Chapter 3

As soon as her words fell, Mr. Brown kicked the back of my knee. "Mrs. Emerson gave you an order! Don't just stand there gaping. Do as you're told and eat it!"

Looking into Mom's venomous gaze, I slowly dropped to my knees and reached for a smashed piece of the cake before stuffing it into my mouth. This was the very first time in 18 years that I had ever tasted a cake bought by my parents. I just never imagined it would be on an occasion like this.

The frosting coated my mouth. It was so sweet, yet it tasted bitter… so bitter that my tears rolled down to the floor, one by one. My wretched state didn't earn even a shred of pity. Instead, it made everyone burst into laughter.

The very people who spent 18 years teaching me to carry myself with dignity had just turned around and crushed it with their own hands.

Just then, Dad's voice loomed over me. "Wow, you actually did it. Have you no shame? I can't even imagine what kind of people gave birth to a daughter like you."

His voice was soft, yet it felt like a slap, striking heavily across my face. I collapsed on the floor, my mouth full of frosting combined with the bitterness of my tears. I could neither swallow nor spit it out.

Noticing me hang my head in absolute silence, Mom snickered. "Look at her; she's as quiet as a mouse. It makes me wonder… is she just some bastard child who never had parents to raise her?"

She gave me a once-over before looking away in disgust. "Figures. If she had parents to teach her any better, she wouldn't be this pathetic, groveling on the floor like a dog."

The laughter around me buzzed in my ears. I clenched my fists, my nails digging deep into my palms.

"That's enough." Dad waved his hand and scowled. "We'll never see a dime from a pauper like her anyway. Have her beg for forgiveness and throw her out. I don't want her to bring misfortune to our family!"

After hearing that, Mr. Brown hurriedly nodded. When he turned to look at me, his eyes were laced with venom. "Didn't you hear that? Hurry up and apologize to Mr. and Mrs. Emerson!"

Noticing that I remained completely still, he grabbed the back of my head and slammed it violently toward the floor. "Are you deaf?"

My forehead hit the floor tiles with a loud thud. The impact left it numb, and the force jarred all the remaining tears right out of my eyes, yet I still clamped my teeth shut, refusing to utter a single word.

Mr. Brown lost his patience, grabbing me by the collar to wrench me up. The collar of my shirt tore open, revealing a hideous scar.

The very next second, the expression on Mom's face froze. Her pupils trembled slightly as she stared unblinkingly at the scar on my shoulder. "That scar… How did you get it?"

Slowly, I lifted my eyes, pulled my shirt back up to cover my shoulder, and remained silent.

When I was six, Mom was cooking at the stove, and I had carried a little stool over and stood beside her to watch. To my horror, the stool tilted, and I accidentally pitched forward.

The pot of boiling oil overturned in an instant. To protect me, Mom was scalded from her shoulder down to her back, her skin turning bright red and blistering up from the hot oil.

She was trembling all over from the agonizing pain, yet she still gritted her teeth and forced out a smile. "Don't cry, Nicky. It doesn't hurt at all. All that matters is that you're okay."

A large scar had been left on my shoulder, but the injuries Mom sustained were far more severe than mine. Watching her wince in pain whenever her dressings were changed, I cried and apologized repeatedly.

Yet, she didn't blame me in the slightest. Instead, she looked at me with a smile. "You're my precious baby girl. Isn't it only right for me to protect you?"

The soft, loving face of my mom from the past ghosted over the one I was looking at now. It was the exact same face, but it had never felt so utterly foreign.

In the blink of an eye, Mom's forehead creased, and she sounded annoyed once again. "I asked you a question. How exactly did you get that scar on your shoulder?"

I lowered my head, my voice so soft I could barely hear it myself. "What does that have to do with you?"

Mom stiffened when she heard that. She parted her lips, but it was as if something was lodged in her throat, because she couldn't utter a single word.

It took her a long while to snap out of it, and her eyes flickered. "Forget it. I won't hold this against you anymore. Get the hell out of here! We'll just pretend this incident never happened."

Then, she waved her hand as though she was shooing away a fly.