holding back my anger. “Lily, watch what you say.” “That’s a knife wound.” She stepped closer as though I’d told a joke, raising her voice even more. “Look, having a baby out of wedlock might be embarrassing, but the child is innocent. You can’t just deny they exist.” “I trained as a nurse. The location, the shape—that’s definitely a C-section.” “With scarring that bad, you must’ve had it done at some shady little clinic.” “Were you so desperate to save money that you risked your life? How old is the kid? Boy or girl?” She fired off questions without giving me a chance to speak. With every question, the looks around me grew more judgmental. Then an angry shout rang out. “What did you just say?”My mother pushed through the crowd. When she saw the scar on my stomach, her face turned livid. “Nora Bennett! So that’s why you stayed away for years! You were out being a whore and having some bastard’s baby!” She didn’t ask how I’d gotten hurt or whether it had been painful. All she cared about was being embarrassed. She pointed a trembling finger in my face. “You’ve disgraced this entire family!” I took a deep breath and looked at the woman who had given birth to me. Because of the nature of my work, I rarely came home. “Mom, I was injured on duty. Three years ago—” “Shut up!” Her scream cut me off. “What kind of work injury leaves a scar on your stomach? Right where a C-section would be?” Ethan jumped in, backing away from me in disgust. “So that year you disappeared, you were off having some bastard’s kid? That’s sick!” “I even bragged to Lily that you worked for the government. Turns out you’re just a slut!” As I stared at his twisted face, the last bit of warmth inside me disappeared. I’d spent years working myself to the bone to put him through college. And this was what I got. Seeing that things had gone far enough, Lily started playing the peacemaker. “Please don’t be angry, Mrs. Bennett. Maybe Nora had her reasons. Maybe she was some powerful man’s mistress…” “With a job like hers, she’s never home. Who knows what she really does out there?” That only made my mother angrier. “You shameless little tramp! No wonder you keep refusing to let me set you up with someone. You’ve been sleeping around!” I gave Lily an icy look. “Say one more word. Go ahead.” She shrank into Ethan’s arms. “Ethan, she’s scaring me. Did I say something wrong?” “It’s okay. I’m here.” He put his arms around her and shouted at me. “You did it, but nobody’s allowed to talk about it? Lily trained as a nurse! You think she can’t tell?” “A nurse?” My mother seized on it. “Lily, are you sure that’s a C-section?” Lily nodded firmly. “I did a clinical rotation in maternity care. That’s definitely a C-section incision. A vertical one, too. They usually only do those in emergencies.” My mother exploded again. “You shameless creature! How did I raise something like you?” “I should’ve strangled you the day you were born!” I’d heard those words all my life. But they’d never cut as deeply as they did today. I looked at her, still hoping, and tried to explain. “Mom, I was injured on duty.” Lily immediately interrupted. “Nora, Ethan told me you’re some kind of traffic auxiliary officer, right?” “I know auxiliary officers help the police, but who goes on assignments all the time and stays away for an entire year?” “And how would a traffic auxiliary officer get a wound like that? Were you directing traffic or getting into knife fights?” She looked me up and down with open contempt. “Stop hiding behind your job. We’re not stupid.” Her words poured gasoline on my mother’s anger. She’d always thought my auxiliary job was beneath me. The pay was low, and I couldn’t look after the family. Now she was convinced that my supposed job was nothing but a cover. “How much longer are you going to lie? A knife wound?” Her voice rose to a piercing shriek. “Were you running around with gangs? Killing people? If you’d been hurt that badly, don’t you think your own mother would know?” For a moment, my thoughts drifted. Of course you wouldn’t know. Every time I called home, all you wanted to talk about was Ethan needing money or wanting new shoes. You never once asked whether I was tired. Whether I was hurting. Ethan pointed at me in disgust. “Always claiming you’re busy helping the cops? Bet I know exactly how you’re servicing them!” The sales associate came over, looking repulsed. “Ma’am, please lower your voice. You’re disturbing our