Chapter 2

Huh? Where did that come from?

I stared at Clark in surprise.

But he just sneered. Refusing to back down, he looked back at me with eyes burning with resentment. “Mr. Stane, haven’t you been making my life a living hell the last year?

“You told me to walk more than thirty thousand steps a day, and only then would I be able to get my three-hundred-dollar monthly allowance. If I fail even once, I’ll get thirty dollars deducted.

“Once, I was burning up and wanted to get my monthly allowance ahead of time to see the doctor, but you asked me to write a three-thousand-word application. When I was finally done, you rejected the application because of a typo.

“I had to suffer burning with a fever for three days and nights. Aren’t you the one who did all those things?!”

Then, he tossed out a card that contained only 16.80 dollars.

He threw out yet another medical report that stated that he was severely malnourished, suffered from low blood sugar, and had gastritis.

Finally, he showed everyone dozens of messages asking him to pay his loans after he fell behind on his payments.

“You can choose not to believe in me, Mom, but my life over the past year has been a living hell…”

Clark bit down on his lip and tried to hold back his sobs.

Everyone fell silent. They were all shocked and in disbelief.

When they looked toward me, their eyes were full of disdain and displeasure, as if I was a heinous criminal.

My eyes flew wide open, and I found the entire situation ridiculous. Unable to help myself, I said, “Wait… If you’re living such a horrible life, why didn’t you just call your mom?”

Clark was rendered speechless for a brief moment before he shouted in anger, “Don’t you think I tried?! You stopped me! You told me that Mom was busy, she wouldn’t have time for me, and she didn’t want to see me?

“I was wondering what I did wrong to make Mom so angry!”

Then, with a choked-up voice, he said, “Mom, I waited for an entire night for your phone call for my sixteenth birthday, but you didn’t call. I was so disappointed.

“For a moment, I even wanted to jump off a building so that I wouldn’t bother you anymore…”

Surprise flashed in Layla’s eyes. Then, she narrowed her eyes at me. The sharp eyes were filled with a dangerous glint. She said, “Rowan, if I remember correctly, I was out on a business trip during Clark’s birthday this year.

“I asked you to give him a watch. Did you?”

Her voice was calm, but it made chills crawl down my spine.

I was stunned before answering quickly, “I did, but he—”

But an indignant shout interrupted me.

“No! He’s lying!”

A boy stepped forward from the crowd.

“Hello, Miss Marsh. I’m Clark’s roommate and came here to work with him. I’m sorry, but I can’t watch this any longer. We celebrated his birthday together, and he was really sad because he got nothing from you!

“I know exactly how bad Clark’s life has been over the past year. We didn’t believe him in the beginning. How could the son of a rich family live in poverty?

“But he has been working while studying, and he never joins any of our trips or gatherings. He’s already fainted three times from low blood sugar during PE. As for his school uniform and textbooks, he had to borrow money for them.

“At his worst, he couldn’t even afford a razor. If you don’t believe me, I have these IOUs with me!”

Then, he brought stacks of handwritten IOUs worth fifty dollars and one hundred dollars.

The signatures at the end were all Clark’s.

In an instant, everyone burst into a ruckus.

Clark hung his head, and his eyes welled up in tears.

My explanations died in my throat.

Then, I looked at Layla’s profound gaze before asking softly, “Do you trust me?”

But the woman who usually doted on me did not answer. Her face was tense, and she had her lips pursed. A storm was brewing in her cold gaze.

In an instant, I felt my heart plummet.

Something akin to disappointment welled up in my chest.

But who was I? A professional freeloader.

I refused to be hurt by love.

From the corner of my eye, I saw smugness flash in Clark’s eyes.

I was puzzled.

Did he put himself in such a sorry state just to slander me, or was someone pulling the strings from the shadows?

Did Layla perhaps want to break up with me but did not want me to leave with dignity, and that was why she set this stage with Clark?

In an instant, all sorts of theories flashed in my mind.

Regardless of which was true, I was done playing along.

I turned on the banking app on my phone and pulled out the transaction records before saying coldly, “I won’t say anything else. Here are all the transaction records showing that I have been transferring thirty thousand dollars to Clark every month. Look.”