เรื่องสั้นแนว Familial Bond และนิยาย Independence Face Slapping

I come home for the holidays to find four pairs of slippers beside the shoe cabinet. There's a pair for my dad, Dean Pratt, a pair for my mom, Nancy Kerr, and two pairs for my sister, Luna Pratt, including a spare. Mine isn't there. Although my sister attended school in another state, kept her room exactly as it was. Even her slippers sit by her bedside, waiting for her return. I had been away from home for three years. When I returned, I discovered that my belongings had disappeared one by one. And now, they hadn’t even kept a pair of slippers for me. I stand in the entryway, my feet bare. "Where’s my pair?" Mom pokes her head out. "You hardly ever come back, so I threw them away. They were taking up space." But the soles of my sister’s spare pair had already been worn smooth, and they were still neatly sitting in their original place. The next day, I buy a new pair for myself at the supermarket and put them beside the shoe cabinet. That night, I check the shoe cabinet and find them gone. Dad is watching TV on the couch. "Luna's classmate came over, so I gave them to her." "I just bought them." Dad doesn't even turn around. "It's just a pair of slippers. Get another one." Luna pauses. "Huh? I thought Mom had bought them for guests." It makes sense. Guest slippers were supposed to be thrown away once the guest had left.

In our tenth year of marriage, Sean Whitmore cheated on me with Sonia Sutton. He brought his Sonia’ son and daughter to see me. He said he felt sorry for the children. They needed a father. Our daughter begged him to stay, but he refused to change his mind. I didn’t fight to keep him. I took our daughter and left, and I never remarried for fear that a stepfather might mistreat her. Years later, my daughter married a good man. My granddaughter was adorable too. I spent my days caring for her, and life was happy and peaceful. On my sixtieth birthday, my daughter and son-in-law said they were busy at work, and my granddaughter had a last-minute tutoring session. They promised to celebrate my birthday the next day. But that evening, I came across a video filmed nearby. In a luxurious private dining room at a hotel… My daughter, her husband, and their little girl stood with Sean and Sonia’ two children. All six of them gathered around the woman he left me for and sang her "Happy Birthday." My daughter even called her "Mommy Sonia."

When my sister, Amelia, and I are waiting to be adopted at the orphanage, a man and a woman come to visit. Ambitious as ever, Amelia instantly sets her sights on the elegantly dressed woman named Charlotte Evans, while I end up being chosen by the man in plain, unremarkable clothes. But to my surprise, the man turns out to be a discreet billionaire. After adopting me, he publicly announces my identity for everyone to see. Meanwhile, Amelia is taken in by Charlotte, who's so harsh it borders on cruel. She constantly scolds and punishes her. Moreover, Amelia is bullied at school and even gets doused in dirty water by her classmates. While she stands there trembling and humiliated, I walk away with friends crowding around me. Consumed by jealousy and resentment, Amelia waits for the perfect moment and pushes me off a tall building when I least expect it. The next time I open my eyes, I find myself back on the day we are supposed to be adopted. I watch as Amelia chooses the man without the slightest hesitation. It's obvious she's come back to this day, just like I have. On the day we part ways, Amelia gives me a knowing smile. "From now on, I'm going to live the high life. If you ever go hungry, maybe I'll spare you a bite or two." Outwardly, I look angry, but inside I am over the moon. In this life, Amelia can enjoy her luxurious life, even if it means living comfortably in a gilded cage.

After I found out my Alpha mate, Bruce, couldn't let go of his ex-mate, Fiona, and her pup, I started teaching our son to call him "Alpha Bruce." When our son had a fever, Fiona called my mate away in the middle of the night. I touched my son’s burning forehead and had him say, "Goodbye, Alpha." When he bailed on the birthday party he’d promised our son because Fiona called, crying that her own son didn't have a father, I didn't even look up. I just had our son explain to the guests, "The Alpha has something important to do." Our son always hesitated for a long time. Until Bruce finally realized how much he’d failed us. He suggested we take a family portrait. But at the studio, Fiona called again, sobbing. “Bruce, can you please come and pretend to be Tony’s dad? The kids at daycare are making fun of him for not having one…” A flicker of guilt crossed Bruce’s face. He was about to kneel and explain it to our son. But this time, our son didn't need my cue. He just waved. “It’s okay, Alpha Bruce. Go be with your other pup. Mom and I are enough for the family photo.”

