Chapter 3

I had no idea how many buses we changed and how long we walked on the small, muddy path before we finally arrived at the slums.

Under the dim moonlight, I could see poorly built brick and zinc houses packed closely together. The air was thick with the stench of something rancid, and I dragged my heavy feet, following behind Simon and Susan into a small, low house.

When we entered the house, Susan immediately grabbed my little bundle and poured the contents onto the ground. Her face fell when she saw only a few old, washed-out clothes and a pitiful handful of coins fall out of it.

"This is all you have?" Susan picked up a piece of my clothing with two fingers in disgust and started saying shrilly, "Why don't you own any proper jewelry after staying for so many years with the Santos family? Even my mother would find these few lousy pieces of clothes too cheap for her to wear!"

Simon spat on the ground and grabbed my wrist with such force that my bones almost broke. "Talk! Did you hide the good stuff?"

He glared at me. "Donna Santos said that you're not allowed to keep anything personal. Anything you own belongs to us. Take them out right now!"

"This is really all I have…" I tried to explain weakly.

"You're denying you have them, are you? Fine. From tomorrow onward, you're in charge of all the chores in this house!"

I was feeling extremely weak from all the traveling, and when Simon grabbed me forcefully, I felt intense pain in my heart.

"Let me go…" I said through gritted teeth as I tried to escape from his clutches, but it only angered him further.

Simon pushed me hard, and I fell to the ground. I saw stars, and my heart throbbed with so much pain that I curled into a ball on the ground.

Susan squinted at me and prodded my shoulder with the tip of her toe. "You're not the rich girl now. The slums aren't a place where you can pretend to be frail! Don Santos has told us specifically what a little schemer you are.

"He wants you to do everything we order you to do and make sure you lose that temperament of yours! Get out there and bring us some water from the well. If you don't fill up the water tank, you can sleep outside and freeze to death tonight!"

I had no idea how I got through the night. I was almost dying by the time I filled the water tank with bucket after bucket of water. After that, they locked me up in a small storeroom filled with firewood. There was no bed inside, and I only had damp, muddy soil that chilled me to the bone.

There was no choice but to curl up in a corner, next to a pile of firewood, and lean against the wall for some sleep. As I fell groggily to sleep, I dreamt of when I was six years old.

Jackie appeared one day in a puffy princess dress, and I wanted to touch it out of envy, but Marie hit my hand hard. "Stop coveting things that aren't yours. You're just an adopted child, and you're not good enough to be compared to Jackie."

After that, we grew up a little, and Jackie started to have her own circle of friends. She was always dressed up like a princess when she had tea in the garden with her upper-class friends. As for me, I was always dressed in old clothes, obediently holding a tray and serving them coffee and dessert.

For years, I was naive enough to believe that they would love me one day if they saw what a good girl I was by being obedient and working hard, but I was wrong. It did not matter how well I did. They would always think that I was not good enough and always suspected me of plotting to harm Jackie.

The next day, Susan pinched me awake. She glared at me viciously while yelling, "How dare you sleep in when the sun is shining so brightly outside?! Make breakfast right now, or you'll go hungry. There aren't maids to serve you here!"

I did not waste any time and forced myself into the cramped, little kitchen despite feeling like my body was about to fall apart. I made a fire in the clay stove with the firewood, and the small room was filled with thick smoke as it had no ventilator. I coughed violently from it and could hardly breathe through the smoke.

Three continuous days of hard labor and insufficient food worsened my condition.

During the afternoon of the fourth day, I was sweeping the floor when a sudden, intense pain hit me in the heart. It felt like a blade was being twisted in my chest. My knees buckled, and I curled up in pain on the ground while clutching my chest. I could taste blood in my mouth.

Blood was dripping from the corner of my mouth when Simon saw me while he was smoking a cigarette. He came over to me in annoyance and kicked me. "Stop pretending that you're dying. Get up and do your work!"

"I… I'm really sick," I said breathlessly as I grabbed the pants of his leg to beg him, as my survival instincts kicked in. "Please… Take me to the hospital…"

Susan glanced at me coldly. "You're sure making this look convincing. Do you think we'll be tricked just because you bit your tongue to show us some blood? Don Santos told us that you're good at feigning pity to gain sympathy. Besides, you need money for doctors. Do you think we have any money to pay for your medical bills?"

They dragged me back into the cold, damp storeroom and locked the door.

I was covered in sweat in the dark, and I gasped desperately for air. I felt around for a long time before being able to pull out an old phone from my pocket with great difficulty.

My fingers were trembling as I tried to call Marie. It rang for a long time before she finally picked up.

"Momma…" Tears streamed down my face when I called out to her, and my voice broke as I sobbed. "Please, take me home. Those two people beat me and won't let me eat… Momma, I'm really sick. I even coughed up blood…"

"Shut up! Don't call me Momma!" Marie yelled at me cruelly. "It's only been a few days, Jenny, and you're already full of lies before learning to be grateful."

Jackie's dainty voice could be heard on the other end of the call. "Momma, do I look good in this dress?"

Marie's voice instantly became softer. "You look great. Our Jackie looks good in anything she puts on."

After that, Marie returned to our call and sounded annoyed once again. "I'm shopping for dresses with Jackie. You shouldn't disturb us if there is nothing important. I'll consider letting you come home once you're more grown up, independent, and won't fight your sister for anything!"

She hung up heartlessly.

My grip on the phone gradually weakened, and it fell to the ground with a smash. Tears dripped from my eyes, and they wet my messy hair silently. I stared at the leaking roof of the storeroom and suddenly laughed self-deprecatingly.

Fine. I would be independent, and soon, I would not need any of them.