Chapter 13

Mia Lowell lay sprawled on the floor.

Her venomous gaze fixed on me like a serpent's.

"Yes, I hate you!"

"The person I despise most in this world is you!"

"Why do you get everything?"

"You come from a wealthy family."

"You're beautiful."

"Your parents adore you."

"You have a perfect boyfriend who loves only you."

"All the world's blessings belong to you alone."

"While I'm forced to stand beside you like an ugly duckling, just for contrast?"

"Being nice to me?"

"Spare me your hypocritical act."

"It makes me sick."

"You treated me like a beggar."

"Did you think I'd be grateful?"

"Dream on!"

"I only hate you."

"Every miserable moment of my life, you were there."

"You stood by, pitying me, handing out charity."

"You must have been thrilled deep down."

"Did you think I couldn't manage without you?"

"You meddling bitch!"

"All you ever did was laugh at my misfortune!"

"So I thought, why shouldn't I have what you have?"

"Everything you possess, I'll take for myself!"

I shook my head in disbelief.

So this was how she had always seen me.

This was how she viewed my help.

This was how she regarded our friendship?

It was utterly irrational.

Liam Evans had long lost his patience.

"This is the fundamental difference between you and Olivia!"

"Olivia genuinely cared for you."

"She wanted to help you escape your family's troubles, asking nothing in return."

"She considered you a friend and shared her happiness with you."

"But you?"

"You only saw it as her showing off."

"As her humiliating you."

"Someone like you doesn't deserve friends."

Mia tried to speak again.

Suddenly, loud noises erupted from the doorway.

"Where's my daughter? Where is she?"

"That damned girl! She vanished after getting into college! Took me forever to find her!"

"Mia, you wretched girl! Look who's here!"

Hearing this, Mia's eyes widened in terror.

Her entire body trembled.

She turned her head shakily.

The sight before her filled her with dread.

Her family had found her.

Her father, her mother, and her brother with the dyed blond hair.

All three of them, standing together.

"No! No! Get out! I don't know you!" Mia screamed hysterically.

Her father stepped forward and slapped her across the face, silencing her.

Her mother viciously yanked her hair and tore off the cumbersome wedding dress.

Her blond brother began dragging her toward the exit.

Mia struggled desperately.

She reached out to me, pleading.

"Olivia, I'm sorry! I was wrong! I shouldn't have had those wicked thoughts! Please forgive me!"

"Help me one more time!"

"I'll repay you for the rest of my life!"

"You helped me once before with college!"

"Help me again now, please!"

"I can't go back!"

"If I go back, they'll definitely sell me off! I beg you!"

I watched Mia's desperate pleas with cold indifference.

My heart remained utterly calm.

So she did remember.

Back then, to help her escape her family completely, I encouraged her to apply to a university far from home.

I even helped her keep it secret from her parents.

I paid for her tuition and living expenses all four years of college.

All these years, I knew her parents were searching for her, and I still kept her secret.

I even helped her find jobs and apartments later on.

But in her eyes, all of this was just humiliation.

In that case, I told her, "I'm sorry."

"This time, I won't humiliate you again."

Mia wept bitterly, kowtowing to me, apologizing.

I simply watched coldly.

In the end, her family took her away.

Back to where she came from.

Later, I heard about Mia from hometown classmates.

Apparently, as soon as she returned home, her parents accepted a "$52,000 bride price" for her.

They married her off to a fifty-something-year-old loner.

The loner probably heard about her premarital antics.

He kept her under tight watch, locking her indoors every day.

He was constantly paranoid and would beat her when drunk.

Less than a year later, the loner drowned in a river after a drinking binge.

To pay off their son's gambling debts, Mia's parents married her off again.

This time, they say she was sent even farther away.

To remote mountains without road access, where escape was impossible.

She had three daughters in three years.

And now she's pregnant with another...

I never appeared in her life to interfere again.

This time, she probably can't complain about me meddling.

(The End)