An Unfounded Debt

"Yara Guthrie, I gave you everything I had, and this is how you repay me?"

Jocelyn Guthrie, my elder sister who once treated me like her own child, was shouting in court, completely losing all composure.

"I sacrificed everything for you! I'm only asking you to give up a small portion of your income to sponsor my son's wedding and for him to start a family, yet you won't even do that? Are you even human?"

She was trembling from agitation, tears and snot running freely down her face.

The people in the courtroom saw her patched-up clothes and deeply lined face, and their sympathy turned into sharp, condemning looks directed at me.

Looking at Jocelyn, worn down by half a lifetime of hardship, looking more like someone in her sixties or seventies, I let out a helpless sigh.

"Jocelyn, I've told you so many times. I never went to college, and I never received a single cent of tuition from you."

My grades were quite good when I was in my senior year of high school, but Mom said the family was in debt. With no other choice, I gave up on college and went up north to work.

I only came home once a year during the holidays. Whenever Jocelyn saw me, she either ignored me entirely, or, if she spoke, it was nothing but cold sarcasm and ridicule.

When she got married, she did not invite me.

When she celebrated her son's birthdays, she did not invite me either.

Two decades passed just like that, and then suddenly, she came looking for me, insisting I repay her for college tuition I never even had, so she could use the money for her son.

When I refused to admit to something that never happened, she dragged me straight to court.

"You're lying! Without my support, how could you have gotten a high-paying job at a multinational corporation with such an impressive degree? Pay me back, now! That's my blood and sweat! Where's your conscience? Why are you ruining my son's happiness?"

Jocelyn grabbed my collar, refusing to let go. "I suffered so much, only to raise an ungrateful wretch like you!"

My nephew, Albert Wesley, was not as emotional as his mother, but the pain in his voice was clear.

"Aunt Yara, my mother neglected my care, her own son, just so you could go to school. All these years, I paid my own tuition by working part-time. If we weren't truly desperate for money to get married, she wouldn't have forced you into this."

Looking at my sister, on the verge of a breakdown, my heart twisted uncomfortably.

"Jocelyn… It's not that I won't repay you. You've just got the wrong person."

"You still won't give up, huh? Fine! Take a look at this. This is the evidence!"

As she spoke, she flung a stack of printed transfer receipts onto the table.

"Your Honor, every transfer I made over the years is right here. Over the four years of her so-called college, I sent her a total of 360 thousand dollars. I only asked her to repay 300 thousand, and she still refuses! She's truly inhumane!"

I stared at her in disbelief.

"Three hundred and sixty thousand dollars? Jocelyn, forget that absurd amount, I've never even seen a single cent."

Seeing how firm I was, she shoved the receipts right in front of my face.

"Yara, how dare you lie so boldly?! Isn't this your account? Aren't you the recipient?"

"It is my account, but..."

Before I could finish, Jocelyn immediately turned to the judge and exclaimed, "Your Honor, she's already admitted it. Please proceed with the ruling!"