Eighteen Years Of IOUs, One Day To Pay Them All Chapter 08

Eighteen Years Of IOUs, One Day To Pay Them All Chapter 08

A few days later, someone from the college administration told me that a woman claiming to be my mother had contacted the office asking for my apartment address.

I immediately told the office not to give my family any personal information if they contacted them

again.

But the next day, when I arrived at the café, Tessa was standing outside.

Her eyes were red, and she was still wearing the designer dress Mom had bought her the year

before.

“Mom paid for my ticket and sent me here to talk you into coming home. She said she knows she was too hard on you before, and she regrets it now.”

I answered evenly, “She doesn’t regret how she treated me. She just misses having someone at

home to take everything out on.”

Tessa opened her mouth several times, but no argument came out.

I continued, “I’m not going anywhere with people who spread lies about me. You don’t deserve

me.”

Tessa fell completely silent.

She stood at the counter with her head lowered for a long time before finally turning around and walking out of the café without another word.

Elliot brought over a cup of hot cocoa and set it beside me.

“If you don’t want to go back, you don’t have to force yourself.”

I wrapped my hands around the paper cup, letting its warmth soak into my fingers and settle

somewhere deep inside me.

The following Monday, my professor stopped by the café after class with good news.

My paper had been shortlisted for an international research competition.

Excitement surged through me, and I thanked him again and again.

For the next two weeks, I slept only four hours a night.

I spent nearly every waking hour between the library and the café, organizing surveys and reanalyzing the data.

After countless late nights, the paper was finally stronger and more complete.

On presentation day, I wore a brand-new suit I had bought with money from my café job.

When the judges asked where my data had come from, I answered calmly and confidently.

“I collected all of the data through customer surveys while I was working at the café.”

In the end, I took first place.

My name was printed clearly on the gold-embossed certificate cover.

I thought of the wall back home, covered with Tessa’s dance awards and my brother’s LEGO competition certificates.

Not one thing on that entire wall had ever belonged to me.

Whenever I brought home an award of my own, Mom would toss it into the corner of a drawer and

leave it there to gather dust.

But I wasn’t waiting for their praise or rewards anymore.

From now on, I could treasure every achievement for myself.

Friday afternoon, I had just finished my shift at the café and was about to head back to my

apartment when I spotted a familiar figure near the main entrance to campus.

It was Dad.

He was carrying a paper shopping bag and looking around.

The moment he saw me, his face brightened and he hurried over.

“Your mom sent me here to find you.”

I stopped and stood there without saying anything.

Dad let out a quiet sigh.

“Rowan, the house has completely fallen apart without you.”