Chapter 2

I hurriedly stuffed the last of my bread into my mouth before rushing off to my next part-time job.

Recently, I’d landed a tutoring job teaching primary school students. It paid several times more than washing dishes at the restaurant, so I absolutely couldn’t be late.

Tiffany frowned, her eyes filled with concern.

“Amelia, can you really keep this up? Are you sure you don’t want to take a day off? I’m worried something’s going to happen to you if you keep pushing yourself like this…”

But I didn’t stop what I was doing. I kept shoving food into my mouth, eating so quickly that I choked several times and coughed until my face turned bright red.

I pounded my chest a few times and finally swallowed before answering softly.

“I can’t take a day off. What would happen to my mom if I did?”

Tiffany’s frustration boiled over, and her voice rose.

“Your mom is so irresponsible! How can she expect a college student who just started school to cover all the household expenses?

“Doesn’t she ever think about what you’re going through?”

I only gave her a helpless smile.

“I owe her this.”

For years, I hadn’t gone a single day without blaming myself.

If it weren’t for me, Mom wouldn’t have ended up as the miserable, broken woman she was now.

So I had no right to complain about being tired.

After transferring between three buses and nearly getting heatstroke under the blazing sun, I finally arrived at the location of my tutoring job.

The house was a mansion halfway up a mountain. I even had to walk uphill for nearly half an hour before reaching the front gate.

A middle-aged man dressed like a butler came out to greet me with a warm smile.

“Are you the tutor who’s here to teach our young master?”

I wiped the sweat from my forehead and nodded.

The butler led me inside the mansion, and the sheer luxury was beyond anything I could have imagined.

Even the dog in the yard had its own two-story doghouse.

The butler led me to a study and handed me a glass of ice water.

“Rest here for a moment. I’ll go get the young master.”

I took out the textbooks I had prepared in advance. Before I could even arrange them on the desk, a little boy came running into the study.

The moment he saw me, he smiled, revealing two adorable dimples.

“Hello, Miss!”

I hadn’t expected a rich kid to be so polite. The tension I’d been carrying immediately melted away.

I gently patted the boy on the head.

“Hi there. You can just call me Ms. Carter.”

The boy jumped excitedly.

“Ms. Carter! My last name is Carter too!

“My name is Ethan Carter!”

My smile instantly froze.

Ethan Carter.

I had heard that name on television before. It was the name of the boy whose father had spent a billion dollars building a skyscraper for him.

The little boy standing in front of me was my father’s new son.

This was my father’s home.

Panic instantly seized me. I stood there frozen, completely unsure of what to do.

My hands trembled uncontrollably as all the hatred I had carried toward my father for years came rushing back.

I wanted to storm over to him and demand to know why he had treated me this way all these years. Why had he abandoned Mom and me without a second thought?

But my rational side told me that acting on impulse would only earn me more hatred.

I would also lose this tutoring job.

After thinking it over for a moment, I decided to pretend nothing had happened and continue tutoring Ethan.

Making money was more important.

I desperately needed this money to survive.

The two-hour lesson passed quickly. Fortunately, Ethan was extremely well-behaved, and we got along surprisingly well. By the end of the lesson, we already felt more like friends than teacher and student.

He didn’t have any of the arrogance I’d expected from a rich kid.

I packed up my textbooks, assigned Ethan his homework for the next few days, and prepared to leave.

But Ethan suddenly grabbed the hem of my shirt and spoke in a mysterious voice.

“Ms. Carter, I’ve never really had any friends. You’re my only friend!

“Can I tell you a secret?”

I froze.

I was surprised that the Carter family’s young heir apparently had no friends, and even more surprised that he had chosen to tell me.

Still, I patted his head patiently.

“Sure. Go ahead.”

Ethan leaned close to my ear and whispered,

“Actually, I have an older sister. Dad has been looking for her for years.

“But he still hasn’t found her, so I’ve decided that when I grow up, I’m going to find my sister myself!”

I stood there in stunned silence, my mind going completely blank.

“What did you say?”