Chapter 1
Da Christmas Day, my parents said they were going out to work a side job, leaving me home alone once again
Thinking about how they’ve done this for twenty years straight, I couldn’t stand another lonely Christmas by myself. So I snuck out to find them||
What I never expected was wing my supposedly working for extra money parents stepping out of a luxury car, laughing and hugging a boy about my age as they walked into an upscale restaurant
“Mom, Darl, is it okay to just leave Olivia alone at home?” the boy asked.]]
My mom shrugged it off: “Don’t worry, she’s used to 11 by now.“]
My dad nodded carelessly, “She can compare to you anyway. You’re the one we truly cherish
Iturned and walked away. Turns out they’d been pretending to be pour all along, and I was the outsider in my own Emily]
Well I didn’t need them anymore either
Back home. I threw out all the food Td prepared for my parents earder.[]
In the past, i couldn’t have brought myself to waste anything.
J
as long as I can remember, I thought we were struggling fancially. My clothes, my food–everything come from my parents supposed sacrifices. I rarely got anything
Every few months. Mom would bring home a bag of clothes, telling me. These are from my coworker’s daughter. They’ve been washed thoroughly, so we don’t need to Day new ones]
I never knew where she really got those secondhand clothes. Throughout my childhood, I barely were anything new, always dragging around in fitting clothes while classmates called me “the Lode beggar.“)
I pushed myself to excel in school, dreaming that someday i could earn enough to buy my man clothes and take financial pressure off my parents
Lile did I know they had no pressure at
I did some digging. That lurry car belonged to the wealthy Thompson family in time. The Thompson her had been photographed driving that exact car with a celebrity
I’d seen that gossip plece. The rich lod’s face was unmistakably the same boy from tight Apparently, I was actually from a wealthy family
rly, wiped my nose, and started searching my parents‘ run!]
I laughed Litterly, wiped my i
Erther they were careless or overconfident to keep documents at home ||
When I found contracts worth millions with my dad’s signature–and a diamond–encrusted pen tucked between the pages–my last hopes died.”
I carefully put everything hack, returned to my room, and pulled the covers over my head!
1just wanted to wake up find it was all a nightmare
Latly the next morning, my parents were already busy in the kitchen-
Looking at the breakfast on the uble, a suddenly hit me–who eats gourmet seafood porridge for breakfast?
The taste was identical to what my professor had treated us to at that expensive restaurant last semester.||
Oglance at the trash by the dice red my suspicom!
Mom, Bad did we suddenly get richo” Lasked, sitting at the table.||
My mom boked shocked. “Emina, what are you talking absur||
Then how can we afford auch expensive oralood poundger||
i propted in the packaging in the trash, and any amers expresii in shifted instantly:||
Dad Hughed nervoudy, “li, that was just a gift from my lighted it toning home for us. ||
“Ou our salanes, hour could we afford seafood podge?
DE
Sure. I thought, nodding while taking a spoonful Seafood porridge, righty dollars a serving. That dinner at night probably cost thousand
U they were genuinely poor, this peralge would have taited amazing ||
Now it felt like chewing in cardboard
I stood up after just two bes
harely eaten anything. Are you feeling okay? Mom asked with seemingly genuine romeren-
on est 150 much m
I shook my head and forced a sunde. “Tis fine. Arract we having hech at Grandpa’s today? I just dont want to put ma
Mom related at that. Dad looked guilty and was about in say something when his phone rang.
I caught a glimpse of the screen: “Precious Som Jason “||
Jauna. Thengora um his precious zon. So what was t7||
Pail burrand to the burrey inke the call. Mom following. I could barely make out something about “behaving” and “making sure Emma doesn’t find out.”
My heart murned to tre. They’d known all along, comparing to keep me as the dark||
Istarted urdering if my entire life was like The Truman Show.
Yet they seemed unreal
