I Worked Since I Was 16 and Paid Off $80,000 in Student Loans. My Sister Got Free College and a New Car — Now They Want Me to Buy Her a $350,000 Apartment. “You Can Afford It Easily!” I Didn’t Argue — I Just Disappeared.
The Expectation
They said it so casually, as if it were a favor I owed. “You can easily afford it. Buy your sister an apartment. $350,000 — that’s nothing for you.” They looked at me not with love, but with expectation, as if I’d been born to provide. As if my years of struggle, scars, and sacrifice meant nothing compared to their golden child’s comfort.
I didn’t argue. I didn’t raise my voice. I just smiled — and vanished.
I’d been working since I was sixteen — grocery stores, coffee shops, night shifts that blurred into morning classes. I carried debt like a shadow: $80,000 in student loans that I clawed my way through, one paycheck at a time. Every dollar earned was a wound that barely healed before it was opened again.
