Chapter 2

I rolled my eyes.

"Are you insane? I've never seen anyone sleep past noon like a dead log.

"I knocked on your door to wake your lazy butt up, and that's a crime? Back on the farm, sleep in like that and you'd be dragged out by your hair."

Ashley trembled with fury.

She marched over to argue with me, but the moment she got close, the pollen floating off her brushed onto my skin. Within seconds, thick red hives erupted across my own face and neck.

Mom gasped. "What's happening?! Why are you having an allergic reaction too?!"

I roughly wiped my face, completely unfazed. "Allergies? What a load of garbage.

"You rich people invent the dumbest excuses. Break out in a few pimples and suddenly you're crying like the world is ending."

Ashley choked on her words, pointing at me with a trembling finger, completely speechless.

My parents never expected my allergic reaction to be so severe. Panic washed over them as they dragged me toward the car to head to the hospital.

On the way, Dad tried to soothe the tension.

"Alright, it definitely wasn't Chloe. If she had touched the pollen, she would've reacted earlier."

Ashley whimpered from the backseat, playing the martyr.

"So you think I framed myself? She must have heard me mention my pollen allergy at dinner last night and got someone else to do it!"

I lost my temper.

"If I wanted to mess with you over an allergy, why would I sneak it into your stupid powder? I would've grabbed a handful of pollen and scrubbed your face with it directly!"

Mom and Dad slammed the brakes in their minds.

They stared at the aggressive hives spreading over my skin and asked in disbelief,

"Scrubbed your face with pollen?"

"Did... did someone do that to you when you were little?"

I waved a hand dismissively.

"I didn't need pollen. Whenever my face broke out in rashes, they just locked me in the dark shed until it went away on its own."

Mom burst into tears right then and there.

She suffered from pollen allergies herself. She knew how excruciatingly itchy and painful it was.

"That must have been agony... How did you survive that as a child?"

I looked at her, genuinely puzzled. "Survive what? There was nothing to endure.

"If I cried or screamed too loud, they just knocked me unconscious with a punch. Problem solved."

Total, suffocating silence filled the car.

Looking back at Ashley's hysterical whining, my parents showed a flicker of deep disappointment. Dad shook his head, telling her to be quiet.

Seeing that our parents weren't backing her up, Ashley scratched at her face in frustration. I stared at her coldly.

"What? Looking for someone to knock you out too?"

Ashley flinched and scrambled away from me.

I reached out and yanked her back by her sleeve.

"Running away? Apologize to me right now. You think you can slander me for free?"

Ashley never imagined I would be so ruthless, let alone that she would have to bow her head to a country bumpkin like me.

Burning with resentment, she looked at our parents with pleading eyes.

"Mom, Dad, look at her!"

Dad was quiet for a long moment. Even though he pitied me, Ashley was still the daughter he had raised for eighteen years.

He tried to play peacemaker. "Alright, it was just a misunderstanding. You two need to learn to get along."

I raised an eyebrow.

"A misunderstanding? That's it? Back where I came from, lying got you forced on your knees for an entire day."

Ashley lost her cool completely. "This isn't your filthy village! Why do you keep bringing that place up?!"

I snapped back with a cold smile. "Fine, I won't bring it up. How about you go back there and experience it for yourself? After all, that's where you actually belong."