The Seat at the Table

I’ve always taken things literally. I don’t understand hidden meanings. In middle school, a girl shoved her cheat sheet into my hand. "Hold this for a second, the teacher is coming." She assumed I’d panic and stuff it in my pocket. I raised my hand. "Mr. Davis, her cheat sheet was just shoved into my hand." Years later, at my first corporate job, our new manager started auditing the accounts. Brenda frantically kicked my foot under the table and hissed, "Take the fall for this. You're new, they won't fire you." I nodded, stood up, and looked right at the manager. "Brenda took the kickbacks." "She said I wouldn't get fired because I'm new." "You're new too, why don't you take the fall for her?" After that, nobody in the office ever whispered to me again. That is, until my biological parents finally brought me home and threw a belated welcome dinner for me. Chloe, the girl they had raised instead of me, ignored the place card with my name on it and sat right between my parents. She linked her arm through my mother’s and smiled at me. "Sister, I’ve sat in this seat for twenty-one years. You don't mind, do you?" Everyone at the table waited for me to be the bigger person and quietly take a seat on the side. I asked her seriously: "Why do you think I wouldn't mind?" "Is it because it's the daughter's seat?" She pursed her lips and said nothing. I continued: "If it is the daughter's seat," "And you've sat in it for twenty-one years, isn't it time to give it back?" ...... The dining room instantly went dead silent. The relatives who had been chatting just moments ago all suddenly found their water glasses fascinating. The smile on Chloe’s face froze. "Sister, I was just making a joke." "Which part of the joke was funny?" "That's not what I meant." "Then what did you mean?" She stared at me for a few seconds, her eyes slowly welling with tears. My oldest brother, Liam, walked over and put his hand on her shoulder. "Summer, today is a good day. Don't nitpick her words." "I'm not nitpicking." I pointed at the place card on the table. "My seat was next to Mom. She moved the place card, sat in my seat, and then asked if I minded." "You all think there's nothing wrong with that, right?" Liam frowned. "It’s just a chair. What does it matter where you sit?" "Then why didn't she sit in my chair?" "She's used to sitting between Mom and Dad." "Just because you're used to something, you can take what belongs to someone else?" Liam was left speechless. My mother finally reached for my hand: "Summer, Chloe has sat with us since she was little. She didn't mean any harm." "I didn't say she meant any harm." "I just asked when she is getting up." My mother's fingers tightened. Chloe immediately stood up: "I'll move." "You are their biological daughter. I shouldn't be sitting here anyway." With red eyes, she pushed her chair back. The legs scraped against the floor with a harsh, grating sound. But before she could take two steps, my mother chased after her and grabbed her arm. "Chloe, that's not what I meant." "Your health isn't good, don't overthink this." My second brother, Mason, also stepped in front of her defensively. My third brother, Julian, glared directly at me: "Are you happy now?" I looked at them: "She took my seat. I asked when she was giving it back. Why does that make me a bully?" Julian’s face darkened. "You know perfectly well she is terrified of being kicked out of this family, and you deliberately provoke her by bringing up who is 'biological' and who isn't." "She is the one who brought up being biological. I didn't say it. Why am I responsible for her words?" Julian opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Chloe clutched her chest, her breathing suddenly turning ragged. "I'm sorry, it's my fault. I shouldn't have come to this dinner." "You are a family. I'll go." She turned and ran out of the room. My mother and all three of my brothers chased after her. My father, Richard, sat at the head of the table, his expression grim: "Summer, you've been back for three years. Why can't you learn how to get along with your own family?" I looked at the four empty chairs: "Today is supposed to be my welcome dinner, right?" "Of course." "Then why did they all leave?" My father rubbed his temples: "Chloe isn't feeling well." "Mason is a doctor. He's enough." "Your mother is worried about her." "And Liam and Julian?" My father didn't answer. I waited a moment, then asked again: "At a welcome dinner for the biological daughter, the biological daughter and the adopted daughter had a disagreement." "The entire family ran after the adopted daughter." "Who exactly are you welcoming today?" My father slammed his hand on the table. "Enough!" I nodded: "Okay." He was stunned for a moment. In the three years since I returned to the Sterling family, it was the first time I hadn't pressed an issue. The welcome dinner I had anticipated for three years was over in less than an hour. When I returned to the Sterling house, Chloe was leaning back on the sofa, drinking water. My mother was sitting next to her, rubbing her back. My three brothers