Chapter 2

"Mom, I didn't score that low back then. I-I scored over 1,350." I forced the words out with everything I had.

Mom froze for a second, then stared at me for a long moment before speaking. "Regina, what kind of fantasy are you living in? Are you out of your mind, or am I?"

The way she said it made me panic.

"No, Mom. I still have the slip from back then. It's saved on my phone. I'll find it…"

I pulled out my phone and started scrolling through it in a rush as tears continued to stream down my face.

How pathetic of me. Even after all this time, I would still cry whenever something like this happened.

I kept scrolling through my gallery until I reached the pictures from when I had first started working.

Back then, I messed up almost every day and got chewed out by my manager constantly. I barely had enough to eat myself, yet every month, I still sent half my salary back home.

And every night, when I got back to that tiny rented room, I would look at that photo.

I often found myself wondering whether things might've been different if I'd told them the truth about my score back then.

Would they have celebrated for me the way they celebrated for Sabrina?

If they had, maybe I wouldn't have had to struggle this hard. Maybe I would've had a different life, too.

Over the past five years, I had spent four of them watching Sabrina's university life through the photos she posted on her Instagram.

From the day she moved onto campus as a freshman to the day she graduated in her cap and gown, every one of those moments belonged to the life I had given up.

Did I regret it? I didn't know.

A few years ago, I probably would've answered without hesitation and said no. But now, all I could say was that I didn't know anymore.

That feeling only became stronger the more I grew up and the more of the world I saw.

Even so, I kept reminding myself that I couldn't say anything because I couldn't make things harder for Mom and Dad, and that I shouldn't let myself become bitter like that.

After all, they had always loved Sabrina more. Even if I had been the one with the better score, they might not have been happy for me anyway.

I kept scrolling through my gallery, but no matter how far I went, I couldn't find that old test slip.

Mom rolled her eyes at me, full of contempt.

"That's enough, Regina. I know you're just trying to protect your image, but do you really need to lie about something like that? If you ask me, you never had that good a score. Since when did you get so comfortable lying?"

Her words hurt so badly that I could barely breathe, and tears kept dripping onto my phone screen.

Why? Why couldn't I even find the only photo that could prove what I had scored back then?

Wasn't the whole reason I gave up going to university so Mom and Dad wouldn't have to make such a difficult decision?

If that was true, then all the years of hardship I went through barely amounted to anything.

My voice broke as I uttered each word with effort. "I'm not lying…"

"What did you say?" Mom frowned as if she hadn't heard me clearly.

I raised my voice. "I said I'm not lying!"

She took a deep breath and visibly tamped down her temper, clearly annoyed by my crying. Then, she waved her hand dismissively.

"Enough. Stop crying. If you want to cry, go to your room and do it there. I've had enough of this!"

As she spoke, she stood up and was about to shove me.

"Crying is all you know how to do. Can't I speak my mind around you? You were the one who couldn't get into university back then. Don't stand there acting like your father and I owe you something!"

As she shoved and hit me without the slightest bit of mercy, I couldn't keep it together anymore and finally shouted back, "But I really did score over 1,350! Why won't you believe me?"

Meeting her startled eyes head-on, I continued, "You've always been like this! Every time I did better than Sabrina, nobody said a word. But the second Sabrina did better than me, she became your precious daughter all over again.

"Mom, I'm your daughter, too. How could you do this to me?"

Mom froze, then slapped me hard across the face.

"Oh, so now raising you was our mistake? You ungrateful little brat. How dare you talk to me like that?"

Her tone sharpened, and the next slap landed against the side of my head.

My face was swollen, but the tears hung stubbornly in my eyes. "So you never loved me, did you? Even though I was your first child."

Mom's hand stopped midair. She stared at me in shock. "You…"

Before she could finish, I heard the sound of the lock turning at the front door.

"Mom! Dad and I are back. Look what I brought you."

Sabrina's bright and cheerful voice rang out from the entryway.