After the scores are out, I head home with my results slip, which indicates that I'm a top scorer in the entire city. My heart's brimming with excitement as I'm ready to share the good news with my family. I'm about to push the door open when I unexpectedly receive a video call from my future self from four years later. The me on the screen looks utterly haggard. I freeze for a moment, but I still can't stop myself from chirping like a child who's asking for a piece of candy, "Are you really me four years from now? Are Mom and Dad finally proud of me? Do they love me as much as they love my sister now?" My future self smiles, yet she can't keep her tears at bay. "Whatever you do, don't tell them your score! They won't be proud of you. They'll only use your sister's failure to get into college and her threats to end her own life as an excuse to force you to give up your place at college for her!" All of a sudden, I feel as though I've plunged into an icy abyss. On the day I reunite with my family, Mom and Dad take my younger sister, Winona Fairchild, out for fine dining while they hand me a plate of stone-cold leftovers. They tell me that after years of fending for myself, my stomach's too weak to handle anything too fancy. Naively, I believe that if I become good enough, I can bridge that ten-year gap and make them look at me the same way they look at Winona. As it turns out, blood ties can never outweigh years of companionship. As I listen to Mom and Dad comfort Winona over her poor performance on the exam, I fold my results slip neatly and tuck it deep into my pocket. Since they only view me as a cash cow, I have no reason to tell them that I've been accepted into Pennington College.

I was the only she-wolf in the Frostfang Pack in the past hundred years to shift at just twelve. I even earned honors in battle. But my family saw my early shift as an unforgivable sin. When my sister found out, she burst into tears and threw herself into our mother's arms. "It's all right, Elsie. None of this is your fault. Your sister took too much from you before you were even born." My mother frowned and kissed the top of Elsie's head again and again. My father shot me an irritated glare. "Freya, you know Elsie can't shift. Did you really have to rub it in her face?" Even the priest stood before the whole pack and blamed me for Elsie's condition. He claimed I'd taken too much from her in the womb, leaving her too weak to ever shift. To them, I had been guilty since birth. So I walked away. I found a pack that truly accepted me. And when I finally returned to Frostfang, I came back as North Ridge's Alpha heir.

My dad, who has gotten remarried and cut off contact with me years ago, suddenly sends me one dollar via Venmo, saying he wants to borrow my new car for two days. Thinking he wants to mend our relationship, I remind him to take good care of it before handing over the keys. That very afternoon, I stumble across a livestream of my half-brother street racing. The car he's driving is unmistakably my brand-new vehicle. In the livestream, the car is covered in crude graffiti, and the interior is a mess. I immediately take a cab over to stop my half-brother, only to be humiliated by him during our first meeting. "Who the hell are you? My dad says I'm his only son!" Only then do I realize that I no longer have a place in my dad's life. What they don't know is that the car is a gift from my CEO girlfriend. And she never lets anyone bully the people she cares about.

At my mom's 50th birthday party, the host suddenly invites my adoptive sister, Megan Fraser, and me onstage to take part in a "Who Knows Mom Best?" quiz. All the relatives assume it is a special segment my mom has arranged to officially introduce me to everyone as her biological daughter. The first question is about my mom's favorite flower. I write down "lily", the flower she always keeps in her study. Megan, on the other hand, holds up her board and says, "White camellia. Mom said it was the first flower Dad ever gave her." My mom nods and says, "Megan remembers it better than anyone." The second question asks what my mom takes for her stomach problems. I write down the medication her doctor prescribed. Megan writes down the soup my brother, Josh Fraser, makes. "Kathy, you've been back for three years, and you didn't even know Mom hates taking medicine?" Josh mocks. After that, Megan correctly answers questions about my mom's usual size, the opera she listens to when she can't sleep, and her favorite perfume. One by one, the lights beside me—symbols of our supposed bond—go out. The last question is who my mom wants to give the family heirloom brooch to. Megan doesn't write a word. Instead, she slips her arm through my mom's and says, "Mom would never let me lose." As laughter fills the room, my mom personally lights the final light for Megan. Then she looks at me and says, "Just because you're my flesh and blood doesn't mean you truly know me. We'll talk about acknowledging you as my daughter another time." I walk straight off the stage and send my lawyer, Peter Richmond, a message. "Proceed as planned. I'm leaving tonight."

