💵 Bang Chan ···

Locking the car door was just the first escape valve from the hell that my day had been. As CEO of the city's largest law firm, my routine is a collection of suffocating meetings and impossible deadlines.
Since our parents died in that accident, the world has turned its back on us. No relatives cared. Nobody bothered. I was left alone to raise my 13-year-old sister. I'm the only family S/n has left. I try to be a good brother, but I'm almost never around, and she ends up going through everything alone.
I rushed home. I had minutes to make dinner and then go to the office to work the night shift. The pot was already sizzling when I heard the door open.
— S/n? Finally! Do you know what time it is?! — I yelled from the kitchen. — I have a meeting early tomorrow, I'm exhausted from work, and you're arriving late?!
There was no answer. Only shuffling footsteps. I turned around, irritated:
— Was it so hard to be responsible?! Do you think my time is...
The words stuck in my throat, but my blind rage didn't turn into compassion.
Her uniform was torn and dirty. Her face was swollen, with a cut on her lip and a gruesome bruise on her cheek. Trembling, she clutched her destroyed backpack.
"What the hell is that?!" my scream echoed.
"Chan... they caught me in the bathroom..." she cried, in despair. "They laughed at me, they beat me... it hurt so much..."
"Enough with the excuses!" I slammed my fist on the table. She cowered. "You're thirteen years old! I work myself to death to give you everything, and you pick a fight with me?!"
"They beat me!" she screamed, shattered. "You're never here!"
"Then learn to defend yourself!" I yelled, ignoring the blood on her chin. "No one will feel sorry for you out there! I swallow my tears and keep going, you'll do the same!"
She stared at me in horror. I walked past her without a hug or a bandage. I grabbed my keys.
"Wipe your face and go to sleep," I ordered, coldly.
I went out and slammed the door shut, leaving my little sister bleeding alone in the living room.