My sister and I walked the same road—same medical school, same sleepless nights. But when it was over, our parents cleared her debt… and left mine behind.

“I still can’t believe you’re leaving next week,” she said. “Detroit won’t be the same without you.”

“Youk be too busy with your residency to notice I’m gone,” I teased, though there was truth in it. We’d been Inseparable through medical school, but our paths were finally diverging—mine to John’s Hopkins, hers staying at Detroit Medical.

“I keep thinking about what Mom and Dad did,” Jessica said said suddenly. “Or didn’t do, I guess. All these years I thought I was the lucky one because they paid more attention to me, but they were really holding me back—making me dependent on their approval.”

I sat beside her on the window sill. “You didn’t do anything wrong, Jess.”

“I didn’t do enough right either,” she countered. “I should have spoken up sooner.” She sighed. “They’re devastated, you know. Mom keeps crying about how you must hate them. Dad’s telling everyone who’ll listen about His Brilliant daughter at John’s Hopkins like he personally funded your research.”