Everyone's attention immediately shifted when they saw Chloe's face.
“So it’s Chloe sneaking around with someone? I thought she was all about academics and being a model student. What’s she up to now?”
“Every time I hear those two rave about Chloe, I thought she was the perfect daughter. I guess I was wrong.”
“From now on, I’ll just ignore everything those two say. Maya seems like the more dependable one.”
“...”
Dad and Linda's forced smiles finally faded. In unison, they yelled at Chloe, “Get back home now!”
Reluctantly, Chloe let go of her boyfriend, lowering her head as she followed her parents out.
Watching the three of them slink away, the spectacle was over, so I headed home to study.
Knock, knock, knock—
The sound of frantic knocking on my door echoed through the room. Before I could even ask what was going on, a frustrated voice rang out from the hallway.
“Don’t go running around embarrassing us!”
Wasn’t it their precious daughter making a fool of herself out there?
I bet they were just worried I might be praised, making their precious daughter look bad in comparison.
Ignoring them, I kept reading. After venting their frustration on the other side of the door, they eventually left.
The next day, as usual, they had milk and eggs prepared for Chloe.
I sat down in the usual spot, where a bowl of porridge was waiting for me, and dug in. Someone suddenly nudged my shoulder.
“I thought about it, and it’s not fair to let Chloe have all the eggs. From now on, you’ll get one too.”
Looking at the so-called “egg” in Linda’s hand, I couldn’t help but laugh.
Wasn’t this a failed egg from an attempt to hatch chicks?
Back home, we called these lost memory eggs. They say if a young child eats too many, they might start forgetting things.
Glancing up at the expectant faces of Dad and Linda, I took the egg and ate it without hesitation.
Rather than focusing on what others might think of me, it seemed more productive to keep an eye on Chloe…
After Chloe's poor grades had gotten to them, Dad and Linda, still unable to scold their precious daughter, spent a lot of money on extra tutoring for her. Every night, they stayed late with her, helping with her studies.
During these few days without them around, things had been quieter, and my study efficiency had definitely improved.
There were only three months left until the college entrance exams...
Aside from meal times, I only interacted with them when I needed them to buy exercise books—something I hated having to do.
“Mom, Dad, we need to buy study materials for school.”
After dinner, Chloe was the first to bring it up.
Worried they’d refuse, I added quickly, “The school is ordering them in bulk. We have to buy them.”
As usual, Chloe’s request was met with no resistance. They handed her the money without a second thought.
When it came to me, Linda exchanged a glance with Dad. He responded, “Your mother and I don’t have much money left. You’re good at school, so it doesn’t matter if you use these materials or not.”
In the past, they would’ve put up with this for the sake of appearances, but now, with the fear of me surpassing their precious daughter, they were determined to block my progress.
Unable to change their minds, I quietly found a part-time job to earn the money I needed for the materials.
With the heavy schedule of senior year, I had no choice but to skip some of my easier classes and work extra shifts to make up the money faster.
On my last day of work, as I waited for my boss to pay me, I thought I might finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. But instead, I encountered a storming Dad and Linda.
They had brought my homeroom teacher, Mr. Thompson, along. They stormed into my part-time job, clearly prepared, but acting as though they were caught by surprise and were deeply upset.
“Do you have any idea how hard we’re working to support your education? And here you are, skipping class to work?” Dad scolded, glaring at me, then turning to Mr. Thompson to continue, “We tell you to focus on your studies, but you just want to work. What’s next? Dropping out to work full time? You’re getting impossible to control…”
Linda, playing the good cop, chimed in, “She’s a teenager, you know? Her mental state is fragile. If she can’t do what she wants, she might get really upset.”
“If she truly doesn’t want to go to school, we shouldn’t keep forcing her. We don’t want her to have a breakdown over this.”
After hearing them out, Mr. Thompson seemed to buy into their narrative that I didn’t want to study. He tried to offer some gentle advice, “You’re such a bright student. It would be a shame to drop out. After school, you can always work!”
“I want to study, Mr. Thompson, I just...” I started to explain, but my dad’s shout cut me off.
“If you want to study, then why are you skipping class? Are we short on food or drink here? Do we need you to work?”
Once those words left his mouth, I knew I couldn’t explain myself truthfully.
They’d probably already secretly paid for my study materials, using that as an excuse to convince Mr. Thompson that I skipped class because I simply didn’t want to study.
And now, they had a reason to force me into quitting school without facing any consequences…
Knowing them too well, I wasn’t about to follow their script. I took Linda’s hand, mimicking her manipulative tone, and said with red eyes, “I don’t want to stop studying. I just wanted to save up to buy a gift for Linda.”
“Her birthday is coming up, and I’m not good at expressing myself. I’ve often been misunderstood as having issues with Linda, so I wanted to buy a gift to show my appreciation.”
Mr. Thompson let out a relieved sigh, patting Linda on the shoulder. “Maya may have been a bit hasty, but she’s truly a good daughter. You’re lucky to have her!”
“Better than a real daughter!” she added.
Linda’s smile wavered, stiffened, and she gave my hand a forced squeeze, gritting her teeth, “We misunderstood you, Maya.”
“Yeah, Maya’s a great kid,” Dad added, offering the weakest compliment of all.
With that, they led me away from Mr. Thompson, but just a moment later, their faces dropped.
I silently followed behind, eavesdropping on their conversation.
“Great, we paid for her materials and now she’s got a reputation for being a filial daughter. What a loss!”
“We’ve already spent so much on extra lessons for Chloe. She’s much smarter than Maya, so she’ll catch up in no time.”
“Once Chloe catches up to Maya, we’ll have the perfect reason to put her down and force her to quit school!”
I couldn’t help but snicker behind them.
Can they be this blindly confident? Chloe, with her love-stricken brain, is having enough trouble focusing on her studies—there’s no way she’s catching up to me…
