5: The Person Behind

"...We don't have much evidence against them, so we can't keep them in jail for long. When they paid the bail... we had no choice but to let them out." Jenny, the policewoman, looked both disappointed and angry as she explained. She slapped the table hard, gritting her teeth. "I know the system has many flaws. But to not even bring justice to a kid... I feel like I've failed as a police officer!"

The Zagar couple had called a lawyer. After a seven-day investigation, no solid evidence was found. In the end, they were only charged with preventing Danice from receiving medical care—a minor offense. After paying Danice's medical bill and their bail, the Zagar couple was set free.

Danice calmly listened to Jenny. Her face showed neither anger nor sadness. Instead, she reached out and gently held Jenny's hand.

"It's okay. I expected it." Her soft voice, meant to console her, made Jenny even angrier—but not at Danice. She was angry at the justice system that had failed her.

Jenny's hand clenched into a fist. She was both ashamed and heartbroken.

"...I'm sorry... I promised to protect you, but I can't even put those people in jail."

"Please don't blame yourself," Danice said, patting Jenny's clenched hand. "I know you're doing your best to keep me safe. These past days, you've taken care of me."

Jenny looked at Danice. Seeing this young girl comforting a thirty-year-old woman broke her heart even more. This girl, who had grown up in abuse, was still so mature and kind. Only monsters could bring themselves to hurt someone like her.

"Ah, right. This is the stuff you asked for." Jenny handed Danice a brand-new phone and a backpack. 

Yesterday, when she came to visit, Danice had shyly asked about it. Aside from delivering the news, Jenny had come to bring these.

"I already registered the SIM card under your name. I also saved my contact number. If anything happens, call me, okay?"

"Thank you." Danice inspected the phone and smiled. It was the latest model—complete with a camera and internet access. Exactly what she needed.

Now that Danice had been eating proper meals and resting in the hospital, she looked much healthier. Her cheeks were no longer sunken, and Jenny even saw a dimple form at the corner of her lips when she smiled. Danice was indeed a pretty girl.

"Uhm..." Danice looked at her hesitantly. "...I can't pay you back yet for this. But once I get a job, I'll repay you immediately."

"You don't have to pay me back for the phone and stuff. They're used—I had them lying around at home. The phone came from a buy-one-take-one deal." Jenny pulled out her own brand-new phone, identical to Danice's, and waved it with a grin. "Totally free. I can't use two phones at once, so I gave one to you."

In truth, the phone was only half-price—part of a "buy one, get the second item 50% off" deal—not completely free. But Jenny didn't want Danice to worry. How could a girl in her condition afford to pay for it?

Danice had no parents, and her guardians—the Zagars—were clearly not the kind who would ever give her money.

Thinking of the Zagar couple again made Jenny's expression sour.

"...Thank you. I'll definitely repay you in the future," Danice said earnestly. She would never forget the kindness of people like Jenny.

"You don't have to repay me," Jenny smiled. "How about being my friend instead?" she added with a wink.

Danice blinked in surprise, then smiled too.

"Okay."

And for the first time in both of Danice's lives, she made a friend.

.......

Getting a cellphone was Danice's first step toward independence. When she looked back on the life she had lived before, she realized the main reason she couldn't escape the Zagar family was because she had been brainwashed to the core—and that was only possible because she was completely isolated from the real world. 

She had no prior knowledge of where to go or what to do. As someone who had lived her entire life in a shed, she lacked even the most basic understanding of how a person should live.

No one had taught her anything, and the only thing the Zagar family taught her was to obey and endure.

She simply followed whatever the Zagar family told her to do. And that was how she lived her entire life—obeying someone else's will.

She had no concept of free will, dreams, preferences, or fighting back.

When the Roans came to find her, she carried that same submissiveness and dependence from the Zagar family into the Roan household. That lack of backbone or personal opinion allowed others to take advantage of her and hurt her.

People laughed behind her back, said cruel things, and abused her—and not once did she think of standing up for herself. Not because she didn't want to, but because she didn't know how. She had never been taught.

It was only after leaving both the Zagar and Roan families and marrying Julian that she slowly began to learn who she truly was.

Danice connected to the internet and searched for the Roan family. Several results popped up immediately. The Roans were a wealthy family, involved in various industries. Their primary company was Roan Electronics.

Danice came across a family portrait of the Roans. Her eyes paused on an old man with a stern face.

Her rough fingers gently touched the image of the old man. Her eyes softened.

"...Grandpa..."

The memories of her one year with the Roans remained vivid, and the six months she spent with Grandpa Roan were the happiest of her life.

But even so...

"...Forgive me. I can't come to you yet, Grandpa."

There were still things she needed to do. She had no intention of returning to the Roan family just yet. She wanted to live her own life—one different from the tragic one she had known before.

Danice closed the photo and turned her attention to the other members of the Roan family.

She now suspected that someone within the Roan family might have had a connection to the Zagar family. At first, she had never considered the possibility—nor had it ever occurred to her in her previous life.

But after reliving this life again, Danice began to notice things she hadn't paid attention to before.

The Zagar family always claimed to be poor—that they couldn't afford food, new clothes, or medical care for her. And yet, they managed to go to gambling houses, buy food and clothes, and even get a car for Christopher. She had never seen either of the couple work.

The Danice of the past had no concept of money. All she knew was what the Zagars told her—that they were poor. But now, the current Danice wasn't so easily fooled.

They could even afford to hire a lawyer and pay bail. They obviously had money. But where did it come from?

After living with them for seventeen years, Danice knew they had no farm, no business, and no property aside from the two-story house with a courtyard where they currently lived.

And yet, they had enough to afford legal defense.

They were clearly hiding something.

And the only people that came to her mind... was the Roans.