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“I’ve been waiting for you to say this,” he added enthusiastically after a two–second silence. “Being a full–time wife always seemed to me like burying your own skills. It’s good that now you can figure it out. I’ll pick you up at the time you choose.
The fact that he had been waiting for me startled me a little. I told him that tomorrow morning would be fine. I would go pack my things today. He agreed without hesitation.
I hung up and went home to pack my belongings and get an airline ticket for myself. I heard a loud noise coming from the home through the door as soon as I turned to face it.
“Happy birthday, Daisie! Your only responsibility from now on is to be happy and the rest is up to us.”
It was my dad’s voice. He was a calm and
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introverted elite man who rarely showed his emotions, except for Daisie. Daisie nearly received all of his affection and even the birthday greetings were full of praise.
I hesitated for a second before opening the door, but my palm still gripped the doorknob.
The five individuals in the room’s smiles froze as if I were a catastrophe and they were irritated when they saw me.
“Why is she returning…” Daisie whispered, but I still heard it.
As if to clarify and exhort, Jeffrey scowled at me and said, “Don’t you have asthma? We kept Daisie’s birthday a secret from you because we want you to recover in the hospital.”
They insisted that I was making up for my sickness when I was in the hospital, but now they think I actually have asthma. I was worried that they were the ones acting.
But I didn’t want to pay attention to them,
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so I nodded and said, “It’s fine; you can go ahead. I just came back to get something.”
Throughout everything that happened, mom and dad’s expressions were icy and they nearly wrote “You ruined the atmosphere” on their faces. They were eager for me to go.
“Madeline, don’t leave,” Daisie said,
embracing my hand as I was about to head upstairs. “My birthday is today. How can you leave us alone?”
When I saw Jeffrey and Hilton’s watchful gaze, I gave up trying to shrug her off and calmly said, “I have something else to do. You can spend it by yourself.”
“Are you still angry with me? I will never ask Jeffrey and Hilton to accompany me again. I’m sorry, sister. Please don’t be angry with me, okay?” Daisie’s eyes turned red in an instant and she started to act pitiful again.
“If my sister is still angry at me, I will leave
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and will never set foot here again.” That said, she didn’t mean to leave. She kept pretending to see other people’s reactions.
Jeffrey was the first to react and stepped forward to pull Daisie behind him.
“Daisie, don’t leave. She and I are divorced. She has no right to control us anymore.”
“Madeline and I also have nothing to do with each other anymore. You don’t have to care about what she says,” Hilton also added.
“Daisie is generous and lets you celebrate her birthday with her, so you should celebrate it with us obediently,” my mother said disrespectfully as she got up and went up to me after noticing this.
My mother, however, failed to remember that it was also my birthday.
Daisie was born on the same day as me, so every year on my birthday since I returned, she had been on everyone’s mind. They hurried to get birthday celebrations ready
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for her and nobody seemed to remember mine.
Hilton was the only one who would make me presents and little cakes.
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