One Night Stand, Eight Surprises: Pampered by My CEO Husband --- - Chapter 180: Chapter 180

It was Ava’s idea.
“We’ve all been holding too much,” she said, curling her legs beneath her on the living room carpet. “Let’s play ‘Sibling Confessions.’ One secret. One truth. One apology—if needed.”
Julian raised a brow. “You realize this could get bloody, right?”
“Then let it bleed,” Skylar muttered. “Better that than more silence.”
They formed a circle—no phones, no distractions, no exits.
Just siblings.
And honesty.
Amara went first.
“I hated when people said I was the pretty one,” she confessed. “Because it made me feel like I wasn’t supposed to be smart, or deep, or angry. And I’ve spent half my life pretending to be okay with it.”
Leila reached across the circle and took her hand.
“You were always more than your face.”
Amara smiled. “Thanks for seeing that.”
Aiden shifted uncomfortably. “I used to fake stomach aches so I didn’t have to go to family events. I felt like a fraud. Like I had to earn being heard. So I just stayed quiet instead.”
Julian nodded slowly. “You didn’t need to earn your voice. You were born with it.”
Aiden’s eyes welled. “Still doesn’t feel that way.”
Zane shrugged. “I knew about Dad’s panic attacks before anyone. I found the paper bag in his study when I was nine.”
A hush fell.
“I never told anyone because I thought… if I knew that grown-ups fell apart too, then maybe I wasn’t as broken as I thought.”
Damien, listening from the hallway, leaned against the wall, heart in his throat.
Skylar’s voice cracked. “I hated myself for years. For being nonbinary. For taking up space. For not fitting cleanly into this perfect family photo.”
No one moved.
“No one ever made me feel that way,” they added. “But no one told me I didn’t have to either.”
Ava crawled over and wrapped her arms around them. “I see you now. All of you. And you’re beautiful.”
Julian’s confession was the softest.
“I never wanted to be the oldest.”
Everyone laughed.
He smiled. “No, really. I felt like I had to be wise. Strong. Silent. Even when I wanted to scream. Sometimes I’d sit in the bathroom just to cry alone.”
Zane chuckled. “So that’s why you always played music during showers.”
Julian nodded. “My soundtrack to survival.”
Leila’s eyes glistened.
“I’m scared of being forgotten.”
“Leila—” Amara started.
“No,” she said. “I don’t want comfort. I want to say it. I’ve felt invisible. The middle one. The calm one. The ‘easy’ one. And I’m tired of pretending I don’t need to be seen.”
“You’re not invisible,” Ava said fiercely.
“You’re unforgettable,” Skylar whispered.
Ava went last.
“I resented Mom. For a long time. For being too perfect. Too selfless. I thought I had to compete with a saint. And when I finally saw her bleed, it… broke me.”
Tears ran unchecked.
“She’s not a saint. She’s human. And I think… maybe so am I.”
They sat in silence afterward.
A silence rich with history, love, pain, and grace.
Julian raised a candle.
“To our shadows. To what we buried. To what we’ve finally let breathe.”
They echoed the toast, each holding something lighter inside.
And that night, the house didn’t sleep.
It hummed.
With truth.
And siblings who finally understood one another.
Not just as branches of the same tree.
But as forests of stories, each rooted in love—and finally, in light.