“I didn’t expect this store to actually use glass for jewelry. It looks almost real.”
“Mom, even though Freya’s gift is cheap, it’s still her thought that matters.”
I was stunned. How did my fine imperial green sapphire hairpin suddenly become glass? Was it because it looked too perfect to seem real?
Phoebe reached out, trying to place the hairpin in her own hair. Something that had already been touched by someone else, how could I give that to Mom?
“Give it back to me!”
In the struggle, Phoebe turned her back to Claudia and gave me a faint smile before letting go. My years of quick reflexes kicked in, and before the hairpin hit the ground, I caught it.
“I’m really sorry, Freya. I accidentally lost my grip…”
Before she could finish, I slapped her hard across the face. She fell to the floor, a tooth flying out.
Now, she truly couldn’t smile anymore.
Claudia lifted her hand to defend Phoebe, but I pushed her down onto the sofa. “It’s just a hairpin. What’s wrong with your sister wearing it? It was meant for me anyway. What’s mine is also Phoebe’s!”
She completely lost her usual composure, shouting at me in anger.
I took the silk cloth the manager handed me and gently wiped the hairpin. “Is your name engraved on it? Yet you still claim it’s yours. How self-centered.”
Claudia stared at me, taken aback. “Didn’t he say it was custom-made for your mother? If not me, then who else could your mother be?”
I didn’t answer. Instead, I picked up a call. “Hello, Mom, I’m heading home now. You don’t need to come pick me up.”
After signing the receipt, I gathered my things and turned to leave.
“Freya!”
Claudia grabbed my hand tightly, refusing to let go.
“You actually called someone else Mom? Did you really find new parents? The dean never mentioned that! Judging by your clothes, they must not be rich, probably just workers earning four or five thousand a month, barely getting by?”
She gritted her teeth, her eyes full of resentment toward me.
“Cut ties with those ridiculous people right now! It’s shameful. Counting the ones in the mountains, you’ve already had three sets of parents. What decent girl has three sets of parents?”
“If you don’t handle this properly, don’t blame me for stepping in to fix it.”
Claudia’s face turned cold as she threatened me.
“Oh, I’m so scared,” I said with a hint of mockery. “Why don’t you come home with me and say that to their faces?”
Her cheeks flushed with anger. “Did you already transfer your household registration?”
Back when they left me at the orphanage, they had put my registration there so Phoebe wouldn’t grow suspicious.
“It was a legal adoption. Of course, my registration was transferred.”
Only then did Claudia finally believe that I had truly been adopted.
“You’re unfilial!”
“Your biological parents are still alive, and yet you let someone else adopt you? We only asked you to wait eight years. Why couldn’t you wait?”
Claudia never once thought she was at fault. She simply poured out her anger, unaware of the strange look on the manager’s face beside her. She pulled out her phone and made a call.
Before long, a man who looked like a butler appeared. “Follow her. Drive those two bitch out of the city. I don’t want to see them again!”
Phoebe covered her face, glaring at me with venom. “Mom, I heard girls her age in the countryside are already married. Could Freya already have a child?”
Claudia’s expression darkened, her critical gaze sweeping over me from head to toe.
“Take her to a gynecology hospital first. Country people are usually loose, don’t you dare bring back some dirty disease!”
“Forget it. When the time comes, we’ll just say you’re an illegitimate daughter. Otherwise, I won’t be able to show my face in social circles.”
My temper rose instantly. I had been forced to become an orphan, and now they wanted to label me an illegitimate daughter?
“Crazy woman!”
My vision blurred as anger surged through me so hard that my low blood sugar kicked in. After eating some sugar and regaining a bit of strength, I suddenly felt someone unbuttoning my pants.
“What are you doing?!”
