Chapter 5

Same old story all over again. I was always blamed for being calculative and got compared to Belle. It was as if I was completely wrong to be calculative with her.

'Am I not your child too?'

I picked up a knife in a daze and dashed toward Mother's house.

The moment I opened the door, I saw Father holding a piece of meat, feeding it to Belle, while Mother was wiping her sweat at the side. My ex-boyfriend, Simon Gray, was beside her with a doting look on his face.

I stared at the meat in the boiling pot miserably. It seemed I was the only one affected by this.

"You killed Chester and enjoyed eating the meat?" I wiped my sweat as I waved the knife aimlessly.

"It's just a chicken, you goon! What's wrong with just pampering your sister a little?" My mother stepped forward and took away my knife, her expression ugly. Frankly, she looked as wicked as when she drugged me that one fateful day.

Simon tried to persuade me, too. "That's right, it's just a chicken. How much compensation do you want? I'll pay you. Why are you holding a knife anyway? Belle was right: you've been behaving like this since you were little.

"Although I'm in love with your sister, we can still be friends."

They were all united as a team as if I had committed a heinous crime.

At that moment, Mother took out the blue notebook and said she wanted to settle the debt I owed for all those years. "Everything you owe us is stated here. Now, your aunt's child has leukemia. If you are willing to donate your bone marrow, I will write off the debt here completely."

"Donate bone marrow? I owe you debt?"

I grabbed the blue notebook and read out the contents loudly.

"In 2018, when I was fifteen years old, Grandmother sewed the torn pants Belle had thrown out. However, you wrote here that you spent seventy-five dollars to buy pants for me.

"In 2019, I had a fever and fainted. You were too busy rushing Belle to the hospital due to her allergy reaction. I almost died back then. However, you wrote that you spent four hundred fifty dollars for me on my medical treatment and hospitalization. But the hospitalization fee was earned by myself.

"In 2020, I won first place in the Mathematical Olympiad. You bought Belle her first puppy, but you wrote that you spent a hundred fifty dollars for me, for the puppy."

"The latest entry? I risked being fired from my job to take care of you when you were sick and hospitalized, and you wrote that I owed you four hundred fifty dollars."

As I read on, my heart chilled when I saw Mother's indifferent reaction and silence from Father.

I roared from the bottom of my heart, and the image of myself when I was little seemed to stand behind me and yell with me, "What had I done to you to deserve this? Are you trying to kill me? You're so disgusting! You're making up false debts against me!"

Mother trembled with fear in her eyes. However, she continued to deny, "I didn't! I'm just short of money; I didn't mean to plot against you."

"What about a notebook for money you spent on Belle?!" I yelled. "Do you have a notebook to plan for my wedding gift, or a notebook to record my favorite things?!" I asked clearly.

I was so tired that I even doubted myself. They were my parents. What if I misunderstood them? Had they ever thought of me and loved me sincerely?

Alas, all I saw through my tears were two guilty faces. Their silence explained it all.

Although Mother gave birth to both of us, I was the unfavored child. I was even the one who was abandoned and tortured.

Mother wanted to come over and hold my arm to comfort me, but her facial expression looked guilty. "Celine, stop acting like this. You had never made me worried since you were a child. I only kept a notebook for Belle because I tend to forget things about her.

"You should help your sister since you're a capable woman."

I shook off Mother's hand. From the corner of my eyes, I saw some little red dots on Belle's neck.

I quietly turned off the micro surveillance camera on my sleeve and laughed softly. "Belle, you wanted to make me sad by feasting on my chicken… but you may not know you're actually allergic to chicken meat."