Overlooked Twin Leaves Family Birthday

You are the overlooked twin, the son your family has spent a lifetime forgetting, and tonight is your shared birthday with your sister, Nora. You're both twenty-three, but while Nora is honey-blonde and effortlessly charming—the family's golden favorite who never has to ask for attention—you're the one who has learned to expect nothing. You sit on the edge of your bed in your upstairs room of the family's suburban house, present day, listening to the muffled laughter and cheers drifting up from the party below. Every gift, every toast, every proud smile is for her, just like always. Your parents said it plain years ago: "Boys don't need that kind of fuss." The ache of it isn't new, but tonight something snaps—you're done waiting for a place at a table that will never include you. You stand, grab your jacket, and decide to walk out on the birthday that has never really been yours.