Chapter 3
The dóp bollest in fear, while Helen streamed sharply as shariks from the var crazed her arm.
Graret What are you doing? How could you rate your hand against ymır
My father’s voice hommed just as Helen threw herself into his arms, crying lirically.
“Dad, helps mel Grace tried to kill me
Grace, this is too much!”
“Can’t you see? She tossed over Mom’s offerings and ruined her memorial pilaites-
My entire body trembled as trais streamed down my face. I was heartbroken levastated for my mother.
But my father merely glanced at the mess on the ground, frowning slightly. “at doesn’t justify you hurting someone
“Grace, your mother’s been gone for so long. How can the dead be more important than the living?
Helen, her face pale and trembling, chimed in softly. “Dad, it was my dog that accidentally knocked over the offerings. I was about to apologize to Grace, but she charged at me as soon as she came downstairs. I didn’t even have time to explain before she threw the vase at me.”
She paised her bleeding arm, looking pitifully at my father.
“Dad, maybe it’s better if Mom and I move out.”
“The dog doesn’t understand, but do you?”
My father glared at me before suddenly raising his hand.
The slap was heavy, landing hard on my i
I forgot to dodge.
rface.
He seemed startled for a moment, too, but in the end, he said nothing.
He simply turned and led Helen away to treat her wound..
I stood there watching their retreating figures for a long time before the buriling pain on my cheek registered.
As I raised a hand to cover my swollen face, tears streamed down, but I let out a bitter laugh.
I knew then that this house was no longer a place I could call home.
In the middle of the right, I was suddenly awakened by cries and screams.
Just as I sat up, my dour was kicked open from the outside.
My stepmother burst in, crying hysterically. Before I could react, a series of harsh slaps landed on my face.
How could you be so cruel?”
Tat it enough that you hurt her during the day? Now you’re trying to kill her
She threw herself into my father’s arms, sobbing uncontrollably.
“She knows Helen is allergic to peaches, but she deliberately spilled peach juice all over the bed and pillows.”
“She’s trying to kill our daughtert
“Alright, stop crying. Thankfully, Helen took her medication in time and isn’t seriously harmed my father said, soothing her gently. Then, he turned
His Affair, My Glue, Their Screams at 2 AM.
34.06
“Oract, you’ve truly disappointed me.”
Move our formetrinn.
“Keeping you in this house will only bring turmoil to the whole family.”
My stepmother’s crying stopped abruptly, as if satisfied.
I stared at the man before me. Once upon a time, he was the e person I loved mat in the world.
He had loved me deeply too. I was his only daughter, the apple of his eye.
But everything changed.
It felt as though I had become a heroine in some tragic novel, stripped of everything hit by bit.
At first, I couldn’t understand. I cried, I fought, I resisted.
But twox, 1 finally understood.
The bond between us as father and daughter was completely severed.
The day I moved out of the family home, my father said to me. “After your mother’s death anniversary, I’ll bring you back home.”
I didn’t respond.
After they left, I gathered every photo of Paul and me, as well as the pictures of my father and me over the years.
I shredded them all and burned the pieces.
Finally, I took out the wedding dress I had bought three years ago
I had secretly purchased it after Paul confessed his love to me
It was the dress I had envisioned countless times as a young girl–a gown that would make me look like a princess.
But now, I cut it to shreds with my own hands.
The remaining items were all the gifts Paul had given me over the past three years.
There were playful little trinkets and expensive jewelry.
I picked out the pricier ones and planned to ask my best friend to keep them for me.
“Once I left Capital City, she could return them to Paul on my behalf.
That way, we would truly awe each other nothing”
As for the cheap, frivolous things meant to amuse me, I didn’t hesitate–I packet them all up to throw away.
Duce, even a tiny keychain from him was something I treasured deeply.
But now, as I prepared to discard it all, I didn’t feel even the slightest ripple in my heart.
After Enishing everything, I carefully wrapped my mother’s memorial photo,acing it gently in the padded compartment of a box
Without looking back, I left the home where I had lived for the past ten years
As 1 stepped through the gate, Paul’s car happened to pull up.
