Chapter 3

"Sophia, did you not hear me?"

When I stayed silent for too long, Abraham lost his patience.

"Don't forget, I'm the one who bought you this house. Without it you'd be out on the street."

"So?"

I couldn't hold the anger down anymore.

"Am I supposed to thank you, Abraham? Thank you for taking me in out of the kindness of your heart, for handing me a house?"

"Before you say any of that, think back. How did you get into the company? How did you drive my family's company into bankruptcy?"

"And that good older brother of yours. You still can't see him for what he really is?"

Abraham stared at me, confusion in his eyes, and underneath it more shock than anything.

"What are you even talking about? What does your family's company going under have to do with me?"

"And why are you bringing up my brother?"

"Abraham, stop talking to her."

Mervyn was the clearer-headed one. He could see I wasn't going to back down today.

"Sophia, did you forget? I'm the one who works at the bank. I can call in this loan whenever I want."

I laughed coldly to myself, hating my own ignorance back then.

A useless nobody like Mervyn, and someone still arranged him a spot in the finance department.

"You do work at the bank, yes, in loans. But do you actually have that authority?"

I looked at him, almost amused, and kindly walked him through a few basic facts.

"Once a loan is issued, it goes to a whole separate loan management department. You think you can just get yourself transferred over?"

"Mervyn, did you forget how you even got into that bank?"

Without his time on the payroll at my family's company, forget the bank, he couldn't have landed a single respectable job.

"You're welcome, by the way."

This time it was Mervyn who snapped, like I'd stepped on a nerve.

"All I did was ask you to put in a word, and you make it sound like I owe you some enormous debt. What, should I kneel down and kowtow to thank you too?"

"Sure. I'll wait."

I poured myself a glass of water, took a sip, and set it down slowly.

"I just wonder if you've got the nerve to face the truth."

"I'll kill you, you little—"

Mervyn spat the curse out.

Abraham grabbed him fast, pleading the whole time.

"Mervyn, don't. Whatever you do, don't hit her. The second you touch her, this becomes something else entirely!"

Even now, it never once crossed Abraham's mind to think of me.

But that was fine. I'd already woken up.

However lost you get in love, living through your family's ruin and your parents' deaths forces you to grow.

The two of them reached the door, and Abraham turned back to look at me.

"A woman as venomous as you, I don't have the luck for it. I'm not worthy of you."

"Sophia, from today on, you and I are done."

I clapped as I watched the two of them go, even as the tears slipped down my face.

Back in the bedroom, I lit incense and knelt before my parents' memorial.

When I lifted my head again, I looked at their faces, their smiles, and murmured to myself.

"Mom, Dad. This five hundred thousand is only the beginning."