Chapter 2

I looked at Hubert Ellerbee before my gaze settled on the gift in his hands.

He tilted his head slightly, instinctively hiding the box behind his back.

Right then, Alesha poked her head out of her private room.

"Hubie, you're five minutes late! I'm going to have to punish you!"

Hubert stepped forward and handed her the gift.

"I got held up on the way. Here, I brought you a gift."

Then, he turned slightly toward me, an apologetic look in his eyes. "Kathleen, I'll explain everything to you later."

I stood there, motionless.

Just an hour earlier, he'd told me he was visiting family friends with his parents, so he wouldn't be able to answer my messages that night. What he hadn't told me was that the "family friend" happened to be my birth mother.

And even more than that, I never expected that the childhood friend I'd grown up right with—the boy I'd split a cookie with—would share such an intimate connection with Alesha.

The smile on Alesha's lips faded as her gaze shifted to me. "Kathleen? You're Kathleen Holloway?"

Before I could answer, she called back over her shoulder, "Mom, guess what? Kathleen snuck in here to see you!"

Everyone's eyes shifted toward me.

I lightly gripped the hem of my shirt and turned to look at Mom.

The smile on her face hadn't receded in time, freezing stiffly at the corners of her mouth.

"Oh, it's you," she remarked before clearing her throat awkwardly. "You've gotten so tall I didn't even recognize you."

I let go of my shirt. "I didn't sneak in here to see you."

She blinked and walked over. "Then why are you here?"

"I'm working to earn money for living expenses."

Her eyes swept over me from head to toe. "Why are you dressed like that? Are you deliberately trying to humiliate me?"

Lowering her voice, she continued, "We're celebrating Alesha's College Entrance Exam scores today. I don't have time to chat with you. You can go find your dad. He's right next door."

With that, she knocked on the neighboring private room.

"Earl, your daughter's here."

"What daughter? I only have a son—"

Dad's eyes landed on me. After staring for a few seconds, he opened his mouth and forced out an awkward laugh.

"What are you doing here?"

He stepped closer to the doorway and lowered his voice.

"It's your brother's birthday today. There are a lot of guests here in the room, so this isn't a good time. Whatever it is you need, we can talk tomorrow."

He glanced at Mom.

"This really isn't a good time. You're her mother. She must be here for you."

Mom pursed her lips. "I'm busy too. You're her father. She's your responsibility."

A spark of tension flared between the two.

"Her last name is Holloway, so she belongs to you Holloways. Why are you trying to push her onto me?" Mom sniped, her voice sharpening.

A vein at Dad's temple started to pulse.

"I didn't make her all by myself. Why are you dumping her on me?"

Once again, I had become the ball they kicked back and forth. It had always been this way since I was a child.

They'd argue over who had to cook for me and whose turn it was to pay for my school tuition. Later, when we went to court, the judge had asked which parent I wanted to live with. But Mom rushed to say her salary was too low to support me, while Dad complained that it wasn't practical for a man to raise a daughter by himself.

They argued until their faces turned red. It was as if they were trying to get rid of a defective product neither of them wanted.

Years had passed, and I was still the same burden they couldn't wait to get rid of.

I took a deep breath and cut them off.

"Neither of you needs to worry about me. I didn't come here looking for either of you in the first place."