were huddled around her like she had just been released from the ICU. As I took off my shoes, my mother called out: "Summer, come over here and apologize to Chloe." I walked over. "What is the reason for the apology?" My mother’s hand stopped. Julian sneered: "Do you really need everything spelled out for you?" "Yes. If you don't spell it out, I might apologize for the wrong thing." I looked at him: "Is it because I asked why she took my seat? Or is it because I didn't voluntarily offer it to her?" Julian stood up: "Here we go again. You do this every time. You have to dissect every single word until everyone in the room is humiliated." "If someone says something unreasonable, and it humiliates them, what's the problem?" "Family isn't a courtroom!" "Then what is it?" "It's about feelings!" I looked at Julian, then asked: "I've been back for three years. You've celebrated three of her birthdays. You haven't come home for a single one of mine." "When you say 'feelings,' do you mean your feelings for her?" Julian's face instantly turned beet red. "I was busy those days." I held up my fingers and listed them off: "The first time, you went to a concert with her. The second time, she got into a fight with a friend. The third time, her cat wouldn't eat." "Which one of those was your business?" Julian fell silent. Chloe set down her water glass and whispered, "Sister has a really good memory." "Of course." "My birthday only happens once a year." A flicker of guilt crossed my mother's eyes: "Summer, you can't just dig up the past every time because we used to spend more time with Chloe." "It's not the past." "My last birthday was two months ago." The living room fell silent again. Liam, unable to stand the tension, pushed a small box toward me: "The dinner didn't go well. This is for you." I opened the box. Inside was a pearl necklace. Chloe's face changed. She instinctively touched her neck, where a jade pendant hung. I had seen it before. The very first time my mother visited me, she showed me a picture of it and said: "This is a family heirloom meant for the Sterling daughter. You went missing when you were little, but I’ve been keeping it safe for you." I pointed at Chloe's neck: "Why does she have my pendant?" My mother immediately explained: "When Chloe turned eighteen, she got very sick. I wanted to give her something for good luck, so I let her wear it for a while." "How long is 'a while'?" "Three years." "When is she giving it back?" Chloe immediately reached for the clasp, but my mother grabbed her hand: "Summer, it's just a piece of jade. If you like it, I'll buy you a new one." "I don't need jade. I'm asking why the necklace you said you were keeping safe for me was given to her?" My mother’s eyes grew red: "I thought we were never going to find you." "But you did." I looked at her: "So why hasn't she given it back?" Chloe’s tears started to fall: "I'll give it back to Sister." "Chloe! I gave this to you. You don't have to give it back." I nodded, closing the velvet box with the pearls and pushing it back across the table: "I understand." My mother was stunned: "What do you understand?" "That pendant wasn't being kept safe for me." "And this necklace isn't an apology gift." "You just want me to accept something new so I'll stop asking where the old one went." My father walked in through the front door just in time to hear my last sentence. His brow furrowed: "What are you arguing about now?" Julian jumped in: "She's demanding Chloe's jade pendant." "I'm not demanding it." I corrected him. "I just wanted to confirm if it belongs to me. If it doesn't, I don't want it. If it does, it should be returned." "Is that hard to understand?" My father was silent for a moment: "We'll talk about the pendant later." "Tomorrow, we'll get your legal residency transferred." I looked at him. Despite living with the Sterling family for three years, my legal address was still registered in the small, rural county where I grew up. Every time I brought it up, they claimed the paperwork was too complicated. Chloe let out a soft, relieved laugh. "Sister has been back for so long, her residency can finally be transferred." I asked her: "Why did you say 'finally'?" Her smile faded. "I'm just happy for you." "But you said 'finally,' which means you know it's been delayed for a long time." "Do you know why it was delayed?" Chloe averted her eyes. My mother immediately interrupted: "Tomorrow, the whole family will go with you." I confirmed it. "Dad, Mom, and all three brothers?" Liam nodded. "All of us." Julian leaned back on the sofa, sounding annoyed. "It's just some paperwork at City Hall. Do you really need to take roll call?" "Yes." I looked at them. "Because I don't want someone suddenly having a stomachache, feeling dizzy, or dealing with a cat that won't eat tomorrow." Chloe's face paled. My mother squeezed my hand. "We won't." "This time, no one is leaving." The next morning at nine, we arrived at City Hall. Chloe came too. She said she wanted to witness me officially coming home. The clerk took my documents, reviewed half of them, and looked up at my