She Didn’t Feel Like She Had a Real Family
One of the most heartbreaking things the OP said was, “We weren’t a family, we were a group of work colleagues with the same last name”. How tragic is that? Everyone needs a family. I sincerely hope that this person can become close with their grandparents, siblings, and members of their extended family. Hopefully they have some sort of support system around them. And when they get older, she can have a family of her own and finally experience what it’s like to have a “normal” family dynamic off of social media. You can’t choose your family, but you can have a “chosen family” of friends in your inner circle instead.