After the morning rush at the supermarket dies down, I tear off a piece of bread to eat. My daughter, who's just getting out of bed at nearly noon, immediately explodes at me. "Dad, can you stop being so greedy? The moment I'm not around, you help yourself to the expensive bread. Honestly, the worst thieves are the ones under your own roof." I try to explain that I've been up since 5:00 am and haven't even had breakfast yet, but she doesn't care. She barks, "Let's get one thing straight. This is my store. I was kind enough to bring you here from the countryside so you could enjoy your retirement. Is this how you repay me?" My son-in-law jumps in unhappily. "If you're hungry, can't you just wait a little longer? There are leftovers from yesterday at home. Couldn't you go back and eat those instead?" His mother steps in with a smile. "Alright, that's enough. I'm sure he isn't the type to take advantage of people. If he ate the bread, he'll pay for it, right? It's five dollars. You can Venmo me." I laugh out of exasperation. This store is opened with my money. Every shelf is stocked with merchandise I carry in myself. I get up before dawn and work until late at night without getting paid a single cent. And now, I need to pay for a piece of bread? If this is how things are going to be, I don't want this kind of daughter anymore. I gather all my savings account books and bank cards, then change the beneficiary's name in my will to my nephew's.

We'd just moved into a new house, and along with it came a brand-new fingerprint lock on the front door. On moving day, my parents rounded up the whole family to register their fingerprints. I was the only one left standing outside in the cold for half an hour. By the time I was finally let back in, my brother and sister were already testing the new lock, giddy with excitement. My mother cupped my sister's hand fondly, as if the fingerprint scanner might have hurt her fingers. "Oh, our little princess has her face and fingerprint all set up now. No need to worry about forgetting her keys." My father beamed, unable to stop smiling. "From now on, if anyone ever dares lock Cassandra out of this house, they'll have to answer to me first!" Nobody seemed to think there was anything wrong with that. I looked at the lock and asked quietly, "Dad, what about my fingerprint?" The smile on my father's face faltered for a second. He waved a hand dismissively. "The app for this lock only lets four people register. Your mom and I plus your brother and sister already fill all four slots. There's no room left for you." My mother shot me a look of open distaste. "You barely even leave the house. What do you need to register your fingerprint for? Just knock when you get back, isn't that simple enough?" I watched the four of them, huddled together in cheerful harmony, and thought back to something my parents had said when they bought the lock. 'A real family is one where anyone can push the door open and walk in, any time they want.' As it turned out, I had only ever been the outsider who had to knock. If there had never been a place for me in that house, then I decided I wouldn't be walking through that door again.

On New Year's Eve, my cousin and I went to the supermarket to stock up for the holiday when a cold wave hit out of nowhere. The temperature plummeted dozens of degrees, and the world plunged into an ice-cold apocalypse. In the blink of an eye, people froze solid into ice sculptures. I scrambled to grab winter coats and whatever supplies I could, but my cousin just sat there playing video games. He even posted his pentakill on social media to brag about it. I went through hell to snag him a down jacket, and he still insisted he was not afraid of the cold. "I'm a real man. You think a little cold scares me?" He refused to eat the compressed biscuits. He even used our scarce bottled water to wash his limited-edition sneakers, then threw a fit demanding freshly pan-seared steak. "It's called having standards, look it up. Even if I die, I'm dying tough and with style!" I scoffed. Since he wanted to die tough, he could go right ahead and freeze into an ice sculpture. Ice sculptures were plenty tough.

