Chapter 4

Selena's POV

At the housewarming party, Aunt Ashlyn raised a glass and smiled at our relatives. "Take a look around! Selena designed this whole house for me."

"Oh!" The relatives clapped enthusiastically.

Instead of praising me, though, they showered Mom with compliments for raising such a good daughter.

Mom was all smiles. "Oh, this was nothing for Selena. If any of you need renovations in the future, just leave it to her. She's as good as an entire design team all by herself!"

Someone jokingly asked when I could design their place too.

I offered a polite smile. "If the money's right, everything is negotiable."

"Selena!" Mom pinched my thigh hard in warning, sending a sharp burst of pain through me.

"We're all family here! You don't have to pay," Mom said generously.

The whole table cheered.

I was the only one biting my lip.

"Mom," I called out, but she didn't hear me.

"Mom!"

My sudden shout instantly silenced the room. Everyone stopped and stared at me.

Taking a deep breath, I turned to Aunt Ashlyn. "Aunt Ashlyn, when are you going to pay me?"

She froze for a second, exchanged a quick look with Mom, and then put on a look of sudden realization. "Oh… look at my memory! I'll pay you the day after tomorrow, okay?"

The day after tomorrow arrived.

Mom told me the payment had come in and asked me to go back home to collect it.

I assumed it would be cash.

Yet when I got home, all I saw was a bedroom packed full of old furniture.

"What is this?" I turned to Mom in absolute disbelief.

"It's your payment," she said with total confidence. "Look at this desk."

One of the desk legs was noticeably shorter than the rest, wobbling dangerously.

"Look at this desk lamp."

The moment I turned it on, the light flickered wildly.

"It's all junk Aunt Ashlyn threw out when she moved!" I yelled, nearly breaking down. "They're useless to me!"

"How are they useless?" Mom glared at me again. "Can't you just upcycle them?"

She picked up an old book and shoved it under the short leg of the desk. "See? Works just fine now, doesn't it?"

"I don't need this!"

Maybe I had shouted too loudly. Tears began welling up in Mom's eyes.

"You really don't know how to appreciate what you have," she muttered.

She sat down on the couch in silence and started wiping away her tears.

I let out a heavy sigh and sat down beside her. "Mom, I know how hard it was for you to raise me on your own. But our lives are better now. We don't need all this useless junk anymore."

Mom turned to look at me. "I know how hard you work to earn money. I was just trying to help you save a little."

"Then why didn't you ask Aunt Ashlyn for my payment?"

Mom looked away. "We're family…"

"Mom, do you have any idea how far I traveled and how many late nights I pulled for her new house? I earned that money!"

A long, heavy silence fell between us.

I sighed. "Forget it. Just give me back the savings I kept with you."

Mom suddenly grew tense. "What do you need that for?"

I let out a bitter laugh. "I haven't taken on a single project at work lately. I'm barely scraping by. Besides, you said years ago that once I started working, you'd give it back so I could manage it myself."

"It's not safe with you. Let me hold onto it for you." Her eyes darted around nervously.

A bad feeling instantly surged in my chest. "Mom, don't tell me the money is gone."

"It's not gone," Mom stammered. "Ashlyn's new house renovation… She was short on funds."

"Short by how much?" I asked.

"12 thousand dollars."

My head spun.

It hit me then. The payment Aunt Ashlyn was supposed to give me for the renovation was being taken out of my own money.

"When is she going to pay it back? Did you even ask her?"

"We're all family—"

"Fine. If you won't ask, I will."

I pulled out my phone and sent a message directly to the family group chat.

"Aunt Ashlyn, when are you going to return my 12-thousand-dollar savings? I need it urgently. On top of that, my fee for the design and renovation supervision is three thousand dollars. Just transfer 15 thousand dollars in total. As for this trash, we don't need it."

I snapped a photo of the bedroom full of old junk and sent it into the chat.

Mom went completely ballistic.

She hysterically slapped my phone right out of my hand. It crashed onto the floor, and the screen shattered completely.

"Selena Dodson, what do you think you're doing? You've completely humiliated me!"

Crying in rage, she delivered a sharp slap across my face.

Any anger I had left instantly died out, turning into ice-cold numbness.

My voice became frighteningly calm. "That is my money. The very least you could do before touching it was tell me."

"I am your mother! I gave birth to you and raised you! Can't I use a little bit of your money? It's not like she won't pay it back!"

I said, "Last year, I paid for Ben's tutoring fees. She still hasn't paid me back for that either."

"Fine, fine, fine! Put it all on my tab then!" Mom shrieked. "When you were little, Ashlyn was so good to you—"

The only answer she got was the sound of the front door slamming shut.