Spent All 99 Favor Cards, The Unwanted Daughter Escaped Chapter 07

Spent All 99 Favor Cards, The Unwanted Daughter Escaped Chapter 07

Dad waited outside the academy gates from sunrise until sunset.

He had brought the bank card they’d spent years saving up for.

He kept waiting.

Until he finally spotted a familiar figure in the crowd.

Tavia.

She looked thinner than he remembered.

But she didn’t keep her head down anymore.

She walked beside her friends, laughing and talking.

There was a light in her eyes he’d never seen before.

Dad hurried over.

His voice shook.

“Tavia, Dad knows we were wrong. I’m sorry for everything you went through.”

“There’s everything we have left on this card. Please take it. Let us make it up to you.”

“Come home with us, okay?”

I quietly stepped aside.

My expression stayed calm.

My voice was just as cold and controlled as it had been on the phone.

“Those 99 No-Refusal Cards were enough to repay everything I owed you for raising me.”

“I’ve let go of what happened in the past.”

“But I can’t forgive you.”

“Stop looking for me.”

Then I turned and walked away with my roommate.

I never looked back.

Dad stood among the crowd outside the academy.

The bank card in his hand felt unbearably heavy.

By the time my figure disappeared, tears were already running down his face.

When Dad returned back, Mom took one look at him and knew.

They sat in the cramped room without saying a word.

Eventually, Mom gathered up the things I’d left behind and placed them in a wooden box.

She kept the box beside her pillow.

Every night, it reminded her of the mistake she could never undo.

Sabine still hadn’t changed.

Her debts were suffocating the whole family.

The phone never stopped ringing.

Creditors kept showing up at the door.

But Sabine still lay around the apartment scrolling through her phone.

She blamed everyone but herself.

“If Tavia hadn’t suddenly left, none of this would’ve happened.”

“If she were willing to help us, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”

Mom and Dad saw their younger daughter for what she really was.

1 18 years of giving her everything had taught her only how to take.

Meanwhile, the daughter they’d ignored had walked out of all that misery alone.

Now she was building a life of her own.

The regret came all at once.

But there was no going back.

Every holiday, other families filled their homes with laughter.

Their apartment was quiet.

On every full moon, Mom thought about Tavia’s tenth birthday.

Tavia had been so excited about a strawberry cake.

But Sabine used one of her No-Refusal Cards.

Mom changed the order to mango.

It was the first time Tavia had ever cried over something like that.

Back then, Mom had thought she was being dramatic.

Now, every little detail came back to her.

And every one of them hurt.

Dad often sat alone by the window at night, smoking one cigarette after another.

Smoke curled around his tired, aging face.

He remembered that night of pouring rain.

Tavia had crouched alone in the bushes, picking up her soaked study materials.

Thorns had scratched her legs until they bled.

And where had Dad been?

Sitting inside with Sabine in the warm living room.

He hadn’t even gone outside to check on Tavia.

What if he’d paid more attention back then?

Would things have turned out differently?

Two weeks later, Mrs. Calloway called them.

“Did you know Tavia recently received a national scholarship?”

“She’s also been selected for a research program at one of the country’s top labs.”

“She has an incredible future ahead of her.”

Before hanging up, she added quietly,

“Tavia has always been a gentle girl. She’s just been hurt too deeply.”

“If you’re truly willing to spend the rest of your lives making amends, maybe there’s still a chance

someday.”

Mom gripped the phone.

Her voice trembled.

“Mrs. Calloway… can we still reach her?”

There was a short silence.

“She made herself very clear.”

“She doesn’t want any more messages from the Northvale Pack.”

The call ended.

Mom sank to the floor and finally broke down.

She pulled the old journal from the wooden box.

Her fingers traced the 98th entry.

[Give the scholarship to Sabine.]

That

That page was stained with the darkest tear marks.

And suddenly, Mom remembered that day.

The first time Tavia had refused to give in.

The first time she’d stood up for herself.

And how had Mom done?

With a slap.

That wasn’t rebellion.

It had been her daughter’s last attempt to ask this family for help.

Smash!

Sabine suddenly threw her glass onto the floor.

“Why?”

“Why is she doing better after leaving?”

“Why does everyone praise her?”

“I’m the one whose life is falling apart!”

Glass shattered across the floor.

And this time, no one rushed over to comfort her.