My little sister asked why I always leave before dinner

Dear Delyara, I am twenty-one and go home every Sunday to see my family. For the past three months, I have left just before dinner because I cannot afford the train home after evening fares change. Nobody knows. My mother thinks I have plans with friends. My father says young people are always in a hurry. Today, my fourteen-year-old sister followed me to the front door and asked why I never eat Mum’s roast anymore. I told her I was not hungry. She looked at my shoes and said, “You’re poor, aren’t you?” I laughed. She did not. Then she disappeared upstairs and returned with a jar containing £36.47 in coins. She has been saving for headphones. She pushed it toward me and said I could stay for dinner. I refused. She became angry and said, “You always act like you’re the older one.” That sentence has followed me all night. I work full-time, pay rent, and tell my family I am doing well because I do not want my parents worrying. My little sister understood from the timing of a train that I was lying. I stayed for dinner. She paid my fare home from her headphone money. I have never felt so loved and so ashamed by the same handful of coins.