My mother hated me, her adopted daughter. She pulled some strings and sent me to a strict reform school designed to "correct my character." She said my grandfather, Donald, had spoiled me into a selfish brat, and that I needed my morals beaten into shape. On the night I finally escaped that hellhole, I called her. My voice was trembling, begging. "Mom, please. I’m your real daughter. Chloe and Richard are trying to kill me. Please, just get me out of here." Her voice on the other end was freezing cold. "It seems you still haven't cured your habit of lying. If you want to die, go ahead." Not long after, Chloe got accepted into her dream college. To celebrate, my mother sent someone to fetch me so I could attend the party. Her reasoning was, "After a year in that place, she must have learned her lesson. As long as she behaves, I’ll keep supporting her until she’s eighteen." Later, she saw the DNA test results. She broke down, desperately searching for me, begging to make amends. But what can we do, Mom? I’m already dead.
I was an abandoned baby, left at an orphanage the day I was born. The director hated me. Whenever the other kids caused trouble or stole things, she would punish me first, locking me in a pitch-black closet for hours. When I was five, Helen came to the orphanage. She adopted me, bought me brand-new clothes, and fed me the best food. I didn't have to wash clothes anymore. I wasn't forced to kneel as punishment when a plate broke. Helen took care of me with such gentle caution, harboring me like a fragile treasure. Under her care, my pale, sickly face finally gained some healthy color. But the orphanage director still came for regular home visits. She whispered in my ear, "Even if you’re adopted, you’re just a stray. You will never compare to Helen's biological daughter." I didn't believe her. My head was filled with thoughts of the Barbie doll Helen had promised to bring home for me. But the truth hit me too fast. The director's words came true. Soon, I was abandoned again.
Helen came from an old-money dynasty and was groomed to take over the family empire from a young age. Richard, on the other hand, was just a working-class guy from a small town. When they fell in love and insisted on getting married, Donald was so furious he threatened to disinherit Helen. It was only when Richard offered to sign a strict prenuptial agreement that Donald finally relented. Chloe was born during the year Helen and Richard were most passionately in love. She was the symbol of their romance. But tragically, she was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of four. Helen desperately searched the donor registries and found me—a five-year-old in an orphanage with a fifty-percent bone marrow match. She couldn't wait to adopt me, but it was solely to save Chloe. Because I was severely malnourished, the transplant surgery had to be delayed. While Richard stayed at the hospital to take care of Chloe, Helen stayed home to feed me, pumping me full of nutrients. Once my vitals met the standard, I was wheeled into the operating room. Terrified by the long, gleaming needles, I panicked and slapped the anesthesiologist's hand away. Helen, who was standing by, glared at me with pure venom. "I took you in so you could repay your debt. Now is the time to do it." "If you move again and hurt my daughter, I will throw you right back into that orphanage!" Terrified of losing her, I forced myself to stay still as the anesthesia slowly dragged me into darkness. The surgery was a success. When I was wheeled out, I was placed next to Chloe, who was still unconscious. Helen was hovering over her, crying tears of relief. I felt so weak, so tired. I reached my hand out toward Helen, but all she gave me was her back as she followed Chloe’s gurney away. I comforted myself. It’s okay, I thought. When I wake up, Mom will still love me.
But when I opened my eyes, the only thing I saw was the sneering face of the orphanage director. Seeing me look around in confusion, she scoffed. "What are you looking for? You got to play rich girl for a few days, and you actually thought you belonged here?" "Mrs. Helen called. The adoption is over. Pack your things. We're going back to the orphanage." She snatched my new dress off the hospital bed, tore it to shreds, threw it on the ground, and stomped on it. "Don't daydream about things that don't belong to you." The paralyzing fear of being abandoned made me run out of the room before I could even put on my shoes. Dragging my weak body, I finally found Richard and Helen in a luxury VIP suite. Before I could say a word, Chloe saw me. She screamed and threw her glass of water at me. "Get out! I hate you! You tried to steal my parents!" "Mom and Dad are mine! They only love me, not a stray like you!" Before that day, Chloe didn't know I existed. The heavy glass struck my forehead. It swelled instantly, and warm blood began to trickle down my face. But Helen didn't scold Chloe. Instead, she and Richard rushed to comfort her, whispering promises that they would kick me out. After Chloe finally fell asleep, Helen walked out of the room. She looked down at me, her eyes completely devoid of warmth. She seemed to only just notice the blood on my forehead. "Does it hurt?" I stood there, trembling, and waved my hands frantically. "I can cook, Helen. I can do the laundry and clean the floors too." "Please don't throw me away. I'll be so good. I’ll do whatever you want." The hallway fell dead silent. Her voice was flat. "Don't call me Mom. We only brought you here to save Chloe. Now that she's cured, you need to leave. Your presence makes her unhappy." I lowered my head, squeezing my tiny hands together, trying my best not to let her hear me cry. Seeing my silence, she turned around and went back into the room to tend to Chloe. In the end, I wasn't taken back to the orphanage. Donald arrived and stopped them. In the hospital corridor, Donald and Helen had a huge fight over me. "She was only brought here to save Chloe," Helen said coldly. "Now Chloe is fine, and she hates her. Besides, the girl has sticky fingers. I can't keep a thief in my house." Donald’s anger flared. "She is a child, not a toy you can discard when you're done with it!" "This is cruel. She saved Chloe's life. How can you be so heartless?" "Fine, do what you want," Helen snapped, clearly annoyed. "If you want to raise her, take her yourself. The doctor said Chloe needs peace and quiet." "We're moving to the estate in the suburbs to help Chloe recover. We won't be coming back here." Unwilling to argue further, Helen turned and walked away. After that, Donald took care of me. The post-surgery complications gave me a high fever that kept me in the hospital for two weeks, leaving me with stress-induced epilepsy. I could no longer handle severe shock or stress. Helen never came to visit me once. After Chloe recovered, she, Richard, and Chloe moved to the suburban mansion. I was taken back to Donald's estate. Donald protected me fiercely, but my epilepsy eventually terrified Chloe.
