I smiled to myself and threw the dirty clothes on my body into the trash can and took a fresh shower. Mom and Dad came home very late. They thought I was asleep. They then walked into the house quietly. They were shocked to see me sitting frozen in the living room.
My mother sat beside me. Her face was full of pity.
“Audrey Ainsworth, why are you sleeping so late?”
I asked as if nothing had happened, “Mom and Dad, why are you working overtime during New Year's Eve? I've been waiting for you guys to come back.”
My parents smiled with a guilty look on their faces. Then my dad screwed a bag onto the table with a fatherly smile.
“Audrey, it's good that you didn't sleep early. I brought back a cake just to celebrate your birthday with you.”
I glanced at my mom and dad indifferently. Then I noticed that their faces, which were originally dressed in bright clothes, had returned to paleness again and their brand-name clothes had turned back into patched work clothes. My dad took out a small piece of cake covered with dirt from a bag full of rotten vegetable leaves and brought it to me.
“My daughter, this cake has been dropped on the ground, but it's still edible. You can eat it, sweety.”
In the past, the birthday gift they prepared for me every year was an egg. I would have been happy if there had been a piece of cake, even if they had picked it up from the trash.
But when I thought that this piece of cake was left over from eating with their baby daughter and not thrown on the ground. They then picked up for me. It made my stomach churning.
Along with the intense heartache, my body could not stop trembling. I pushed the cake back to my dad.
“Dad, you eat it. I've eaten eggs. You guys have never eaten anything good in your life. This cake should be given to you and your mom, especially my mom. You carried me to term and gave birth to me after nine months of pregnancy. My birthday is her day of suffering. So, I give it to my mom.”
The two of them glanced at each other. Although they disguised themselves well, I still saw a hint of disgust and dislike in their eyes. Seeing this made me even more heartbroken.
My biological parents gave their own daughter food that someone else had dropped on the floor. On the other hand, they had ordered a nine-tiered buttercream cake for their adopted daughter.
Dad's eyes were red at the end and he choked up. “It's my fault. I can't afford to let you eat this kind of thing on your birthday.”
My mom took Dad's hand and sobbed. “You've tried hard enough, my hubby.”
Seeing them repeating the same old trick, I took the cake woodenly and stuffed the cake mixed with mud into my mouth one bite at a time.
“Mom and Dad, this cake is so yummy and sweet.”
As I said this, I stopped the tears in my eyes from flowing down. My heart was broken to the ground. My parents saw me obediently eat the cake. They were very relieved to turn tears into smiles.
My dad said, “Our daughter has really grown up.”
Listening to these words, I suddenly felt ridiculous. Dad stared at me and suddenly saw a bruise on my face and asked me angrily, “What happened to your face? Was it beaten by someone else? Who dares to hit my daughter? I'll fight him to the death!”
Dad rolled up his sleeves and looked furious. Seeing this, my mind was full of thoughts.
When I was in elementary school, I was bullied by my classmates because I was poor. My face was scratched with blood marks by them. My father was so angry that he went to find the other parents to argue. Unfortunately, the other side was so crowded that he was bruised and swollen. In the end, he forced them to swear that they would never bully me again.
At that time, he became a hero in my heart. Other people were chasing stars. But I only worship him alone. But now when I thought about it, how naive and childish were my thoughts as a child? My father, it was obvious your bodyguard injured your own daughter, but he was still angry here.
