Chapter 5

He glanced at me, silently asking if I needed comfort. I awkwardly shook my head, but in the next moment, tears slipped down my cheeks, which I quickly wiped away.

At the dinner table, I hadn't even swallowed a bite of my food when Wendy strolled down from the second floor, instantly capturing my mother's attention. Dressed in an expensive designer dress, she stood in stark contrast to my simple white shirt and jeans. Yet she still managed to win my mother's favor.

Like a little bird, Wendy nestled into my mother's arms, sweetly calling her "Mom," despite having her own mother from the countryside. My mother, clearly delighted, served her food, even peeling shrimp for her—something she had considered a chore—as if it were second nature to her.

My heart ached, and a metallic taste rose in my throat as I cleared it, only to be met with my mother's cold glare and malicious assumptions. She didn't care that Nelson was there; she leaned in and whispered, "Rachel, what are you pretendin