Chapter 2

Robert’s brows furrowed in annoyance.

"Watch your mouth! The kid is standing right there!"

Sarah rubbed her temples exhaustedly, throwing me a sideways glance.

"Does it even matter? She won’t remember a single thing tomorrow anyway."

I froze. This habit of rubbing her temples—she only started doing that *after* the divorce in our past life.

Back then, she had to work two jobs to afford my medical bills. Whenever she was running on zero sleep, she would rub her temples to force herself to stay awake.

So, Sarah had traveled back in time too. And she had already made up her mind to throw me away.

A wave of intense hurt rushed over me. I couldn’t help but burst out:

"How do you know I won’t remember? Actually, I—"

Before I could finish, Sarah’s eyes turned bloodshot. She lunged forward and slapped me across the face.

"How do I know? Because every single morning, I’m the one who has to tell you what day it is! What you need to do! What happened to you!"

"One year, two years, ten years... you can’t go to school, you can’t get a job, you never make any progress!"

"I’ve been sick to death of you for a long time! Honestly, even if you weren't sick, I wouldn't want you anymore!"

The burning pain on my cheek cleared my head. Suddenly, a flood of details I had long forgotten rushed back into my mind.

In the beginning of our past life, Sarah really was a saint to me. She would cover my headboard with colorful sticky notes, never getting tired of answering the exact same questions twenty times a day.

Every time she got her paycheck, she would take me straight to the hospital.

Within six months, we had visited almost every famous specialist in the state.

But every doctor said the same depressing thing.

"Cases of this type are extremely rare. We can only offer conservative treatment."

"As for recovery? It’s hard to say. You should probably prepare yourself for the fact that she might never recover."

As the diagnoses grew bleaker, the light in Sarah’s eyes slowly died.

Robert didn't want me either, but he was clearly freaked out by Sarah’s sudden hysteria.

"Why the hell did you hit her? Amber is a teenage girl now, is it even appropriate for her to live with me?!"

"And I’m way too busy with work! How am I supposed to look after her?!"

I grabbed Robert’s arm, tears streaming down my face.

"Dad, I promise I’ll take care of myself."

"I’ll write everything down in a notebook so I won't bother you. Please, just choose me."

At that moment, the look in Sarah’s eyes turned incredibly bitter.

"Ha. I’m the one who worked myself to death raising you, and now you’re playing the devoted daughter with him? What an ungrateful little leech."

"Fine. You want to stay with your dad? Go ahead. He’s all yours!"

I held onto Robert's arm, lowering my head to hide my devastating grief.

*That’s not it, Mom. It’s just that this time, I don’t want to be the anchor that drags you down to the bottom of the ocean.*

She was beautiful. After the divorce in our past life, she had tried dating.

But whenever a man came over and saw my condition, they would give her a polite, awkward look.

"Sarah, let’s be real. Your daughter is a bottomless money pit. Marrying you means feeding two mouths forever. No sane guy is going to sign up for that."

That night was the first time Sarah ever laid a hand on me.

"You’re a curse! You ruined the only chance of happiness I had left!"

"If I had known, I would have never been soft-hearted enough to take you! My life is miserable because of you!"

So, in this new life, I wanted to let her have her freedom.

Robert stayed silent for a long time. In the end, Sarah traded her entire share of the house and the car just to get him to agree.

"Fine," Robert said. "Since you're leaving me the house and the car, I'll count that as child support for taking this girl off your hands."

They signed the divorce agreement incredibly fast, as if Sarah was terrified I would change my mind and cling to her if she delayed by even a second.

Sarah immediately started looking for a cheap apartment, saying she would move out with Leo the second she found one.

Even though we were still living under the same roof for those few days, she treated me like literal air.

She cooked slow-roasted BBQ ribs for Leo, and the savory aroma filled the entire house.

Robert had "forgotten" to leave me lunch money multiple times. Smelling the food, my stomach cramped painfully from hunger. I couldn't help but creep over to her.

"Mom... can I have some?"

She didn't even look up as she wiped the kitchen counter.

"You don't have a mom starting today. Better get used to it now."