All Chapters of My Mother's Choice: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Without saying a word, I carried the old, heavy laptop back to my room. Behind me, I heard my mother, Judith Hawkins, laugh with satisfaction."I told you Sunny was the sensible one. She's never fought with the family over anything, not since she was little."In the weeks leading up to graduate school interviews, my older sister, Fiona Charlton, spent every day hanging out with college friends and shopping for new clothes.Meanwhile, I locked myself in my room and pulled three all-nighters in a row.Professor Wilson from our department had one recommendation slot that guaranteed admission into one of the university's premier research labs. Anyone who earned that spot would also receive early access to the school's most prestigious research projects.I spent three full days researching and writing a detailed proposal. After a rigorous review, it was finally approved.Not long afterward, Professor Wilson's lab sent me a confirmation email.[Because this project requires a signific

"Mom! I just wanted to learn from Sunny's way of thinking. I was scared I wouldn't be able to keep up once school starts, and I didn't want to disappoint you. But instead of helping me, Sunny kept treating me like the enemy. She even pushed me..."I accidentally knocked over the water, and her computer got ruined..."Mom looked at the computer with its dead black screen, then she looked at Fiona, whose face was streaked with tears. Her expression immediately darkened.She did not scold Fiona for sneaking into my room and stealing my work, and she did not ask about the months of effort that had just been destroyed. Instead, she frowned and turned to me with obvious irritation."Sunny! Fiona is about to start graduate school under Professor Wilson. What's wrong with her looking at your notes? That research proposal belongs to Fiona now. Why won't you hand it over?"She's your sister, not your enemy. We're family. Family is supposed to help each other, not guard against each other. I

After dropping Fiona off for graduate school orientation, Mom returned home and pushed open the front door.The living room was empty. The girl who was always quiet, always obedient, always running around taking care of everyone else was gone.Mom walked over to the dining table. Her eyes landed on the old laptop. Beneath it was a handwritten IOU. Her expression darkened instantly.She slammed her hand onto the table, then laughed in anger."We owe each other nothing? Who do you think you are?"She snatched up the ledger, tore it into pieces, and threw the scraps into the trash.With an icy sneer, she muttered, "You've got nothing to your name, and you still dare to run away? We'll see how long you can keep acting so tough."She thought she knew me too well. I had only just turned 18. Even if I had taken my ID, the few hundred dollars I had left were still in Mom's purse. I did not even have enough money to buy a bus ticket.Alone in a city where I knew no one, where could I po

"Gone...?"Mom's lips trembled uncontrollably. Her knees buckled, and she nearly collapsed onto the professor's office floor. She had always believed that when I left home, I did not have a penny to my name. She was convinced I would struggle to survive on my own.Sooner or later, I would have nowhere else to go and would come home to beg for forgiveness.Only then did Mom finally realize the truth. The daughter she had always been so proud of... was a fool. If Fiona had not stolen that opportunity... the one standing in the spotlight today, with an unlimited future ahead of her, would have been her younger daughter.However, before Mom could even process that cruel realization... another devastating blow landed. The laboratory's compensation bill was so enormous that it left her breathless.She walked out of the university campus in a daze. The cost of replacing the damaged research materials and equipment was staggering.She knew there was no way her family could afford it. The

Mom bought the cheapest long-distance bus ticket she could find. Crossing several states, she traveled to the city where I worked.Then, every day, she waited outside my office building for me to appear."Ms. Charlton, the car is ready."My assistant held open the company's glass doors. Surrounded by executives and security personnel, I walked down the front steps."Sunny! Sunny!"A hoarse voice suddenly cut through the crowd. An elderly woman in tattered clothes came rushing out of nowhere. She shoved past the outer ring of security guards and threw herself straight at me."Sunny! I've come to find you! I finally found you!"Mom collapsed at my feet. Clutching my leg tightly, she sobbed uncontrollably.The executives and security guards froze in shock.I looked down at the woman before me. Her face was covered in wrinkles. Tears and mucus streaked across her cheeks. There was nothing left of the woman I once knew. She kept talking about blood ties, about family, about how dee