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Chapter 4

Author: Morning Dew
When I was brought to the office, Lilian was already there.

I had not seen her for six years, and she had lost a lot of weight.

Her hair was messy from the wind, and she had even missed a button on her coat.

When she saw me, she immediately looked at my hearing aid.

“Zoe.”

I could not hear her clearly. I could only see her lips moving.

She wanted to touch my face.

I took a step back.

Lilian’s hand froze mid-air.

Someone opened the door.

Gloria walked in with the parcel that had been taken away by Nancy.

The down jacket was still in the box, but there were only five boxes of batteries left.

She placed the box onto the table.

“Why were these things at Nancy’s place?”

I looked at her.

“Didn’t you ask her to take them away?”

Gloria looked shocked.

“Why would I take them back?”

“Because you’re afraid that I’ll covet the Johnson family’s money.”

She stared at me intently.

“Who told you that?”

No one answered.

Mrs. Anderson placed the overdue bill and expulsion letter on the desk.

“Zoe has twenty thousand dollars in unpaid school fees.

“There’s only six dollars left in her student card.

“Also, the three hundred dollars meal allowance given by the school was transferred out of her account by her guardian.”

Lilian looked at me in shock.

“If you needed money, why didn’t you reply to my text messages?”

“Don’t you already have a new family?”

“Who said that?”

“Nancy.”

She took out her phone.

Her screen showed all the text messages that she had sent me.

[It’s getting cold. Remember to layer up.]

[It’s time to get your hearing aid serviced. Do you want me to make an appointment for you?]

[Zoe, have you received the money this month?]

The last message was from the day before.

[I’m back in the country, and I want to see you. Is that alright?]

I stared at the message where she asked if I had received the money.

“What money?”

Lilian’s hands trembled.

“I gave you a monthly allowance.”

Gloria immediately looked up.

“You also gave her money?”

Lilian turned to her.

“What do you mean by also?”

They looked genuinely surprised.

Mrs. Anderson passed the past transaction details of my student card over to them.

“This is not the time to discuss that.

“In order to save twenty dollars, Zoe didn’t buy batteries for her hearing aid, and she hasn’t been able to follow her classes in the past two months.

“She even submitted a blank paper for her English listening test today.”

Blood immediately drained out of Lilian’s face.

Gloria took out all the batteries and put them on the table.

“I sent her batteries every single week.”

Mrs. Anderson said, “But she didn’t receive any.”

Gloria took out her phone and flipped through all her delivery details.

She was sending parcels to me, yet Nancy was the one who received the parcels.

There were down jackets, shoes, medicines, snacks, gadgets, and batteries for my hearing aid.

The earliest delivery slip was from three years ago.

When I looked at those slips, I felt a shiver running down my spine.

Nancy told me that Gloria immediately announced after her wedding that the Johnson family would not be spending money on Peter’s ex-wife’s daughter.

But why would she send me parcels for three consecutive years?

Lilian took out a stack of bank transaction slips.

“Ever since I went overseas, I’ve been sending you monthly allowances.”

My name was printed on the slip as the recipient.

Her thumb was pressing against the amount, so I did not manage to see it.

“Where’s the bank card?”

She asked me.

“Where’s the bank card that I applied for you?”

I shook my head.

“I’ve never seen it.”

“On the day I opened that account for you, Peter said that you were too young to hold the card, so he would take care of it for you first.”

Lilian’s voice slowly turned into a sob.

“After that, he told me that he had passed the card to you.”

Gloria was silent for a while. Then, she opened up a bank app on her phone.

“I opened this account for you the year I married Peter.

“I was afraid that you’d think that I only married Peter for his money, so I’ve been putting money into your account on a monthly basis.

“Peter told me to give it to you after you turn eighteen.”

My name was indicated on the bank account.

However, it was my first time seeing it.

Mrs. Anderson asked, “How much money did you give her?”

Lilian took out twelve bank transaction slips and placed them on the desk.

Gloria flipped through the bank account and showed me all the auto-debit records.

Lilian had her thumb against the money.

Gloria did not show the bank transfer amount.

I did not know how much they were giving me every month.

I only saw that they both saved the money to the same account, and that account belonged to me.

Just as I was about to speak, I suddenly heard Peter saying, “Why are both of you here?”

