Chapter 16
Uncleavid’s voic, furious and panicked, seemed to explode right next to my ear.
“Can’t you hear me?! I said get out! Get out! Just name your price!”
Ethan and the Adamses also turned their gazes toward me, full of disgust and disapproval.
My face and ears burned with shame; I wished the ground would swallow me whole.
I still had nowhere to go for the night, but that was the least of my worries now.
The cake in my hands felt as heavy as a thousand–pound weight.
I was speechless. I turned and fled in a panic. But Mom called out to me. “Wait a moment.”
I wasn’t sure if she was calling me. Still, I frze in place, not daring to look back.
Footsteps descended from the stairs, moving toward me.
I heard Mom’s hoarse, weary voice. “I’ll take her and find a place for her to stay.”
Somehow, she seemed to understand exactly why I had come. I had been her daughter for over seven years.
She hated me, espised me. Yet she was the only person in the world who truly knew me.
My eyes stung, and I heard Uncle David’s anxious voice. “No! Let the housekeeper handle it! You shouldn’t be involved with her!”
Mom’s voice was calm. “It’s alright. I feel well enough today.”
She walked past me and headed outside.
Uncle David called the driver to follow, Mom and I sat in the back seat.
She sat on the left by the window. I squeezed onto the right, trying to keep as much distance from her as possible.
Mom used to say that I was a living reminder of that man. My classmates said I always smelled bad, like I’d been raised by a criminal.
I wanted to keep my distance rom Mom, to avoid causing her any more distress.
Outside, the trees flashed past like shadows.
I heard Mom speaking to the driver, “Find a retal near that elementary school for her.‘
,,
I lowered my eyes, silently looking at the cake in my lap. I never expected Mom to even look my way.
I figured she just wanted to personally maker sure I was gone, just like Uncle David had driven me to school himself that one time.
It was all about making sure I wouldn’t come back.
But Mom suddenly turned her head and looked at me.
For a moment, I was shocked and tense. Under her gaze, I ducked my toes inside my sneakers.
After a long while, I heard her voice. “Did you buy the cake for yourself?”
My hand gripping the ribbon trembled violently.
It had been such a long, long time since I’d heard her speak so calmly.
And it even seemed gentle. Like long ago, before she hated me.
I bowed my head further, almost touching the cake box with my forehead.Still, I gathered every bit of courage I had and whispered, my voice barely audible. “It’s…it’s for you, Mom.”
A long silence hung in the air. My body was tense. My back and palms felt covered in sweat.
Chapter 16
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I braced myself, thining that at any second, she would erupt, screaming hysterically as she had so many times befoe, demanding to know why I didn’t just die.
Chapter 16
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