All Chapters of Scorched by Fate: A Daughter’s Rebirth: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

14 Chapters

Chapter 1

When Dad's affair was exposed, my parents took their divorce battle to court.They had two children, so the judge decided each of them should take one.Neither of them hesitated. They both chose my sister.The judge hesitated instead and asked my sister to decide.Fiona stood there in her little designer princess dress, our father on one side, our mother on the other.Dad made his offer first. "Fiona, pick me. I can give you a better life. Haven't you always wanted a new tablet? I'll get you one tomorrow."Mom noticed her shivering, took off her scarf, and wrapped it around her gently. "Fiona, you should stay with me. If your dad remarries, what will you do with a stepmother?"And just like that, they started arguing again.I stood in the corner, forgotten. A strange sense of awkwardness crept up on me, so I pulled up the zipper of my school jacket. The thin, faded fabric did nothing against the cold, and the wind slipped right through.The courtroom was in chaos. Voices clash
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Chapter 2

No one remembers that before I turned six, I was an extraordinarily beautiful little girl.When I was ten, I washed dishes and did laundry in the winter. The water was freezing, and I caught a cold. That night, I burned with fever, tossing and turning in pain. I cried out for my mom. My parents, woken by the noise, were irritated. They gave me some fever medicine and went back to sleep, thinking it was nothing serious.I burned the whole night. By the time they realized the fever hadn't broken and rushed me to the hospital, it was too late. The doctor told them my brain had been damaged. I might become slower, duller.My parents were devastated. They had learned their lesson. From then on, whenever Fiona so much as coughed, they panicked. They would take her to the hospital in the middle of the night just to be sure. If she fell sick, they took turns watching over her, tending to her every need.But I never had another fever again. I never got to experience that kind of careful,
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Chapter 3

Grandma didn't understand legal procedures. What she did understand was that her granddaughter was hers to protect. Without hesitation, she took my hand and led me away, ignoring the disapproving looks behind her. What happened after that, I never found out.When I was little, Grandma raised me in her old house. The conditions were modest, but I never felt uneasy. There was a quiet comfort in that place.Half a month passed. The college entrance exams were approaching, and I was boarding at school, returning home only once every two or three weeks. That day, it rained heavily. I held an umbrella, walking toward the bus stop, when someone blocked my path.It was my mom, livid. "Jolene, Fiona is at the school across the street. It's raining, and she doesn't have an umbrella. As her older sister, shouldn't you know to bring her one?"My dad's car idled near the school gate. My mom sat in the passenger seat, clearly unwilling to step out into the rain. The car couldn't drive in, and
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Chapter 4

I stepped past them and walked away.Behind me, Dad's voice erupted like a sudden crack of thunder. "Jolene, you really are shameless! It's better without you around. Just looking at you makes me sick!"For a brief moment, my footsteps faltered. Being spat at by the people closest to me sent a dull ache through my chest. But I didn't turn back. Without hesitation, I put distance between us.I thought staying away would mean peace of mind, but only a few days passed before I had to seek them out again.Grandma had fallen ill. The cold had worn down her body.I had no money, no time, no options. I had to ask them for help.When I arrived at the house I had left nearly a month ago, laughter spilled from inside, warm and full, like the glow of a candle flickering through a half-open door.Through the narrow gap, I saw a room alive with celebration. The decorations were bright and festive. A group of people gathered around Fiona, singing the birthday song. She wore a party hat, her s
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Chapter 5

The moment it touched my tongue, I realized…It was bitter.…Chocolate is bitter. Cream is sweet. The bitterness weighed heavy, the sweetness clung like grease.I never looked forward to my birthday, never spoke of it, deliberately erased it from my mind. No one ever remembered. No one ever celebrated. If I mentioned it, I'd only expose myself to more humiliation.I waited outside the door until the guests had all left. Just as I was about to step in, I heard Fiona complaining to Mom."Mom, why haven't you coaxed Jolene back yet? You probably weren't serious when you apologized last time. It's such a hassle without her. No one to cook, no one to clean. Your cooking is awful, and you never clean as well as she does."I stopped in my tracks.So that was it. Their sudden warmth back then wasn't real. They just wanted me back as a housemaid.I kicked the door open.No pleasantries. No hesitation. I looked straight at my dad and said, "Grandma is sick. She needs to be hospitalize
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Chapter 6

