Marco studied her for a moment, then sighed again.
"Fine. I won't ask anymore."
She thanked him and left.
Outside, she took a long breath.
The air was cold.
As she walked home, a dull sadness settled in her chest.
Most of her days were the same. Working, saving, worrying about bills.
She wanted to send her siblings to a private school someday. To let them have better future than hers.
But money always ran short.
"At least we had each other," she murmured.
Now even that had changed.
Henry was gone.
With all the problems piling up, his disappearance felt like the last straw.
When she got home, the house was dark and quiet.
Her siblings were asleep.
She saw that they had washed the dishes and smiled faintly.
It was already three-thirty in the morning.
She should have gone straight to bed, but she told herself she could manage with less sleep.
She ate some leftover food and sat by the lamp.
Then she took out her brother's torn shoes and started stitching them.
