Chapter 4

The rooftop.

Seeing me arrive, Aunt Clara rushed forward, out of breath. "Chloe! We thought your mother was just running after you. Who knew she'd bolt straight up to the roof and threaten to jump! Chloe, talk to your mother! Everything can be worked out!"

Uncle Mark grabbed my arm, dragging me forward. "Tell her right now that you're not going to Stanford! Tell her you won't leave! Hurry up and talk her down!"

I watched my mother standing on the outer ledge of the concrete barrier, remaining silent.

Her eyes were bloodshot, glaring at me with raw hatred. "Chloe Miller! Going out of state is the same as driving me to my death!"

"Your father abandoned you when you were little! I raised you all by myself! Do you have any idea how much I suffered all these years? And this is how you treat me? Do you have any shame?!"

"I gave up my career for you, and your father still wanted to leave me! Why should he get away with it?! I'm dragging him down with me! Besides, you're his only daughter. If he doesn't spend his money on you, who else is he going to spend it on—some other woman?!"

"And look at you. Now that you're accomplished, you want to throw me away? When I washed your clothes and cooked your meals, why didn't you complain I did too much? When I stayed up late with you while you studied, why didn't you complain I was annoying?"

"Raising a daughter like you... I regret everything! I might as well just die!"

My mother turned toward the drop.

The crowd screamed, "No! Stop!"

From far below, the faint wail of sirens echoed upward.

I calmly walked forward.

My mother snarled viciously, "Don't you come any closer!"

Unmoved, I kept walking. I dragged an old, discarded wooden chair over, positioning it five paces away from her.

Then, under the stunned gazes of everyone present, I stepped onto the chair and climbed up onto the exact same ledge, standing at the same height as her.

Word by word, I said, "Go ahead and jump. I'll jump with you."

My mother was struck dumb. She stared at me, her eyes wide, her mouth working uselessly without a sound coming out.

Aunt Clara stumbled back two steps in panic. "Chloe, what kind of madness is this?!"

Uncle Mark broke into a frantic sweat. "Autumn, get down right now! Look at her, she's actually serious!"

More and more people rushed onto the rooftop.

My mother glanced around, trapped between shame and fury. Finally, she glared at me, humiliated. "Chloe Miller! Are you even human?! I am your mother, and you dare corner me like this?!"

"Ha."

A bitter laugh escaped my lips, and tears finally broke free, streaming down my face.

I looked at her, then turned to Uncle Mark, Aunt Clara, and the rest of the aunts and uncles who had just arrived out of breath.

Their faces were pale with terror, offering frantic words of reassurance: "Autumn, Chloe, what are you doing? We're family! We can talk this out! If you slip and fall, you'll die!"

"Chloe, talk to your mom! Come down first and talk!"

"Autumn, she's just a kid. You can teach her, don't be reckless!"

"Chloe, step down right now, don't frighten your mother!"

I tuned it all out, my voice eerily calm as I spoke: "You all say my dad ran off and my mom suffered to take care of me. Yes, she worked hard. But do any of you know that growing up, I wasn't even allowed to choose the shape of an eraser or the color of a pen?!"

My throat tightened, tears falling steadily. "No matter what it was... if my mother didn't approve, I was forbidden from doing it! My choices, my preferences—she never cared about any of them!"

"I never had a single moment of peace. I wasn't allowed to have friends. My entire life consisted of studying, having to be number one, and listening to my mother complain about her misery."

At that, I locked eyes with my mother. "You always claimed you refused to divorce for my sake. But my dad explicitly offered to take full custody of me, offered to pay you alimony, and promised he wouldn't stop us from seeing each other! Why didn't you divorce him? If you were suffering so much, if your life was so miserable, then why didn't you just sign the papers?! Why didn't you let go?!"

"And you always claimed you sacrificed your career for me. Ever since middle school, I told you I could cook, that I could take care of myself! I begged you to live your own life, begged you to go back to work in peace! Did you want to? No! You only wanted to control me!"

"You blindly gave and gave just to move yourself to tears. But did you ever ask me if I wanted any of it?!"