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  • I Dropped Out For Forty-Three Dollars   Chapter 8

    Three months later, everything finally came to an end. After Peter transferred my money to his company account, he forged transaction records for Lilian and Gloria. He showed them that I bought new clothes every month and spent thirty grand on therapy. He also lied that he had spent hundreds of thousands on my hearing aid. Besides, he quoted a dozen outstation treatments that I had not been to. Some of that money went to his company. Some other money was used to buy Nancy’s car and house. Then the rest was distributed between the two of them. Nancy sold Gloria’s gifts. The remaining items that she could not sell, she used for her family. When her son went overseas, he took the laptop and luggage that were supposed to be mine. The house and car were seized for investigation. My money was also traced and returned to me. Peter’s company was also under investigation for their accounting discrepancies. Gloria divorced him. Lilian submitted her request for a cha

  • I Dropped Out For Forty-Three Dollars   Chapter 7

    Peter and Nancy were brought back to the police station for investigation. Before they left, Peter was still staring at me. “Zoe, I’m your father.“You’re throwing me behind bars; do you think this will benefit you?”I did not answer. He only claimed to be my father whenever he needed me to listen to him. The police officer asked me a lot of questions. He asked when Nancy started to take care of me, and how much money I received. He also asked if I had seen the bank card before, and if I had ever used those expensive items. I passed my phone to them. It had all the deductions and bills that Nancy had sent me. There were also records of Nancy’s refusal to transfer money to me.Ten dollars for a meal. Twenty dollars for tampons. Twenty dollars for batteries. The highest amount I ever asked was three hundred dollars. I had a high fever and wanted to go to the hospital. Nancy had answered, [We’ve overspent our budget this month. Just bear with it.]That day,

  • I Dropped Out For Forty-Three Dollars   Chapter 6

    Before the police arrived, Peter struggled to explain himself. He claimed that his company had run into some cash flow issues last year, and that he was only using the money to help him patch it through. He promised to transfer all the money back to me after gaining profit from that project.Lilian asked, “How much did you take?”Peter said, “I can’t remember.”Lilian immediately called the bank. That bank account was opened when I was eight. It belonged to me. As my guardian, Peter had both my bank card and password.Every month, Lilian would transfer fifty grand to my card. Initially, Gloria saved the money in the bank account she had opened for me. Then, three months later, my father said it was hard to manage separate accounts for me, so he asked her to transfer the money to my original bank account. It had been six years. Seventy-two months. They had given me a bit more than seven million dollars. When the bank gave the transaction history, Peter was sile

  • I Dropped Out For Forty-Three Dollars   Chapter 5

    When Peter walked in, he looked angry. “Why can’t the school contact me first?“Why did you have to ask both of them to come over?”Lilian held up the twelve transaction slips. “Peter, you told me that you had passed the card to Zoe.”Gloria also stared at him. “You said that Zoe was not willing to accept me, so the money had to be saved to her original account.”Peter stopped in his tracks. He looked at the transaction slips and the bank account. Then, he finally looked at me. “Zoe, what did you tell them?”He sounded exactly like he did on the phone. He did not ask why there were outstanding bills. Neither did he ask when the last time I changed my batteries was. He was just afraid of me talking about something that would rat him out. Mrs. Anderson passed him the overdue bill. “Mr. Johnson, due to the outstanding fees, she was almost expelled today.“She only had six dollars left on her student card.“In order to save up twenty dollars, she hasn’t bought ne

  • I Dropped Out For Forty-Three Dollars   Chapter 4

    When I was brought to the office, Lilian was already there. I had not seen her for six years, and she had lost a lot of weight. Her hair was messy from the wind, and she had even missed a button on her coat. When she saw me, she immediately looked at my hearing aid. “Zoe.”I could not hear her clearly. I could only see her lips moving. She wanted to touch my face. I took a step back. Lilian’s hand froze mid-air. Someone opened the door. Gloria walked in with the parcel that had been taken away by Nancy. The down jacket was still in the box, but there were only five boxes of batteries left. She placed the box onto the table. “Why were these things at Nancy’s place?”I looked at her. “Didn’t you ask her to take them away?”Gloria looked shocked. “Why would I take them back?”“Because you’re afraid that I’ll covet the Johnson family’s money.” She stared at me intently. “Who told you that?”No one answered. Mrs. Anderson placed the overdue bill and ex

  • I Dropped Out For Forty-Three Dollars   Chapter 3

    On Friday morning, my hearing aid stopped functioning. I took out the old batteries and tried to clean them. Then, I put them back. The indicator light flashed and dimmed very quickly. There was an English listening test this morning. When the speakers played, I could only hear some buzzing noises. After all the questions were played, my paper was still empty. The English teacher, Jane Spencer, stopped at my desk. “Why aren’t you answering?”I pointed at my ear. “My hearing aid ran out of battery.” “The exams were announced a week ago. Didn’t you prepare spare batteries?”I did not answer. This examination carried weight in the total course grade.She marked me an F. “Zoe, you can’t always use your health as an excuse.”Her statement made me feel worse than being scolded. During class, Mrs. Anderson brought me the expulsion letter. “Today is the due date.“If the outstanding fees are not paid, you’ll have to move out by next Monday.”I asked, “Can you gi

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