customers.” “And you’ll need to buy whatever you tried on, or pay to have it dry-cleaned. It’s filthy now.” She put special emphasis on “filthy.” She even called mall security to have me removed for damaging the store’s image.I stayed where I was, staring straight at Lily. She took my mother’s arm with fake concern. “Mrs. Bennett, I know Nora’s dirty, but she’s still family. You should buy her the clothes. At least she’ll have something to cover her shame.” My mother trembled with rage and pulled my bank card from her pocket. She flung it hard into my face. “Take your filthy money and get out! Don’t ever call yourself my daughter again. You disgust me!” I bent down, picked up the card, and brushed off the dust. The sting in my face was nothing compared with the pain inside. I straightened and looked at everyone around me. Finally, my gaze settled on Lily’s smug face. “Finished with your little performance?” I buttoned my shirt, laughing coldly. “Lily, right? Trained as a nurse?” I moved toward her. “What nursing school did you graduate from? Do you have proof of your clinical placement? Let me see your license.” Her eyes flickered, and she ducked behind Ethan. “I… I don’t have it with me.” Ethan stepped in front of her and shoved me. “What the hell is wrong with you? You’re the one sleeping around, and now you’re attacking her?” “Get lost! Nobody wants you here!” I nodded. “Fine. I’ll leave.” “But first, we have a few things to settle.” I took out my phone to make a call. If we couldn’t resolve this as a family matter, we’d handle it officially. But the instant I unlocked the screen, Ethan snatched it out of my hand. He threw it down and stomped on it twice. “Calling for backup? Going to get your lover down here?” “Let me tell you something, Nora. God himself couldn’t make you look clean now!” Looking at my shattered phone, I felt my last shred of restraint snap. “Ethan!” “What? Don’t like hearing the truth?” Lily stood nearby, fanning the flames. “Don’t be like that, Ethan. Of course she doesn’t want to admit what she did.” Suddenly, she covered her mouth as if something even worse had occurred to her. “Oh my God. If she’s been sleeping around that much, what if she’s caught something?” “The skin around that scar looked red. Almost like herpes…” At the mention of an STD, my mother’s eyes rolled back and she fainted. “Mom! Mom, what’s wrong?” Ethan panicked, clutching her and shouting. The store erupted into chaos. My father, who had been in the restroom, heard the commotion and hurried over. Lily rushed straight to him, tears flowing on command. “Mr. Bennett, it’s all my fault. I couldn’t stop her…” “Nora… she had a baby out of wedlock, and she caught one of those diseases…” “Your wife only said a few words, and Nora tried to hit her. She got so upset that she fainted…” Ethan nodded frantically. “Dad! This is all Nora’s fault! She tried to hit me, too!” My father turned and glared at me, jabbing a finger toward my face. “Who’s the man? Tell me!” I met his gaze coldly. “There is no man. There is no child.” Smack! His backhanded slap left my ears ringing. “Still lying! Your mother’s passed out, and you still won’t tell the truth?” “I don’t care where that bastard child is. I’ll use every connection I have to find it!” “Then I’ll turn it over to foster care myself! It will never set foot in my house!” “And I’m going to your workplace! I’ll make sure everyone knows what kind of woman you are!” People all around us pulled out their phones. Someone recognized Lily. “Hey, isn’t that the sexy nurse influencer?” “Yeah, that’s her! I can’t believe her fiancé’s sister is this shameless.” Someone started livestreaming. The comments filled with insults aimed at me. Holding my burning cheek, I looked at the man I called my father. The last thread of affection I’d felt for this family finally broke. “Fine! You keep saying I had a baby.” “Where’s your proof? Lily, show me this child!” I advanced toward her. “You say that’s a C-section scar? Then will you let a medical professional examine it right here?” “And if you’re wrong, you can get on your knees and apologize!” My tone frightened her. She stumbled backward. “I… how would I know where your child is? I… I’m a nurse. I can tell just by looking…” “Just by looking?” I gave a cold laugh. “So can I.” I pointed at her collarbone without touching her. “I’ve seen that tattoo in a vice unit case file.” “You weren’t using this name back then, were you?”