A Call That Changed Her Entire Life

"I was worried about Dad, so..."
"Didn't I tell you not to come back? Your father is in the hospital, but he is feeling much better now. The follow-up treatment will
require some more money..." Unable to come up with a good excuse, Debby's voice had a trace of guilt and nervousness.
Emily looked deeply into her eyes, and asked, "Mom, why are you lying to me? Dad is not sick at all, is he?"
Debby was completely nonplussed. "What did you say?
Why would I lie to you?"
"Fine, I believe you. Let's go to the hospital to see Dad now, " replied Emily.
"Emily, don't be in such a hurry. You must be tired from travelling..."
Emily said nothing; she just looked at her mother quietly. After a long pause, she asked, "Where is Dad now? In the gambling
house?"
Debby's face stiffened. Her lips moved, but she could not speak of anything.
Emily knew that she had guessed correctly. With mixed feelings, she asked, "Why would you lie to me about such a thing? Do
you know how worried I was?"
"Emily..." Debby lowered her head in shame and took Emily's hands. "Let's go inside and I can explain..."
"No, I'll go and get my father back now."
"No! I beg you!" Debby hugged her daughter and pleaded, "He'll be back home soon..."
Disappointed, Emily sighed deeply, and finally entered the house with Debby.
"Emily, I was forced to lie to you. Your Dad gambled a lot of money and ended up with a large debt... Our relatives didn't want to
lend us the money, so we had to make up an excuse."
"But, I am your daughter, and you can tell me anything. Why would you keep something like that from me?" Emily couldn't hide
the disappointment in her voice any longer. She realized that they never trusted her.
"Emily, I..." At last, having run out of excuses, Debby murmured.

The both of them waited in silence until it was dark. Soon, Andrew staggered home, drunk.
Emily frowned at her father's blushing face and asked, "Dad, where have you been?"
Still inebriated, Andrew struggled as he took a good look at Emily's face. Unexpectedly, he replied, "Mind your own business!"
"Of course it's my business! Dad, where have you spent all the money I had sent to you?"
"I gambled it all away." With an indifferent expression, Andrew added, "Since you're back, give me some more money."
Emily sneered, "So you can gamble and then lose again?"
"How dare you speak to me like that! Believe it or not, tomorrow I'll double it all!" Andrew was hurt by her words. The veins on his
forehead seemed like they were about to pop at any moment.
"Dad, if you carry on this, I won't give you a cent in the future!"
"What!" Andrew got furious at her words, as he said, "We have raised you for so many years, and it's only fair that you give us
something in return! Is this how you wish to repay us? You ungrateful white-eyed wolf!"
"All right, all right. Don't make a fuss." Afraid of the two getting more angrier, Debby quickly came forward to mediate, "Emily,
don't annoy your father..."
But before Debby could finish, Andrew slapped Emily across the face without any warning, leaving behind a thwack.
"She probably thinks she's too good to care about us, heartless dog!"
Completely baffled, Emily slowly covered her swollen face, turned around and rushed out of the door!
"Emily, Emily..." Debby cried out from the back, while Andrew's cold voice followed.
"Let her go! She doesn't have her dad's best interest at heart!"
Emily sneered at his words, with a broken heart. She didn't have her dad's best interest at heart? If that were true, then why did
she work so hard to find the money to "cure" him? Why did she lose sleep every night, worrying about him?
None of that mattered in the end. They both deceived her.
It's they who didn't have her in their hearts!

Emily didn't return home, instead she found the nearest hotel and checked herself in.
Before going to bed, she thought about the bonuses she had received recently, and since her Dad was not sick, she did not need
to keep aside money for his treatment anymore.
Emily transferred 100, 000 back to Jacob's account.
A few minutes later, she received a call from Jacob. When Emily answered, she heard his voice, "What? Is this my tips from the
other night?"
Emily paused and refuted blushingly, "No, this is pay back."
For some reason his voice sounded lazy over the phone, as he snickered, "Why? Don't you need the money?"
"Well, no. Not anymore." Emily's voice sounded stuffy and it seemed like she wasn't in a good mood.
"Your parents don't need the money?"
"They..." Emily didn't realize that Jacob knew about her parents until now, so she asked in surprise, "How do you know? You've
investigated me..."
Jacob felt awkward by her tone, he coughed, "That was before."
"You are a real... Forget it."
There was nothing to be ashamed of anyway. Moreover, if Jacob wanted to investigate, who would stop him.
"What happened?" asked Jacob.
"Jacob, if you already knew why my parents asked me for money, why didn't you tell me then? Emily realized that if she had not
quietly returned to Haicheng City, she would have never found out about the truth.
"You don't know why? They didn't tell you?"
"Well, they lied to me."
As a matter of fact, Emily was glad to hear that her father was not sick, but at the same time she was heartbroken at the fact that
her parents did not trust her with the truth.

She was the only daughter in the family. Her mother was kind to her, but her father had always been hard on her ever since she
was a child, perhaps due to patriarchal reasons.
They never seemed to treat her as family, Which made her unhappy.
"Because they didn't trust me, and they kept it from me and deceived me for my money. I really don't understand. I am their only
daughter. If they had other children, I could understand their reasoning... Why is it like this?"
Jacob didn't utter a word, he just listened to her talk. He did not know that her parents were lying to her, that's why he didn't
interfere in the matter before.
"You know what they say about karma: what goes around, comes around."
"But they are my parents." In a very depressed tone, Emily blurted out, "We are not the same, and you wouldn't understand."
An awkward silence surrounded them as she spoke. Regretfully, Emily realized that she had said something wrong.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean..."
"It's okay, " Jacob answered apathetically. He was the adopted son of Mr. Gu and he had already forgotten everything about his
biological parents, so he wasn't bothered by what Emily had said.