Eighteen Years Of IOUs, One Day To Pay Them All Chapter 07

Eighteen Years Of IOUs, One Day To Pay Them All Chapter 07

When midterm grades were posted, my paper received the highest score in the class.

After class, several students gathered around my desk to ask how I had approached the research

and writing.

Back home, it had never mattered how well I did on an exam or how much housework I finished)

Mom and Dad always found a way to tear me down.

Tessa and my brother öften went out of their way to exclude me and mock me.

Years of that had made me second-guess everything I did. I rarely had the confidence to start a

conversation with anyone.

But now, my classmates were coming to me for advice.

Little by little, the insecurity I had carried for years began to fade.

After my evening shift at the café, I bought myself a hot dog, added a heaping spoonful of hot sauce,

and sat down on a bench outside.

Back home, even wanting extra sauce would have meant signing an IOU.

Now I was spending money I had earned myself. I could eat whatever I wanted without having to explain myself to anyone.

By the time the sky was completely dark, a message from Elliot popped up on my phone.

Elliot: [Corporate approved my request. Starting next month, everyone at the café is getting a raise, so your paycheck should be noticeably bigger.]

I stared at the message as I slowly finished the rest of my hot dog, warmth spreading through me.

Back home, meanwhile, everything had fallen apart.

I used to handle the household budget, clean the house, and keep everything organized.

After I left, Mom couldn’t keep track of the household income and expenses, and the utility bills

were often overdue.

Tessa spent recklessly on luxury items and never thought about saving.

My brother was obsessed with gaming and constantly spent money on in-game purchases.

The two of them burned through their allowances almost as soon as they got them, then went

straight back to Mom and Dad asking for more.

Mom started fighting with them constantly. Dad got sick of the nonstop arguing and started fighting with Mom too.

ly after the house descended into constant chaos did they begin to realize how easy I had made their lives by taking care of everything, and regret finally started to set in.

On Wednesday, my professor asked me to stay after class.

“Your paper explores a very thoughtful topic. I’d like to recommend you for an intercollegiate

research competition. You should aim to place.”

I took the paper and thanked him sincerely.

That night, after the café closed, only Elliot, Maya, and I were left.

Elliot was a strong academic writer and helped me polish my presentation script line by line.

Maya sat beside us organizing my data.

The three of us worked through the material on the computer piece by piece until, before we knew

it, it was two in the morning and only a few streetlights were still glowing outside.

A week later, it was time for the competition.

I had found a suit that fit me well. It wasn’t expensive, but the cut was clean and sharp.

Waiting backstage, my palms wouldn’t stop sweating.

I glanced toward the audience and saw Elliot and Maya holding handmade signs for me, waving them enthusiastically.

Just like that, the panic inside me settled.

I took a deep breath, walked onto the stage, and delivered my entire presentation smoothly.

In the end, I won the Best Newcomer Award.

The prize money was enough to cover three months of rent.

After I stepped offstage, classmates from different countries came over one after another to congratulate me.

Elliot approached with a large bouquet of pale chamomile flowers and placed it in my hands.

The blossoms were soft and carried a faint, clean fragrance.

That weekend, I invited Elliot and Maya out for wings.

The wings were still steaming under a glossy coat of hot sauce as I reached for one.

“Back home, I could never bring myself to spend money on good food for myself. Every little thing had to be counted and written down.”

“Now I want to slowly give myself everything I went without.”

Maya pulled me into a comforting hug.

“Then from now on, Rowan can eat whatever she wants. My brother can pay!”

Elliot laughed and told her to knock it off, but his ears had turned pink.

After we finished eating, we took a walk along the street.

Maya insisted on taking a picture of the three of us, and somehow I naturally ended up standing

between her and Elliot.

The instant the camera clicked, I laughed without holding anything back.

Family pictures had never looked like that.

Mom and Dad were always in the middle, with Tessa and my brother pressed close on either side.

I was the one squeezed into the edge of the frame.

Mom always complained that extra prints were a waste of money and routinely had the studio crop

me out of the family photo altogether.

Even when I needed an ID photo of my own, I had to sign an IOU to borrow the money from her.

But in this picture, I stood right in the center, smiling openly and without fear.

It was the first photo I had ever had that hadn’t cost me an IOU or someone else’s approval.