While I was going through trash on the street, my father was watching me from the back seat of a Maybach. He paid no attention to the jeers and insults coming from my peers nearby. If anything, his eyes were filled with approval. A moment later, the luxury car sped away. I was still staring after it when someone suddenly shoved me to the ground. Cruel laughter erupted around me. "Aw, does the little country bumpkin think she's going to turn into Cinderella?" "You actually had the nerve to stare at a Maybach. You deserve to be punished."

I have always been fair to my sons, but Tim, the eldest, always complains that I'm never fair to him. It's unfair for him that I stopped him from eating seafood because of his allergies. It's unfair for him when my husband and I refused to take him to the amusement park, when his brother was bleeding profusely after a bad fall. It's unfair for him that we didn't buy the exact same shirt as Joe's because he wasn't the same size. As long as I don't do what he wants, he will keep calling me unfair. Later, he brought home a delinquent, saying she's his fiancee. When I refused to give them my blessing, he took to the internet, complaining that I was a control freak and I had been unfair for years. The internet canceled us. Joe lost his job, while my husband and I were killed as a crazed netizen crashed his car into us. When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to the day when Tim first brought Nana home. This time, I decided to give him everything wanted. So why did he regret everything?

On a fall weekend, one of my older cousins brought his new fiancee home for dinner. She saw the two neat rows of little toys on my desk and gasped. "You only get one of these with a kids’ meal from Crispy Coop—the most popular fast-food chain around. How many times have you eaten fried chicken to collect this many?" Thinking my parents had spoiled me, she laughed and told me I shouldn't eat so much fast food. It wasn't healthy. I stared at her, confused. "I've never had Crispy Coop. And they didn't come with any meal. My mom bought those toys just for me." She seemed to realize she'd said something wrong. After an awkward smile, she hurried into the kitchen to help. I stood looking at the toys I carefully wiped clean every single day. Of course I knew what Crispy Coop was. The previous summer, I'd passed one with Mom while visiting my parents in the city. I'd told her I wanted to try it. "Fried food isn't good for you," she'd said. "And it's expensive. It's better to save that money for toys." Back then, I'd thought Mom must love me so much. But if every single toy had come from a kids' meal somebody else had already eaten... Which child did she actually love?

On my 18th birthday, I take the fall for my sister, Josephine Walker, and plead guilty to felony hit-and-run. My parents fall to their knees before me, kneeling on the floor until they bleed. "Edwin, you've saved our family! When you get out, we'll spend the rest of our lives making it up to you!" Josephine, too, wraps her arms around me and sobs until she passes out. "I'll never forget what you've done for me, Ed. I owe you everything," she says. I endure the humiliation for their sake, clinging to the promises they made me. At last, after serving my full sentence, I walk free. At the dinner table, years of exhaustion catch up with me, and I let out a quiet sigh. Hearing that, Dad slams his fork down on the table. "What's with the sighing? Is the food not good enough for you? You think we've had it easy while you've been gone all these years?" "Oh, so now you're too good for our food? Maybe prison didn't teach you anything. We should send you back for a few more years!" Mom exclaims as tears well up in her eyes. Beside them, Josephine bursts into tears. "What right do you have to feel sorry for yourself? Because of you, I can't even show my face around here! Everyone laughs at us. They all say I have a murderer for a brother!" "You're nothing but trouble! You should've died in that accident!" Then the door slams shut. I look down at the cancer diagnosis in my hands, the paper soaked through with rain. And strangely, I feel calm. Maybe it's for the best. I can finally pay for that lost life.

For my mother-in-law, Karen Marsh's 60th birthday, I've booked a celebration at the best restaurant in town. But just as I'm about to sit down with my daughter, Karen shoves me aside. "Trent, there's no room left. Take Elsie to Popeyes next door." I'm the one paying for the entire dinner, and now my daughter and I aren't even allowed a seat. I'm furious, but with my daughter, Elsie Quinn, standing beside me, I force myself to stay calm. "I already checked with the manager. There are plenty of seats." Elsie looks to my wife, Tamsin Whitlock, hoping she'll stand up for us. Instead, Tamsin snatches the birthday drawing Elsie made for her grandmother, crumples it up, and throws it in the trash. "It's my mom's birthday. If she says there's no room, there's no room. Just take Elsie and go. You're embarrassing us." I look at Karen, then at Tamsin. I don't argue or make a scene. I simply pull out my phone and cut off their access to my money. If Tamsin wants to celebrate her mother's birthday so badly, she can pay for it herself. And while I'm at it, they can all move out of my house. After all, I wouldn't want my daughter and me getting in their way anymore.

