Fractured Bonds

Chapter 1

My parents accidentally caused the death of the protagonist's parents in a car accident and adopted her as their foster daughter. She was like the heroine of a novel, instantly capturing everyone's attention the moment she appeared. This included my parents, my childhood crush, and my best friend. Meanwhile, I felt like an outcast, always in the shadows.

The spacious room was given to the protagonist, and I was forced to move into a narrow storage room. My classmates bullied me, calling me the daughter of murderers. My parents always said I had no empathy. My childhood crush and best friend accused me of being jealous and deliberately making her uncomfortable. Even though I did nothing wrong, I had to bear the blame that wasn't mine.

At the beginning of the new year, while they celebrated a cozy family reunion, I, suffering from severe depression, walked into the freezing river.

There was a knock on the door. I rushed to open it, excitedly, only to see my parents standing there with a girl about my age behind them.

"Julissa, from today, she is your sister. You need to be considerate of her," my parents said, their faces showing identical exhaustion.

I learned that two days ago, when they returned from a business trip, their car had crashed into Lauren's parents' car. Of the three people involved, only Lauren survived. Now, they had just finished dealing with the aftermath and planned to bring Lauren home to complete the transfer procedures for her school.

They didn't mention the details of the accident, but I frowned.

"Mom, Dad, doesn't she have any relatives?" I asked.