“Uncle, Uncle, I have something I need to ask you.” I hurried forward, desperate to catch his attention.
“Gina! Get this poor relative out of here!”
“Sorry, Supervisor, I’ll handle it.” Aunt Gina pulled me aside firmly.
“Uncle, I’m Lila’s daughter. We met at my mom’s funeral!”
The man’s back stiffened for a moment, but he said nothing and quickened his steps.
“Aunt Gina…”
“Elisa, don’t come here again. Your mom finally got promoted. If you keep causing a scene, you’ll only embarrass her at work.”
She shoved a few hundred dollars into my palm and walked away without another glance.
I tracked down many others, classmates, and teachers, all echoing the same words as Aunt Gina.
My homeroom teacher even showed me surveillance footage. At every parent-teacher meeting in the past three years, my mother had been there.
I wandered the streets like a lost soul, begging anyone for news of my mother.
In the end, the police brought me home.
Relatives and neighbors whispered that I’d lost my mind, that my studies had driven me to madness.
I even found myself convincing my mind that the woman at home was truly my mother.
Dad and Lila took me to university together. Lila carefully helped me settle in, making my bed and getting along with my roommates. She reminded me to eat on time every single day.
There was always a flicker of hope in her eyes when she looked at me, but I stayed distant, cold toward her. Yet she never minded. She even added my roommates on WhatsApp.
All my roommates admired how caring and thoughtful Lila was as a mother.
Throughout my four years at university, I never once went home.
Lila had a difficult labor and nearly died giving birth. Dad asked me to visit my little brother, but I didn’t go.
When Grandpa fell gravely ill, Dad urged me to say goodbye, but I didn’t go.
I didn’t attend Grandpa’s funeral either.
If it hadn’t been for needing to return home to transfer my household registration, I doubt I would have gone back at all.
I didn’t tell a soul I was coming home.
Dad had asked me to come back because Grandma was gravely ill, but I told him I was buried in preparing for the civil service exam and couldn’t make it.
When I finally arrived, the house was empty.
Everything has changed so much since four years ago.
The wall behind the sofa was now covered with countless photos of a little boy.
Toy cars lay scattered across the coffee table, and crayon drawings filled every inch of the walls.
Only my bedroom door remained firmly locked, untouched as if frozen in time.
When I opened it, the room was immaculate, clearly cared for, and cleaned regularly.
With no expression, I stepped into Dad and Lila’s room to search for the household registration book.
My eyes landed on the wedding photo resting on the nightstand, familiar yet strange.
The image was the same as I remembered, but the woman’s eyes were different; one look and I knew it was Lila.
Suddenly, a toy on the floor slipped from beneath the bed with a sharp noise.
I knelt to pick it up and felt something cold and wooden beneath my fingers.
A sudden chill crawled down my spine.
It was Mom’s spirit tablet, exactly as I remembered, the date of her death engraved clearly.
At that moment, I finally held the undeniable proof: the woman at home wasn’t really my mother.
As memories I’d ignored four years ago flooded back, clarity sparked in my mind.
I quickly dialed Dad’s number.
Crying echoed from the other end. Grandma’s condition was grave and uncertain.
Nothing else mattered. Grasping Mom’s spirit tablet tightly, I rushed straight to the hospital.
I had finally uncovered the truth, everyone had conspired with that fake mother to deceive me.
By the time I arrived, Grandma had already slipped away.
He collapsed to the floor, sharp cries piercing the quiet hospital room.
Dad glanced at me, shaking his head with heavy disappointment.
The relatives around us wasted no time; their voices filled with harsh judgment.
“Elisa was spoiled rotten by you two. Her grandfather was on his deathbed, wanting to see her one last time, and she couldn’t even be bothered to show up, not even at the funeral. If she were my daughter, I’d have beaten some sense into her!”
“She’s clearly lost her mind. A few years back, she cursed her own mother, claiming she was dead, and even forced Lila to abort her baby.”
“That’s no madness, that’s cold calculation! She tried to stop her parents from having a little brother just to keep everything for herself. So scheming!”
“She didn’t come home once in four years of college. Now she hears Grandma left a will and rushes back, fighting for the inheritance. Jackson, take a good look at the ungrateful wolf you raised.”
“She even hit her little brother as soon as she returned. If you don’t intervene, who knows what harm she’ll do next.”
Everyone’s eyes burned with cruel satisfaction as if they’d be pleased to see Dad beat me senseless right then and there.
But just then, Lila, who had been steadying her son, suddenly straightened and stepped between me and the angry crowd.
“I won’t let any of you speak ill of my daughter like this!”
“She is nothing like what you say. I believe in her.”
Her words carried a quiet strength as she turned to give me a steady, reassuring look.
I couldn’t help but sneer, cold and bitter.
That sneer lit a fire in Dad. Without a word, his hand shot out, slapping me hard across the cheek.
“From this day forward, you are no longer my daughter. I cut all ties with you!”
His harsh words drew nods of approval from many relatives, some even offering thumbs-up as if proud of his cruelty.
Unfazed, I calmly pulled Mom’s spirit tablet from my bag and raised it high, letting every eye catch the truth.
“My mother has been dead for a long time.”
“Dad, why don’t you tell everyone who this woman really is?”
