I still didn’t answer her loan request.

Two days later, she followed up.

“Hey! Did you see my message?”

Then another:

“You always say family matters. This is once in a lifetime.”

Alyssa never really asks for help.

She wraps demands in emojis and cheerful language until saying no makes you look cruel.

This time, silence was my answer.

She hated it.

Soon, Mom called.

Then Dad.

“It’s only paperwork,” Mom said. “You aren’t actually paying the money.”

“She’s your sister,” Dad added later. “She looks up to you.”

I almost laughed.

Then Mom said something that finally broke whatever patience I had left.

“She’s had a harder life than you, Jordan.”

Harder.

I thought about every time she had been rescued.

Every debt someone else covered.

Every consequence removed before she felt it.

I thought about college breaks I spent helping her instead of seeing friends.

I remembered paying for repairs when she damaged her first car.

She never paid me back.

Then I remembered the day Lily was born.

After an exhausting delivery, I brought her to my parents’ house.

Alyssa barely looked up from her phone.

When Mom held Lily for the first time, Alyssa sighed and said,

“Babies smell weird.”