Chapter 2

After handling Mom's funeral, I was taken in by my uncle's family.

It was called adoption, but it was really surveillance.

Because of Mom's compensation money.

My aunt Lydia was a shrewd woman. When her beady eyes narrowed, you could practically hear the abacus beads clicking in her mind.

"Emma, honey, you're still young. I'll hold onto this money for you."

"When you go to college, I'll give it all back with interest."

I hugged my backpack and curled up on the balcony, not saying a word.

I knew it was a lie.

But I had no power to resist.

At fifteen, I had nothing in this world except that money.

And Charlotte became the biggest joke in our small town.

"Did you hear? She ran off with Jake."

"Tsk tsk, you never really know someone. She looked so proper, but deep down she's such a slut."

"Of course. To run off with a man, she even got her own mother killed."

The gossip spread like rats in the sewers, getting into everything.

Every time I went out, I felt people stabbing me in the back.

"Look, that's Charlotte's sister. Stay away from her—whole family of sluts."

I hated Charlotte.

That hatred became my only reason to keep living.

I studied frantically. I wanted to get out of here, as far away as possible.

I wanted to prove to everyone that I wasn't like that woman.

Six months later, I saw her on my way home from school.

Charlotte was wearing a faded old jacket, crouched by the garbage pile at the market picking through rotten vegetables.

She was emaciated beyond recognition, her cheekbones jutting out, her eye sockets sunken deep.

Jake sat on a motorcycle nearby, counting a stack of bills and occasionally kicking her.

"Move faster! You still gotta wash my feet when we get home!"

Charlotte stumbled from the kick and nearly fell into the garbage pile.

But she didn't make a sound, just got up and kept picking.

People around pointed and whispered, contempt written on their faces.

I stood at the back of the crowd, watching coldly.

This is the "love" you chose?

This is the person you killed Mom to be with?

You deserve it.

You really deserve it.

Charlotte seemed to sense something and whipped her head around.

The moment our eyes met, she frantically hid the rotten vegetables behind her back and instinctively tried to smooth down her disheveled hair.

"Emma..."

Her lips formed my name.

I expressionlessly turned and walked into the convenience store nearby.

"Give me a bottle of water."

"The most expensive one."

I said it deliberately loud.

When I came out, I unscrewed the cap and, right in front of Charlotte, poured the remaining half bottle of water on the ground.

The water splashed onto her worn-out shoes.

"Dirty."

I said quietly.

Charlotte's body shook violently, tears falling in large drops.

Jake saw this.

He jumped off the bike and flicked his cigarette at me.

"What's with that look?"

I didn't dodge, letting the ash fall on my school uniform.

"The look you give trash."

I said it and walked away without looking back.

That night, I woke up laughing from a dream.

When I woke, my pillow was wet.