With confidence, Debby demanded, "For one second, let's forget that you are Jacob's girlfriend. You're still the young lady of the Tao clan. Come on, you shouldn't be so stingy towards your foster parents."
"I won't go back to the Tao clan, and I won't give you Jacob's money either. That's all, end of discussion," Emily answered. Words couldn't describe the turbulent emotions in Emily's mind. She wondered whether money was the only thing that mattered to her foster parents.
"Emily, think of your conscience!" Debby cried out. Debby did not anticipate any resistance from Emily, so she snapped the moment Emily refused to give her money. Since Jacob wasn't around, Debby didn't feel the need to keep pretending to be polite. "We have sacrificed a lot of time and money to raise you. Is this how you intend to repay us for our kindness? Aren't you afraid of retribution?" she asked.
Debby's arrogant words drove Emily up the wall, especially when she mentioned - retribution.
Stunned, Emily looked at her foster parents sitting in front of her with puzzlement, wondering if they had always been such heartless, conniving people.
"Well, then I am afraid that we will have to bother Mr. Andrew and Mrs. Debby for a bill outlining all the expenses they've had paid on your behalf for all these years. Don't worry. I'll give you back the money in full payment." No one noticed Jacob come down from the stairs. With malice and fury in his formerly emotionless eyes, he approached them, turning the atmosphere around him grim and murky with each sinister step.
Andrew and Debby froze, immediately. His intimidating presence had rendered them speechless and gripped their throats with fear.
"What's the matter - cat got your tongue? Steward, please show our guests the way out," said Jacob, without a hint of mercy in his eyes, as he waved his hands at the the steward.
Debby turned to Emily suddenly, and mumbled, "Emily, I..." It seemed that she still had something to say.
However, before Debby could proceed, Jacob cut her words short and said, "Do you need me to show you the way out? Steward, what are you still waiting for?"
"Yes, sir." The steward hesitated at first, but he soon followed Jacob's orders and escorted Emily's foster parents out politely, but assertively.
Emily did not try to intervene. In fact, she did not even glance at them again. The color in her eyes had faded away a long time ago. She waited until her parents had left, and then said, "Please send a driver to take them home, Jacob."
Jacob looked out the window, and found that it was raining outside.
Although Emily pretended to be cold and heartless, she still had a soft corner for her foster parents in her heart.
"Fine," he said. Jacob wouldn't reject her request because of the argument before. He sent for a driver for Emily's parents right away.
Emily sighed deeply, as if the tension had lifted leaving her with only relief in her mind. When she took a sip out of her tea cup, the bitter taste contorted her face with nausea.
As strange as it was, she couldn't tell whether it was the taste of the tea, or her heart.
In Debby and Andrew's hearts, she could never compare to their biological daughter. As for the Tao clan, she could never compare to Tina either, who they had raised as their own daughter. Emily felt like a pariah.
Tina complained about fairness, but what about her? When did the world ever treat her equally?
Perhaps, she was never meant to have the love and affection of a family, which she had longed for.
"Why are you crying?" asked Jacob.
When Emily heard Jacob's voice, she finally came to her senses. She rubbed her temples to relieve the dull thudding headache her parents had left her with, while Jacob's big, strong hands gently wiped the tears off of her face.
"If you want I can have the chauffeur drive them back here," he said.
Jacob could even make everything the same as before and make her foster parents pretend to care for her, so she could at least have perfect parents.
"Don't," she refused. Emily shook her head, with determination on her face. "I'm done with them. There's no point in looking back anymore," she said.
Considering all the heinous things Andrew and Debby had done to her, if Tina hadn't factored into the equation, perhaps she could have still lied to herself. But now, there wasn't even the slightest chance for a comeback. Emily was done looking in the rearview mirror of her life. She didn't want to lie to herself anymore.
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