Spent All 99 Favor Cards, The Unwanted Daughter Escaped Chapter 08

Spent All 99 Favor Cards, The Unwanted Daughter Escaped Chapter 08

Dad closed his eyes.

He was too tired to even scold her.

18 years of giving Sabine whatever she wanted had made her selfish and entitled.

No amount of yelling could change that now.

A few days later, Sabine’s ex-boyfriend showed up.

He was the one who had disappeared when he found out she was pregnant.

Now he wanted twenty thousand dollars.

He threatened to spread everything about her around campus if she refused.

Sabine was terrified.

She locked herself in her room and left all the pressure on Mom and Dad.

With no other choice, they scraped together every last dollar they had and paid him off.

It was barely enough to make him go away.

After that, they were almost completely broke.

That night, Mom and Dad lay on the hard bed.

Mom finally spoke.

Her voice was hoarse and dry.

“If we’d never told that lie…”

“If we’d never made those 99 No-Refusal Cards…”

“Would things have turned out differently?”

Dad was silent for a long time.

Then he slowly shook his head.

“Even without the No-Refusal Cards, we already favored Sabine.”

“Tavia’s pain would’ve built up sooner or later.”

“We failed her from the beginning.”

“We never treated her like a daughter who needed our love, too.”

Those words hit Mom hard.

Tears slipped down her face again.

They’d favored Sabine simply because she’d been born with a disability.

She seemed more fragile.

She seemed like the one who needed protecting.

But they’d forgotten that Tavia was their daughter, too.

She wanted her parents’ love just as much.

When Tavia’s birthday came around again, Mom found herself thinking about strawberry cake.

She walked all the way to the bakery before remembering.

Her daughter was thousands of miles away.

She stood in front of the display case for a long time.

Tears kept falling onto the glass.

The owner saw how lost she looked and quietly handed her a tissue.

“What happened?”

Mom only shook her head.

Her voice broke.

“I owe my daughter a lifetime of love.”

“And now I’ll never have the chance to make it right.”

She walked back to the apartment empty-handed.

On the way, she picked up a little strawberry sticker from outside the bakery.

When she got home, she stuck it on the journal.

It was the only thing she could think to do.

But nothing could erase the scars covering those pages.

Less than a month later, a notice arrived from Sabine’s college.

She’d been skipping classes for months.

Her behavior had also violated school rules.

The school decided to dismiss her.

When Sabine saw the notice, she didn’t reflect on what she’d done.

She exploded.

She screamed and blamed everyone around her.

Mom and Dad were completely drained.

In their spare moments, they often looked at the photo of Tavia’s acceptance letter.

In the picture, Tavia looked calm and confident.

There was a light in her eyes.

It came from everything she’d built for herself.

Then they looked at Sabine.

Anger in her eyes.

Always looking for someone else to blame.

18 years of giving one daughter everything had left them with a stranger who only knew how to

take.

The neighbors slowly began to notice the difference between the two sisters.

They used to envy Mom and Dad for having two daughters with such promising futures.

Now, all anyone could offer was pity.

Some people said they’d never realized what a wonderful daughter they had.

Now they were paying the price.

Whenever those words reached Mom and Dad, they lowered their heads.

They had nothing to say.

Every sympathetic glance was another reminder.

They had made a mistake they could never take back.