Chapter 4

That night, I curled up under a blanket and spent the night on the couch. The couch was too narrow, so I woke up several times from the cold to look for my blanket which had fallen onto the floor.

The next day, my whole body was sore and in pain.

Before daybreak, I went out with my bag on my shoulders. I got on a bus and had to make several transfers before I arrived at my Aunt Elizabeth's place.

Even from a distance away, I could see Elizabeth with the child carrier as she carried my baby cousin, who wasn't even a year old, on her back.

She was pushing her cart full of breakfast wraps as she walked out the door.

It was summer then, and the heat was unbearable. She hadn't taken more than a few steps when her forehead was already full of sweat.

I called out to her from behind, "Aunt Elizabeth!"

Elizabeth looked at me in surprise. She probably didn't want me to witness her predicament, for she tried to send me away after getting an egg-filled breakfast wrap from her cart and stuffing it in my hands.

"Can you please take me in, Aunt Elizabeth? I can help you sell the wraps in the mornings before I go to school." After painstakingly helping her push her cart to the designated spot, I spoke up helplessly.

When I said those words, I felt like something was lodged in my throat, and I couldn't get it out.

As always, the answer I received gave me nothing but despair.

Elizabeth firmly rejected me. She was already having a hard time bringing up a child, so if she had to raise two children alone, it would be too much for her.

After facing rejection from Elizabeth, I went to the orphanage in the suburbs.

At the orphanage, I saw several older kids being mean to another kid over a toy. They threw punches at the kid and kicked him.

I completely chickened out. In the end, I chose to go home. I also had to gain a foothold in that house.

When I got home, I saw Nancy sitting on the couch in the living room with her arms crossed. She seemed to have been waiting for me for a while. She said, "Finally had it in you to come back, huh? I thought you'd be brave enough to revoke your uncle's guardianship rights."

I pretended that I didn't understand the sarcasm in her tone. Smiling, I replied, "You and Uncle Charles have been so nice to me. Why would I do that?"

Realizing that I was being civil about it, Nancy dropped her malice and said, "Since you want us to take care of you, Julia, you'll have to at least give us some money for that, right? You do know the password for the bank card your parents left you, don't you?"

"Hadn't my mom given Uncle Charles a bank card before, Aunt Nancy?" I asked.

My parents had left behind two bank cards with large sums of money in those cards. A bank card with 300 thousand dollars in it was given to Charles for safekeeping, and the money was meant for my tuition and daily expenses. My mom had given the other card solely to me in case of emergencies.

"Hah, did you think it's that simple to raise a child? That bit of money was gone in the blink of an eye," Nancy said, rolling her eyes at me in exasperation.

I pursed my lips. I knew that I mustn't fight back, so I could only insist that I couldn't recall the password for the other card. I also told Nancy that I would tell her the password as soon as I remembered it.

I had adamantly refused to say a word, so Nancy couldn't do anything about it.

That night, while I was showering, Nancy told Amy to pour a basin of cold water onto the blanket I slept in.

When I came out of the bathroom, they shut their doors tightly. I wanted to ask them for a new blanket, but they ignored me no matter how much I shouted.

That night, I could only hug myself as I curled up on the couch. I was freezing throughout the night.

I also committed to memory everything they had done to me.

…

When the new semester began, Charles said that he couldn't afford my tuition fees in a private school, so he transferred me to Amy's school. I was put in the same class as Amy.

On the second day of school, Amy and her lackeys stood in my way at the school gates.

"Julia needs a lesson. I want you two to discipline her for me." Amy was saying the most wicked words with that most innocent expression on her face.

When her lackeys heard that, they slowly approached me.