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Chapter 44
It had been a month since Ian came to the United States with the Morgans.
He had asked to call Xian and got slapped for it.
The reason? He was being insolent by daring to make a request to an adult first.
Half a year after Ian had been in the U.S.,
he had been beaten all over and locked in his room for three full days.
He had successfully transferred to Wharton Elementary School as the Morgans demanded, but he hadn’t smiled at his congratulatory party—so they deemed him ungrateful.
Right after Ian won the math competition representing Wharton Elementary,
he politely asked to be allowed to send a letter to Xian, only to be ignored as usual.
“We’ll have to put him to work physically. It’s not at all surprising that an Asian is good at math.”
“Then football would be perfect. Jonathan plays football, too—it’ll make a good impression that the brothers are close.”
After Ian’s first football game ended in injury and defeat,
the Morgans threatened that if he didn’t perform, they would cut off the medical support for Xian.
If that happened, Xian would be as good as dead.
All the effort Ian had put in to survive so far in America would have been for nothing.
“I’ll do better next time.”
“Please, just give me one more chance.”
Yet again, he was unable to ask about Xian’s well-being.
After Ian struggled desperately among football players much bigger than him and got completely beaten,
Blake asked, clearly unable to understand him:
“Why are you trying so hard? It’s just a game.”
“You might call it a game. Not me.”
Normally, he wouldn’t have snapped at Blake like that.
But at that time, he was exhausted and on the verge of losing his mind, fearing he might never see Xian again.
He had no patience to listen to the casual remarks of a rich kid.
Blake frowned at Ian’s unexpectedly sharp response.
“Something wrong?”
“……”
“Talk to me. What’s going on?”
Ian felt a strong temptation to confess everything to Blake and ask for help.
But he shook his head.
Even if Blake was the youngest grandson of that incredible family—so formidable that even the Morgans feared him—he was still just a boy.
Everything Blake did would involve adults, and inevitably, the Morgans would hear about it.
“You’re not omnipotent, you know.”
Perhaps it was jealousy toward Blake.
Born into a good family, surrounded by loved ones, yet Blake acted bored and ungrateful. Ian hated him for it.
Blake grabbed Ian from behind as he turned to leave.
“Ian, the conversation isn’t over…”
“Ugh!”
By sheer bad luck, Blake touched the area Ian had been hit the night before by Mr. Morgan, and a groan escaped.
“What? You hurt yourself? Let me see.”
Blake lifted Ian’s clothes, but found no injury.
Of course. The Morgans had been careful, hitting their adopted son only with towels frozen solid.
No visible scars remained.
“Been enough of a show? Then scram.”
Ian pushed hard, but it was useless.
Blake didn’t budge. Instead, he said:
“Come to my house every day after school.”
“Why would I?”
“Right now, you can’t do anything with your body. So train it with me first.”
Although he saw no signs of abuse, Blake still seemed suspicious.
Calling Ian outside like this was deliberate.
Whatever the case, it was an offer that didn’t harm Ian.
After weighing it carefully, Ian asked:
“What do you want in return?”
Blake snorted, as if the question were ridiculous.
“Friends don’t ask for payment.”
Ian didn’t lower his guard. Seeing this, Blake reluctantly offered:
“You have a younger sibling, right?”
“Why my sibling?”
“Just talk about your sibling.”
He had casually mentioned once that he had a sibling in Korea, and Blake had since shown consistent interest.
Blake, being an only child, probably envied Ian for having a sibling.
“……Fine.”
It had been far too long since he’d seen Xian.
If he didn’t talk about his sibling with someone, he feared he might even forget them himself.
Ian agreed and spent every afternoon training with Blake, sharing memories of his sibling.
But he never revealed Xian’s name.
He was willing to share memories, but never his sibling.
Right after Ian testified against the Morgans for May Zhang’s sake,
the Morgans, still angry despite forcibly giving May Zhang up, vented their rage on Ian.
“You ungrateful brats! We fed you, sheltered you, and you don’t even appreciate it!”
It was as if they had only just realized that a poor, powerless orphan could reject them.
And that these orphans had options outside the Morgans.
Orphans could easily become someone else’s responsibility if they wished.