father: "You're missing one proof of kinship form." My father turned to Liam. "Didn't I tell you to get that ready?" Liam rifled through his folder, his face dropping. "I left it on the desk in the study." Julian couldn't help but complain: "We're already here, can't we just process it first?" The clerk shook her head. "Incomplete files can't be entered into the system." Chloe immediately spoke up: "It's all my fault." "Liam was helping me look for my medication last night. He must have forgotten because he was distracted." I looked at her. "Why is it your fault?" She froze. "I... I was just saying." "Liam was the one helping you look for medicine, and Liam was the one who forgot the paperwork." "When you say it's your fault, are you trying to take the blame for him?" "Or are you just trying to remind me that my affairs were delayed because he was busy taking care of you?" Liam immediately frowned. "Summer, she doesn't think like that. You're making it too complicated." "Then what did she mean?" "She just feels guilty." "She didn't touch the paperwork, why does she feel guilty?" Liam was getting irritated. "Fine, it's my fault. Are you happy now?" "Yes." I typed a note into my phone. "We can get the missing form this afternoon." Julian rolled his eyes. "You really can't let anything go, can you?" "It's my residency." "If I don't care, who will?" No one answered. My father sent his driver back to the house to get the document. We waited in the lobby for twenty minutes. Then, Chloe's phone buzzed. She glanced at it, and her face suddenly drained of color. "Mom, I need to go back." My mother grabbed her arm. "What's wrong?" "It's nothing." The more she said it was nothing, the faster her tears fell. Mason took her phone. The screen showed a screenshot from the estate’s security cameras. A few movers were carrying boxes out of her bedroom. My mother immediately turned to my father. "Who authorized them to touch Chloe's room?" My father looked taken aback. "I told the housekeeper last night to clear out Summer's old childhood bedroom." Chloe bit her lip. "It's okay." "Sister is the rightful owner of that room anyway." "If my things get thrown out, it's fine." My mother panicked. "Who said anything about throwing your things out?!" She grabbed her purse and marched toward the exit. Liam and Julian immediately followed. Mason glanced at me. "She has anxiety. Her room being disturbed could trigger a panic attack." "You're a doctor. You're enough." I looked at Liam and Julian. "Can you guys cure anxiety too?" Julian gritted his teeth. "She's crying like this, and you're trying to stop us from going?" "I'm not stopping you." "I'm just confirming that yesterday you promised no one would leave, and now you're leaving." My mother stopped walking. "Summer, we can file the paperwork this afternoon." "Chloe is very upset right now." "I'm very upset right now, too." She froze. I asked her: "Why is it that when she's upset, you all have to leave immediately?" "But when I'm upset, it can wait until this afternoon?" "Because she's sick." "So as long as she's sick, everything in my life gets pushed to the back of the line. Is that right?" My mother’s lips parted, but she had no answer. Chloe suddenly crouched down on the floor, clutching her chest and gasping for air. That ended the conversation. My mother and my three brothers rushed to her side. My father got a call from the office and walked away to take it. In less than two minutes, they had escorted Chloe out of City Hall. Before he left, my father looked back at me. "Just wait here for the driver to bring the document." "We'll be back as soon as we sort this out." "How long?" "Stop being so difficult." "Give me an ETA." My father looked furious. "How am I supposed to know?!" The elevator doors slid shut in front of them. The clerk, holding my stack of files, asked cautiously: "Are we still processing this?" I looked out the glass doors. Their car was already pulling out of the parking lot. The six people who promised to welcome me home yesterday hadn't left a single person behind. I took the application form back. The clerk thought I was giving up. "I can hold onto these copies for you. You can come back another day." "No need." I ripped the page applying for a transfer into the Sterling household in half. "Excuse me, I have a question." "I'm not transferring into the Sterling family anymore." "If I want to transfer my residency out of my old county, do I have any other options?" The clerk informed me that I could register under my employer's corporate residency pool. I had worked in this city for six years, and my tax records and social security were all up to date. It turned out that even without the Sterling family, I still had a place to belong. I called my company's HR department. After explaining the situation, the HR rep immediately sent over the acceptance letter. "You should have said something sooner, this is easy." I stared at the electronic PDF on my phone. A process the Sterling family had dragged out for three years was handled in fifteen minutes. By 2:00 PM, I received my official residency