Because of the transplant, my health was fragile, and I spent half my time in hospitals. Donald even consulted astrologers and psychics for me. They all warned him that I would face a life-threatening disaster when I turned eighteen. Terrified that I wouldn't survive, Donald threw a massive, lavish party for my sixth birthday. That day, he announced the establishment of a multi-million dollar charity foundation in my name, hoping to bring me good karma to ward off the curse. Even the rarely-seen Chloe attended. She came to my room and handed me a pearl necklace as a gift, personally fastening it around my neck. I thought she had finally accepted me. Overjoyed, I followed her downstairs. The moment Chloe saw Helen, her face crumpled, and she ran to her, looking incredibly wronged. Helen immediately asked her what was wrong, but Chloe just kept her head down, refusing to speak. She kept darting fearful looks at me, acting entirely terrified. Helen looked up at me. I didn't register the growing fury on her face and walked over, eager to greet her. Before I could speak, Helen reached out and violently ripped the pearl necklace from my neck. The pearls scattered everywhere. The force of her pull left a thin, bloody scratch on my collarbone. "Mom..." I stood there, terrified. "I told you, I am not your mother," she hissed, her eyes wide with rage. "Why are you wearing this?" "Chloe gave it to me. It was a gift." Before I could explain further, she let out a harsh, mocking laugh. "Liar. The gift Chloe prepared for you is right here in my bag." "And this pearl necklace is her favorite. She barely even wears it herself." Chloe, who had been hiding behind Richard, spoke up in a small, trembling voice. "Tessa... you said you liked it. You said if I didn't give it to you, you'd tell Donald to kick me out. You said... you said everything here would belong to you eventually." She whimpered, burying her face. Helen’s icy expression softened into pure tenderness as she looked at her. "It's okay, sweetie. Tell me the truth. I won't let anyone bully you." Emboldened, Chloe looked at me. "She said if I didn't give it to her, she’d make my life hell." Just then, the orphanage director, who had also been invited, chimed in. "She’s been a thief since she was a baby. Once she sets her eyes on something, she steals it. So young, yet so vain." To the guests, the words of two adults and a crying child were far more convincing than mine. Besides, I was the only "outsider" who had recently moved into the family. Helen's face hardened. Every word of explanation I offered was treated as a lie. "If we hadn't caught her today, we'd be harboring a thief." "They say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. No wonder she has no manners." Her cruel words pierced my ears. My body began to shake, and it became hard to breathe. Chloe clutched Richard and Helen's hands, giving me a smug, triumphant look. Helen lovingly patted her head. "Keep your valuables locked up from now on. We have a thief in the house now. Who knows when someone will develop a case of light fingers?" The surrounding guests whispered and pointed at me. As the crowd grew, Donald noticed the commotion and rushed over, only to hear Helen shouting insults at me. "I’m telling you, Tessa is my granddaughter!" Donald roared, stepping in front of me. "Even if you don't care about her, keep your mouth shut!" Seeing Donald defend me, I wanted to speak. But in the next second, my jaw twitched, and my hands went into violent spasms. My epilepsy was triggered. Under Helen's horrified and disgusted gaze, I collapsed onto the floor, foaming at the mouth, my eyes rolling back. Instinctively, I reached out to claw at Helen's shoes. She gasped in disgust and kicked my hand away, quickly covering Chloe's eyes. Donald frantically searched my pockets for my rescue meds, but they were gone. He screamed at the staff to run upstairs and grab the backup bottle. Through my fading vision, I saw Chloe hiding something in her pocket. It was my medicine. Seeing me stare at her, her smug face twisted into fake terror, and she buried herself in Helen’s coat, whimpering, "Mom, she's so scary. I'm frightened." Helen stood by, her face twisted in repulsion, watching my agony with cold indifference. After I was carried back to my room, I could hear Helen's sharp voice through the door. "I told you we shouldn't have adopted her! Look at Chloe, she's so traumatized she can't even speak!" Donald's voice was heavy with rage. "Have you forgotten why she got this disease in the first place? Aren't you afraid of karma? You will regret this!" "Get out! Don't ever come back to this house!" Helen's voice was completely indifferent. "Dad, I never regret anything I do." On the other side of the door, I curled myself into a tight ball under the blankets, biting my arm hard to stifle my sobs. Because at that exact moment, I finally realized—my mother did not belong to me. And she never would.
For the next seven years, I barely saw Helen or Richard, even though Chloe and I attended the same private school. On the day I turned sixteen, Donald tragically fell down the stairs and died. I was the only one at the scene when it happened. Helen somehow heard a rumor that Donald had consulted psychics who said I was cursed. By the time the rumor reached her, I had become a cursed jinx who brought death to everyone around me. At the funeral, Helen’s eyes were bloodshot with grief. She walked straight up to me and slapped me hard across the face. "My father was in perfect health! How could he just slip and fall?!" "You pushed him, didn't you? You cursed brat!" "I knew we shouldn't have taken you in. He was just too soft-hearted." "Now you've killed him! Why couldn't it have been you who died?!" She broke down in tears, pushing me violently to the ground. Richard had to hold her back. My face was pale, my eyes hollow. I stood outside the funeral home, listening to the murmurs of the crowd, completely numb. I just squeezed my fists, forcing myself not to cry.
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