No Longer Balancing - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

After that day, I couldn’t sleep well for several nights.

Overwhelmed by shame and embarrassment, I practically avoided both of them. When my best friend found out what happened, she was furious.

I lowered my head, fiddling with my sleeve, and spoke softly.

“It’s in the past now. I’ve thought it over-I’ll just keep my distance from now on. As long as I don’t get too close, it’ll be fine.”

The worst-case scenario would simply be a marriage of mutual respect and nothing more.

Our exceptionally high compatibility meant that I was the only one who could soothe them during their Sensitive Period. In turn, the status they had earned through their hard work in the Military Department provided me with a comfortable life.

It was just… an exchange.

“So, are you still going to bring them milk?” she asked.

I thought about it for a moment. “I probably will.”

Maintaining a facade of civility was, for me, a necessity.

My friend looked like she wanted to say something more, but she eventually spoke her mind. “But don’t you think it’s a bit unfair if you still give them two identical glasses of milk?”

Unfair?

Because Chu Zhou and Chu Chuan were twins and had such an abnormally high compatibility with me, the staff at the center had repeatedly emphasized that my most important duty after marriage was to be impartial.

“Multi-Beastmen Families like yours are rare, but they do exist,” they had told me. “The most important thing in maintaining such a household is fairness. You cannot favor one over the other. You must act as the glue for this family. You have to understand that your every move affects the Beastmen’s moods and can disrupt the balance between them.”

I had taken those instructions to heart, so I prepared two of everything. Two glasses of milk, two gifts-even when I brought them lunch, I would count the shrimp in their lunchboxes one by one to ensure they were equal.

I had already gone to such lengths; was it still unfair?

Seeing my confusion, my friend offered a subtle hint. “Only Chu Chuan was mean to you that day, right? Chu Zhou didn’t say anything.”

I nodded. Not only had he said nothing, but he had also punched Chu Chuan, almost as if he were defending me.

And…

I looked down at the wound on my calf.

Chu Zhou had knelt before me with an unprecedented level of earnestness as he treated my injury. Before leaving, he had even handed me a piece of chocolate from his pocket.

He had wiped away my tears, coaxed me to sleep, and finally apologized to me on his brother’s behalf.

But in reality, it had nothing to do with him. That night, only Chu Chuan had bullied me.

“Exactly,” she said. “Think about it. The two brothers treat you completely differently, yet they both end up with the same milk and the same gifts. Isn’t that unfair to Chu Zhou, who is better behaved and treats you better?”

I opened my mouth to argue, but I didn’t know what to say.

Later, after returning home, I tossed and turned, unable to sleep.

I remembered my time at the orphanage. I used to help a volunteer sister who came to visit us. While the other children were playing, I was the only one helping her move things. By the end of the afternoon, my palms were red and raw from the friction.

In the end, I was rewarded with a backpack. But everyone else got one, too-even the child who had been the laziest, spending the whole afternoon catching butterflies, received the exact same one.

As the volunteers were leaving, that sister pulled me aside. Like a magician performing a trick, she pulled out two hairpins and tucked them into my hand with a smile.

“Everyone gets a backpack,” she told me, “but these hairpins are an extra gift just for you.”

She said, “Well-behaved children should get extra rewards. That’s what’s fair.”

The words of the staff and the volunteer sister clashed in my mind.

Eventually, the scales tipped toward the latter.

I decided the volunteer sister was right. It was only fair that the one who behaved better should receive a greater reward.