In the fourth year of my secret crush on James, he sired me. It was only that night I realized the man I had been pining for wasn't just a regular gallery owner and businessman—he was a Vampire Prince. That was also the night I got pregnant with our son, Finn. But it's been six years since we forged our Blood Bond, and he has never publicly acknowledged our existence. He wouldn't even let Finn call him "Father." On Finn’s sixth birthday, he missed the party yet again, choosing to stay by his female assistant Elsa's side. He didn't return until the dead of night, offering a half-hearted, "Sorry, I'm late." This time, I didn't cry. I didn't argue. I calmly pulled out the bond dissolution papers and tricked him into signing them. Then, I took my son and fled back to the human world, vanishing from his life entirely. The usually cold, ruthless Prince lost his mind, turning the world upside down to find us. But this time, Finn and I are never looking back.

I was diagnosed with leukemia when I was fifteen. So it wouldn't hurt my sister Lena's chances on her entrance exams, my whole family agreed to keep it from her. I pretended I'd gone to the countryside to recover. Through the pain, I quietly watched over every step of her progress, and in the end I died with one regret: I never got to see her one last time. Lena only learned the truth after she got into Westbridge, and she struggled through endless grief and guilt. But in the end, she carried my hopes with her and chose to live fully. As she grew, she slowly learned to make peace with the pain, and through her own life, she carried on the dreams I never got to finish.

My grandfather, Daniel Collins, is a thief. He steals my grandmother's name, Elise Caldwell, along with her identity as a volunteer from the city. Then he uses it to escape from the remote backcountry with another woman. Years later, he becomes a law professor, standing at the front of a classroom and lecturing his students about justice. The woman he runs away with becomes a renowned painter, appearing on television to speak about integrity, morality, and principles. Meanwhile, my grandmother is left behind in that remote backcountry for the rest of her life. Everyone around her brands her a "slut" and shames her for something she has never done. She dies without ever reclaiming her name, her identity, or the life that has been stolen from her. 50 years have passed. With the sacrifices my grandmother and mother make for me, I eventually escape the remote backcountry where they spend their lives and build a future of my own. I work my way up until I become a partner at one of the country's most prestigious law firms. During graduation season, I serve as one of the firm's lead interviewers, sitting across from a room full of ambitious young candidates hoping to land their first position at the firm. One applicant in particular catches my attention. She is poised and polished, and she has graduated at the top of her class from one of the country's most prestigious universities, where she studied law and political science. I open her résumé and read through it carefully, page by page, until I reach the section listing her family information. Then I stop. My eyes settle on one name and stay there for a long moment. Finally, I look up at her. My expression gives nothing away as I quietly close the résumé and announce, "I'm sorry, but we're not taking you as the intern."

A woman showed up at my cabin door, claiming to be a Beta's mate. She said she wanted to rent my herb field for three hundred dollars a month, to grow medicine for her injured mate. Three hundred? Seriously? That land is the only one in the entire pack—blessed ground that drinks in the Moon Goddess's power. Herbs grown there could pull a dying wolf back from the dead. I turned her down. But she wouldn't let it go. So Sun, my dog, barked and chased her off. Figured that'd be the end of it. Wrong. The next day she came back with two Gammas, busting right through my door. They screamed at me, called me a worthless human who had no business touching pack land. Then they tied me up and made me watch as they burned my herb books, beat Sun, and tore out every single plant I'd grown. What they didn't know? I'm human, yeah. But I'm the adopted human daughter of the Bloodmoon Alpha and Luna. That herb field? Their gift to me on my eighteenth birthday. And those herbs they burned? The only cure for her mate's dying breath.