1: 1
The fake heiress and I had just graduated college, and to celebrate the two of us graduating together, my parents said they'd take her and me on a trip overseas.
I put together everything for it. I even crammed on the local customs, and I brought along the money I'd earned working part-time all these years, thinking I could take a little of the burden off Mom and Dad.
But I never expected that the moment I picked up my luggage, before I'd even left, my father would call.
"Melinda Dickerson, your sister and I are already on the plane!"
"Your dad got busy and forgot. I never booked your ticket or sorted your passport!"
"Just stay home and take good care of yourself!"
"You're used to being on your own anyway!"
I listened to my father's words on the phone, and to my mother pushing him along in the background.
"Hurry up, we're about to take off!"
"I don't want her along anyway. Our Abby is so sweet, not like that one. No matter how you look at her, she doesn't seem like my child at all!"
The call cut off in a rush.
And I smiled.
Of course. From the moment they claimed me as theirs, they'd recoiled from me, always feeling like I wasn't their child.
I picked up my phone and dialed my mentor.
"The project you mentioned. I've decided to go."
1
On the other end, my mentor told me that once the project began, I'd have to cut off all ties, and I wouldn't be able to come home for years.
"Melinda, are you sure you want to do this?"
I smiled. "You've forgotten. On my paperwork, it says I'm an orphan."
"I don't have any family."
My voice was ice cold as I said it.
All my life I'd lived alone. I'd never even imagined having family.
Until two years ago, when my biological parents found me.
They said I was their daughter.
I thought I'd found the family that would love me.
But it wasn't until after we'd claimed each other as family that I understood. They didn't love me at all.
From beginning to end, they'd never once intended to bring me home to their house.
Only I had been foolish enough to think of them as my family.
Every time, I did everything I could to please them.
And all it ever earned me was more distance.
My father was always taking Abigail Gilbert's hand, saying Abby was his most adorable little princess.
Even my mother would sigh that only Abigail seemed like their child.
I smiled. If that was how it was, then from today on, the tie between them and me could be cut for good.
My mentor told me he'd file it for me, and that from that moment on, everything about me would be classified.
Listening to him, I nodded, glad for it.
I knew this was where my future belonged.
As for that home that didn't even have a room for me, I never needed to give it another thought.
I hung up, packed everything, and took one last look at the place I lived, a tiny room I'd gritted my teeth to afford renting.
After graduation, I'd tested the waters once, asking my parents whether I could move out of the school dorm and live with them.
But what met me were the cold eyes of Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert.
"Melinda, you're grown now. You need to be independent!"
"You can't keep living with your mom and dad. How are you ever supposed to grow up that way?"
"Besides, we only have so many rooms at home. Your sister turned one into a study, and another is her piano room. There's simply nowhere for you to stay!"
The moment they said those words, my heart had already gone dead.
And now, even bringing me along on a trip felt like an embarrassment to them.
They never once stopped to think that everything I'd been through all these years was the result of Abigail's mother swapping me out back then.
And now they thought everything I'd suffered was something I'd brought on myself.
If that was how it was, then this home had long since meant nothing to me at all.
