Chapter 3

No matter what I did, money came first. Now that my job was secured, everything else became manageable.

The next morning, afraid something might go wrong, I got up at dawn. After getting dressed, I left the house immediately and waited outside the office. It was only after completing all the onboarding procedures that I finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Over the next few days, I claimed work was keeping me busy and stayed away from home, all while finding a new place to move into. This time, I didn't tell anyone at home, moving my things bit by bit each day.

During this period, my boyfriend, Charlie Dawn, helped me out. In my previous life, after my legs were broken and I was locked at home, he couldn't reach me no matter how hard he tried. He asked around and even went to the police to try to find me.

Unfortunately, I died before anyone could find me. I didn't tell him about my previous life. I only said I had fallen out with my family and needed his help.

After I had moved most of my things, I finally informed my parents. This time, I made sure not to bring up Charlie. I only said that the house was too far from my office and commuting was inconvenient, so I rented a place nearby.

Mom thought, "Ha! She left it out, but I already know she's moving out to live with her boyfriend. What a promiscuous woman! That boyfriend of hers has a wife and a child.

"I can't believe she's sunk so low as to become someone's mistress. What a disgrace she is to the family. If the wife comes knocking, we'll all be criticized and ridiculed."

Dad and David stared at me intensely.

"Having a daughter who's a mistress, I might as well kill myself. How am I ever supposed to hold my head up again?"

Mom kept spreading lies with her thoughts, crying and lamenting to herself. It made me want to scream at her and tell her to shut up.

I truly couldn't understand why she was so obsessed with slandering me. I even began to wonder whether I was really her biological daughter.

Upon hearing Mom's thoughts, Dad saw red and slapped me across the face. "Shameless! Are you moving out to fool around with some random man?"

I clutched my cheek, staring at him in disbelief. "What random man? Dad, what are you talking about?

"Don't you know what kind of person I am? I barely even have any male contacts. Who could I possibly be fooling around with?"

With that, I shoved my phone in front of him. "Check it yourself."

"She must've deleted all the chat history already. Her phone is clean, but the answer is hanging right around her neck.

"That diamond is huge! I've only ever seen something like that on TV. She couldn't have bought it herself. It must be a gift from some man." Mom kept using her thoughts to fan the flames.

Dad yanked the necklace off my neck and demanded, "Did you buy this yourself? Do you have no shame at all? Is this what I raised you to be?"

"My boyfriend gave it to me! Since when does accepting a gift make me shameless?" I retorted.

"Boyfriend? Well, you admitted it yourself. Don't blame us for calling you out!" David said eagerly, quick to pin the charge on me.

I put on an innocent look. "What are you talking about? You've always known I'm dating someone.

"Dad, he even asked me to give you a fishing rod. And you, David, he was the one who gave you the game console you wanted. Surely you haven't forgotten."