Chapter 2The Second Daughter

As soon as I spoke, my mom's face changed.

Embarrassment mixed with guilt, finally settling into impatience.

"I told you, your dad and I were busy. We couldn't handle two kids, and you were a high-needs baby. We had no choice."

I swallowed the bitterness in my throat.

I already knew the answer.

Chloe and I are only ten months apart. When she was born, she was misdiagnosed with leukemia. My parents heard cord blood could save her, so my mom risked her life to have a second child immediately.

Me.

But fate loves a joke.

As soon as I was born prematurely, the hospital revealed Chloe was misdiagnosed. She just had malnutrition. Meanwhile, I was born six pounds four ounces, healthy and loud.

Back then, my parents were hoping for a son. They couldn't bear to send Chloe away, so I became the abandoned one.

When I was six, Grandpa died.

My parents brought Chloe back for the funeral. That's when I learned from Grandma's whispers that I wasn't an unwanted orphan. I had parents and a sister.

After the funeral, Grandma held my mom's hand, teary-eyed, saying she was getting too old to care for me and wanted them to take me back to the city.

I hid behind Grandma, terrified of leaving her, crying my eyes out.

My mom just frowned and said, "Mom, it's not that I don't want to. Look at her, she's not close to us at all. Taking care of Chloe is already exhausting; I can't handle her."

In the end, I was left behind.

From that day on, the village ladies looked at me with careful pity. Like tiny needles pricking my heart. Not painful, just uncomfortable.

Later, I studied hard and got into a top middle school in the county with the highest scores.

That's when my parents seemed to remember they had a forgotten daughter in the countryside.

When I first returned to the city, I gathered the courage to ask why they sent me away.

Their answer then was word-for-word the same as my mom's answer now.