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At the birthday party, my family and my fiancé suddenly started up a game of toss-the-handkerchief.
Before I could even react, the handkerchief landed right in my face.
The next second, the family's guard dog lunged at me like it had gone mad. I've been afraid of dogs since I was little, and I scrambled away in a panic.
The fake heiress burst out laughing. "Mom! Dad! Simon Henson! Look how pathetic she looks running away."
My legs gave out under me, and I kept crying for help.
But all I heard was their laughter.
My fiancé spoke up. "Rita Swanson, the dog has to chase you three full laps before the game can stop. It's your own fault the handkerchief landed on you."
My mother chimed in. "Your running form is so ugly. You look nothing like a daughter of the Swanson family."
My father didn't help me either. He stuck out his leg and tripped me, and the dog clamped down on my arm and tore off a chunk of flesh in an instant.
The fake heiress shrieked, and my parents and my fiancé rushed to cover her eyes, all of them turning on me. "Rita! You scared her!"
I lay on the ground writhing in pain, watching helplessly as they led the fake heiress away.
Afterward, my parents and my fiancé acted as if nothing had happened. Not one of them asked how the wound on my arm had been treated that day.
I looked at them, all cozy and happy together, and suddenly felt like I didn't belong. Ten years of trying to blend into this family, and I still couldn't. When there's no love, there's no love.
The moment I understood that, I turned and went upstairs to pack my bags, and I walked out right in front of them.
And from start to finish, their eyes stayed on the fake heiress. Not one of them looked at me.
……
My luggage was light. Three changes of clothes, a few pairs of socks, a toothbrush and toothpaste I'd bought recently and barely used.
And the two hundred thousand in my account.
That two hundred thousand was money I'd saved up bit by bit, working these past years.
I sat on the bench at the bus stop. The gauze on my arm was seeping blood, throbbing.
To save money, I hadn't even gotten a numbing shot when they bandaged it. I'd just gritted my teeth and gotten through it.
Bus after bus came and went. I didn't even know where I was going.
Then the special-alert setting on my phone buzzed. A message from Simon.
【For the wedding photos, Zara Swanson's going to pose with me, so you don't need to come. She wants to know what it feels like to be a bride.】
Reading that, even though I'd known long ago he didn't love me, the tears fell before I could stop them.
When Simon saw I hadn't answered, my mother sent a message next.
【You already took Zara's identity. Just give her this one. If it weren't for you, Simon's bride would have been her.】
Before I could react, my father's message came in too.
【Rita, show some sense. Don't make things difficult for the family.】
My vision blurred more and more, fat tears splashing onto the phone screen, and once again I saw it clearly. They didn't love me at all.
Ten years ago, I'd just moved to the city and started my first year of high school. During a physical exam, my identity was suddenly exposed. It turned out I was the real Swanson daughter. Having grown up without parents, I was full of hope for the Swanson family.
But the moment I stepped through the door, my parents dumped cold water on all of it.
They said, "Zara's been pampered her whole life and she's fragile. From now on you're not allowed to tell anyone you're the real Swanson daughter. You're just the Swansons' foster daughter. Otherwise, how is she supposed to get through school?"
That was how I learned Zara went to the same high school as me, and that she was the campus beauty.
Even though no one wanted me there, I accepted the arrangement without a fuss, because I wanted a home and parents so badly.
Back at the orphanage, other kids got adopted. I was the only one who never was, dragged all the way to fifteen with no family willing to take me in.
Maybe I was just born unlucky.
But once I was back at school, the rumors flew.
They said I'd schemed my way into the Swanson family out of greed for their wealth, that I'd used underhanded tricks, and that I was trying to steal Zara's place as the heiress.
To take Zara's side, the other students bullied me all day long.
They tore up my exam papers, deliberately smeared my name, and locked me in the bathroom, so I ended up spending a whole night in there.
I told my parents. What I got in return was blame.
"Rita, how could Zara's friends possibly bully you? If you keep spreading these lies, you can get out of the Swanson family. A Swanson daughter would never stoop to such gutter tactics."
The tears fell one after another. I couldn't understand why they wouldn't believe me, only Zara.
Now I've figured it out. There's no other reason. They simply don't love me. They never did.
