Chapter 4

My parents subconsciously avoided my gaze, while Scarlett kept urging me, "Hurry up and hug them. We're all watching."

I laughed and something inside me shattered completely in that moment.

I walked toward that couple, but I hugged my parents tightly instead. "The bond between us as parents and child ends here. From now on, I have nothing to do with the Langford Family."

My parents exchanged a look, both seeing a flicker of unease in each other's eyes. However, I had already stood up to leave with my "biological parents."

My mother immediately chased after me, shouting in a bluff, "This doesn't make us even! Not unless ... unless you pay back every cent we spent on you over the last decade!"

I stopped in my tracks, yet I didn't turn around. I simply gave a soft reply, "Fine."

They believed they had spent a fortune on me over the years, but they had forgotten that the daughter who was truly pampered and raised with a lot of money was Scarlett.

As for me, I only received $300 a month for living expenses. Yet I was still exploited by Scarlett, who had $30,000 a month. If I refused to give her money, she would go home and cry, saying that I had teamed up with classmates at school to isolate her and bully her.

As a result, I was locked up countless times, forbidden to eat.

Even on a night when the rain was pouring down, just because Scarlett said I was driving her to the brink of life, I was left to be drenched in the rain all night. I ended up burned with a forty-degree fever, yet no one cared about me.

It had always been this way since childhood.

A single word from Scarlett could determine my right or wrong, my happiness, my life and even my dignity. Meanwhile, my explanations, my tears and my grievances in that house were worthless. Just like me, they were cheap.

That night, I moved into the rented room in my 'biological parents' slum. Because there were no extra rooms or blankets, I had to spend the night in the only bathroom.

The window, patched with newspapers, was badly broken and cold wind kept pouring in.

By the next day, I was already burning with a high fever and felt dizzy.

In my hazy consciousness, I heard a woman making an anxious phone call. "Sir, Ma'am, Miss … Miss Sophie has a high fever, already forty degrees."

"What are we waiting for? Get her to the hospital right away!" my mother urged.

The phone was on speaker and Scarlett's voice came through clearly. "Dad, Mom, my sister only left last night and today she suddenly has a high fever. How could it be such a coincidence? She must be putting on an act to test you on purpose. If you believe her, you'll be fooled."

After a long silence, my father's cold voice sounded. "Don't worry about her. She said it herself that she has nothing to do with us anymore. Let this ungrateful wretch learn her lesson."

My mother's voice was full of impatience as she added, "She's your daughter now. Please don't call us for no reason. We have to accompany our precious daughter on her world tour. I'm hanging up."

No one cared about me after that and I was abandoned in a deserted rented room.

With the last of my strength, I pried open the front door. But the moment I crawled into the hallway, I could no longer hold on and blacked out.

When I opened my eyes again, there was only a nurse by the bedside.

"Little girl, you're finally awake! Your fever was 42 degrees Celsius. If it weren't for a kind passerby bringing you to the hospital, you would have been in danger if you had arrived ten minutes later. Alright, hurry up and contact your family to come over and settle the bill."

I remained silent for a long while before whispering, "I have no money and I have no family."

The nurse froze in shock. Staring at the IV tube in the back of my hand, I pursed my dry lips and added, "But, I have blood."

When the new semester started, I entered my third year of high school.

To earn money, I began running errands for my classmates, such as buying meals and delivering packages. I earned one dollar per trip, which allowed me to save more than twenty dollars a day.