“Your sibling is dead.”
“Now we’re your only family.”
In retrospect, May Zhang’s abandonment was what led the Morgans to fake Xian’s death.
Hearing that the sibling who had sustained his life was dead, Ian crumbled.
He trained daily as if being abused, and would unconsciously follow black-haired girls Xian’s age when they passed by, snapping out of it at the last moment.
He often thought of throwing himself in front of speeding cars.
The only reason he didn’t was because he wanted to die as Ian “Morgan,” buried under that name.
He would soon be an adult.
Ian planned to become independent from the Morgans and return to Korea—until he could reunite with Xian.
[You don’t know what those lunatics did to me, so you can say that so easily.]
Xian’s dark eyes slowly filled with sadness.
Yet, her fragile eyes, on the verge of tears, held onto Ian.
[Tell me.]
[…….]
[Tell me everything you went through because of me.]
Ian wanted to say it wasn’t because of her.
But that would do nothing to stop her.
Instead, he grew harsher.
[If I tell you, can you handle it?]
Xian’s lips trembled.
But her worry wasn’t for herself—it was for Ian.
“What could he have gone through…”
Seeing him hesitate even with family, it was clearly not a light matter.
[You can handle it. So please, tell me what happened.]
[Handle it?]
Ian’s face twisted at Xian’s persistent pleading.
[If the Morgans find out, they’ll hold you hostage and control me. Can you handle that?]
[I…]
[No, right? In the end, I’m the one who has to deal with your stubbornness.]
Xian was momentarily speechless.
Ian hadn’t intended to speak so harshly.
Perhaps this was his true feeling.
Like the sudden injury he suffered without warning, reuniting with Xian had happened so abruptly that his emotions were chaotic.
He was happy and relieved to see her alive.
At the same time, he cursed and resented his life.
Feeling inferior to Blake, feeling helpless in front of his sibling…
[…….]
[…….]
Only suffocating silence remained.
‘I ruined everything. I ruined it all.’
Just then, there was a knock at the medical room door.
“Aaron. Excuse me for a moment.”
An unexpected visitor opened the door immediately after knocking.
“Aaron?”
Xian, with her head down, looked up in surprise.
Aaron scanned the room, frowned, clearly understanding what had been happening between them.
“What are you doing here?”
“I came to deliver this.”
He handed Xian a few documents and a phone.
“These are…?”
The documents were test results proving Ian’s biological sibling, and the phone had a photo of Ian and Xian as children.
“I thought you’d need them.”
“Thank you.”
Yet Xian’s voice sounded oddly weak despite her thanks.
Aaron’s frown deepened.
Turning to Ian, he snapped:
“Enough already.”
Xian was even more startled than when Aaron had first appeared.
“Hey, what’s wrong with you…?”
“I came all this way to see Ian. But ignoring him like this—listening to him isn’t that hard, is it?”
“Aaron!”
Xian tried to explain, but Aaron ignored her.
He snatched the documents from her hands and threw them onto Ian’s bed.
“Judge for yourself.”
“Why is he acting like this…? I’ll just step outside for a bit, brother.”
Xian grabbed Aaron’s arm in panic.
Of course, Ian didn’t see her off.
“Go. No need to come back.”
Xian left, dragging Aaron, only letting go once they were far from the medical room.
“Why did you do that?”
Xian asked, staring at Aaron’s impassive profile.
He looked cold, as if he had never gotten angry on her behalf before.
“What?”
“Getting angry at Ian. That wasn’t like you.”
Aaron’s jaw tensed.
“I hated seeing you acting like a guilty person. That’s why I did it.”
“I am guilty.”
Xian smiled, as if on the verge of tears.
Aaron stopped walking and looked back at her.
“Why say that? What did Ian do?”
“Don’t worry. Now you know I’m his sibling.”
“Then everything’s solved, right? What’s the problem now?”
“Yeah……”
Even though Ian had recognized her as his sibling, that was all.
Ian was still “Morgan,” and that name firmly blocked their relationship.
Bitter thoughts swirled in her mouth.
She forced a smile and changed the subject.
“How’s the match going? Are we winning?”
“The match…”
Aaron’s expression darkened.