confirmation receipt. There were no new messages in the family group chat. The last message was still the one my mother sent that morning. "We are welcoming Summer home today. No one is allowed to be absent tonight." Beneath it were five perfectly aligned replies. "Received." I stared at those five "Received" messages for a few seconds, then left the group chat. When I returned to the Sterling house, the living room was empty. The housekeeper was directing movers to carry Chloe's boxes back into her bedroom. He looked embarrassed when he saw me. "Miss Summer, Madam said we aren't switching rooms for now." "Miss Chloe is a bit emotionally unstable." "Okay." He looked confused. "You aren't going to ask why?" "I already know." I went upstairs to pack. Calling it packing was an overstatement. I didn't have much. Three years ago, I arrived with one suitcase. Three years later, I was leaving with one suitcase. The dresses with the tags still on them in my closet were gifts from my mother—she bought them in Chloe's size by mistake and just gave them to me. The men's watch on my desk was a gift Liam bought for Julian, but he accidentally bought a duplicate and dumped it on me. Mason once gave me a box of sleep aids. He didn't know I was severely allergic to one of the active ingredients. Julian had never given me anything. The very first time he met me, he said: "Chloe is timid. Don't use your status as the biological daughter to bully her." I left everything that didn't belong to me exactly where it was. I only packed my IDs, my laptop, and an old photo album my grandmother had left me. The housekeeper chased me to the front door. "Miss Summer, where are you going?" "I'm moving out." "Do Mr. and Mrs. Sterling know?" "No." "I have to call them." "Go ahead." I dropped my bedroom key into his hand. "And while you're at it, let them know the guest room is vacant." The housekeeper turned pale. "This isn't a guest room, it's your bedroom." "My name isn't on the door." "There are no clothes that fit me in the closet." "I've lived in it for three years, and you all still call it the guest room." I asked him seriously: "In what way is this my bedroom?" The housekeeper was speechless. I dragged my suitcase down the steps. Right on cue, Chloe returned, surrounded by the entire family. She looked perfectly fine, holding a bubble tea in her hand. When she saw my suitcase, her footsteps faltered. "Sister, where are you going?" "I'm moving out." My mother rushed forward and clamped her hands on the suitcase handle. "Just because we didn't wait with you for your paperwork today?" "It's not just today." "Then tell me, what else is it?" I looked at her. "You gave her the bedroom because she was used to it." "You gave her the jade pendant because she was sick." "You all chased after her at the dinner because she was upset." "You abandoned me at City Hall because she had anxiety." "There's always an excuse." My mother’s eyes brimmed with tears. "Then why didn't you tell me sooner that this bothered you so much?" "I did ask." "You told me I was nitpicking." Her hands froze on the handle. Liam blocked the front door. "Put the suitcase down. Whatever it is, we can sit down and talk." "Talk about what?" "You want the room? It's yours." "You want the pendant? I'll make Chloe give it back." Chloe's face drained of color. I asked Liam: "When I asked for it yesterday, why didn't you give it to me?" "Everyone was angry yesterday." "So why are you offering it today?" "Because you're leaving." He fell silent. I nodded. "So it's not because you suddenly realized I deserve it." "It's because you realized that if I don't get it, I'll walk away." My father approached, his face dark with fury. "Summer, you are twenty-five years old. Stop threatening your parents with running away from home." "I'm not threatening you." "Then what are you doing with that suitcase?" "I'm notifying you." "I've already moved out." Julian let out a bitter laugh. "Where exactly are you going to go?" "Do you have any idea how much rent costs out there?" "Yes." "If you live alone, who is going to take care of you when you're sick?" "I took care of myself before I came here." His sarcastic smile vanished. Chloe stepped forward and reached for my arm. "Sister, please don't tear this family apart because of me." "Whatever you want, I'll give it back." I looked down at her hand. "You just said 'because of me'." "So you know my leaving has everything to do with you?" She quickly let go of my arm. "That's not what I meant." "Then what did you mean?" Her eyes filled with tears again. My mother instinctively stepped in front of Chloe to shield her. The moment she did it, she realized what she had done and froze. I looked at my mother's body standing between us. This time, I didn't ask a single question. My father was about to say something else, but his phone rang. It was my company, calling to confirm my corporate residency filing. I dragged my suitcase around them. My father barked at me from behind: "If you walk out that door today, don't expect us to come pick you up!" "Okay." The space behind me fell utterly silent.