"If you don't want to study, drop out. You're already eighteen. Your father and I have no obligation to support you. Earn your own money! Everyone else's daughters can buy houses and cars for their parents and siblings—why can't you?"I slammed into the cold wall behind me. My lips split, the sharp sting spreading in waves. My chest ached too, not the sharp kind of pain, but something heavy, thick, impossible to shake off.I looked up at her. My eyes burned, but no tears fell.I lowered my head and laughed. "I must be unlucky to have parents like you."The laughter faded. A single tear slipped down, unseen by anyone.…What kind of mother thinks in the filthiest way about her own daughter, then humiliates her in front of everyone?Once her child turns eighteen, she refuses to spend a cent more. Instead, she dreams of being showered with money, as if an eighteen-year-old can magically become rich overnight.She waters the soil stingily, then wonders why the tree never grew tall.
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Chapter 7

Maybe even when I'm eighty, there will still be a child inside me, waiting for a love that never came.My parents flipped through the report with impatient hands. Their faces darkened. Dad set the paper down, his voice low and heavy."How could you end up with a disease like this?"I stared at them blankly. "The doctor said the cause was parental favoritism toward Fiona."Mom's voice shot up. She slammed the table. "Are you blaming us?"Then came the speech I had heard too many times. The hardships of raising children, the sacrifices she had made, the fairness she prided herself on. She spoke with conviction. "Everything your sister has, you have too. She gets a birthday celebration, so do you. She gets a tutor, you can join in. What else do you want?"Dad nodded. "Look around. Tell me which other family treats their kids as equally as we do. You're just not as good as your sister, so now you want to blame us?"…It was laughable, really. They always claimed to be fair.How lo
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Chapter 8

I made my way back to the hospital, feeling sicker than before. Something churned inside my head, making me dizzy and nauseous. Still, I forced a smile, carrying a thermos of porridge to my grandma, ready to share a made-up story to cheer her up.But she lay motionless on the hospital bed, surrounded by people. A doctor hurried over and told me she had suffered a sudden attack and needed immediate resuscitation. My parents had already been notified.The thermos in my hands slipped, spilling porridge all over the floor.For a moment, I just stood there. Then, my smile faded. I mumbled an apology, cleaned up the mess, and sat on a bench, unable to bring myself to look at her again.When they arrived, the doctor asked them to sign the consent forms and pay for the surgery. The procedure would take a long time, and the chances of success were not high.I waited in the corner for what felt like forever, my courage draining bit by bit. Then, I heard their voices. They were getting imp
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Chapter 9

Why should I hurt myself over the mistakes of a bunch of worthless people? I should live longer than all of them, live better than any of them, and stay as far away as possible from those who drag me into despair.The crowd was growing. I didn't want this farce to continue. Just as I was about to leave, Fiona, acting as if she understood everything, spoke up. "Jolene, Grandma's surgery is over. It was a success. If you don't believe me, check the family group chat."She approached cautiously, holding up her phone. On the screen was a short message confirming the surgery's success.Then, right below it, Mom had posted a paternity test report with a comment: [Jolene really isn't our biological daughter. We don't know the details yet, but no wonder she grew up to be such an ungrateful wretch. @Fiona, baby, from now on, you're my only daughter.]And then, she removed me from the group.She probably deleted my contact as well.Fiona seemed unaware of the bombshell below the surgery
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Chapter 10

I hadn't expected to catch Fiona wandering through my room that day. I wasn't there, and she didn't have the patience to wait. Instead, she plucked a few strands of her own hair and left.When I first watched that footage, I had no idea what she was doing.Now, with the evidence in hand, I had it delivered to them. Dad watched, his face twisting in shock. Mom snatched the papers."What is this?" she asked.Her expression darkened as she read. Then, without hesitation, she grabbed Fiona by the arm. "Fiona, what is the meaning of this?"Everything spiraled into chaos.Dad looked more shaken than I'd ever seen him. "I've been raising someone else's child for over ten years?"His reaction was too intense. Mom sensed something was off. She turned to him, suspicious. "You knew something, didn't you?"Their argument erupted, voices rising, accusations flying. Then, in the heat of it all, Dad let slip the truth.So that's how it was.Fiona was the daughter of Dad's mistress. Back the
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