I went to my uncle’s and asked him to help
me rent an apartment. I could pay, but I didn’t
know the rules and didn’t want to get
scammed.
My money was my life right now, and I
couldn’t waste it.
My uncle was furious. “That old bastard, your
mom’s gone, and he can’t even treat you
right.”
く
He wanted me to live with him, but it was too
far from school.
He called a friend and rented a small
apartment in an alley. It was close to school.
My uncle looked at the place and tried to
drag me out. “You can’t live here. You have to
go outside to use the bathroom.”
I talked him down, but he insisted on paying
the rent.
“Don’t worry about the money. Just be
successful and come visit your uncle more.”
From now on, my uncle was my only family.
L
<
He was keeping Mom’s things safe for me,
otherwise Stanley would have sold them to
buy medicine for Carrie.
My eyes welled up, and I bowed. “I’ll study
hard.”
I settled in.
Unexpectedly, my apartment’s first visitor was
Carrie.
She had a big bag full of things I needed.
She put the bag on the floor. “Tell me if you need anything else, I’ll bring it tomorrow.”
<
I looked into her eyes and wanted to laugh.
“Did you finally get rid of Mom and me?
Happy now?”
She froze, then looked down. “I’m sorry.”
I hated her like that. She was the one who
invaded my life, but she was acting like we
were the ones bullying her.
“Jessica, whether you believe me or not, I
never wanted to take anything from you, I
just, I just wanted…”
She didn’t finish.
“I’m sorry.” She bowed ninety degrees. “I’m
L
really sorry.”
Then, she ran away.
The next day, she brought a big bag of stuff.
This time, she just left it at the door and ran
off.
Since she gave it to me, I wasn’t gonna
refuse.
I was short on cash, and every bit helped.
After a while, my grades were average.
The teacher said I could get into a decent
<
state school.
I knew that wasn’t saying much, but I didn’t
have the money to spend another year
studying.
After school, Stanley showed up outside the
gate.
That wasn’t unusual. He often picked up
Carrie and checked up on me.
“Jessica.”
As I walked past, he stopped me.
“Where have you been staying? Are you
く
eating? Dad’s been worried about you.”
“What do you want now?” I looked him up and
down. “Want me to sell my blood to pay for
your precious daughter’s medicine?”
Stanley shook his head. “How can you think
that way about your dad?”
“Isn’t that what you’ve been doing?”
He seemed to realize something, and his face
went pale.
“Your charity was paid for by Mom’s blood. Now she’s dead, and you’re after me?”
L
More and more students were gathering
around, and I didn’t care about his reputation.
“If you loved her so much, why did you marry
my mom? Why have me?”
He stepped back, trembling.
“I get it.” I looked at his pathetic state and
laughed. “You needed someone to carry on
the family name, someone to take care of
your parents.”
Stanley shook his head. “That’s not it. I really
loved your mom, I love you. I just…I owe
Carrie too much, you’ll understand someday.”
<
“I don’t want to understand. No reason can
change what you did to us.”
I turned to leave, but Stanley followed me.
“Get on,” Jason said, appearing from
nowhere, patting the bike seat. “What are you waiting for?”
I glanced back at Stanley and jumped on.
Jason was quiet the whole way, didn’t insult me, and didn’t interrupt my crying.
“You live here?”
