They traveled far from home to find manual labor, worked for years, and returned together.
He had been unfaithful to the marriage, and Beatrice had been unfaithful to the marriage, but they kept living their lives regardless.
Their son was born, and then their daughter.
When Juniper was a child, her health was incredibly fragile. She fainted constantly. At the time, both parents were working odd jobs out of state, and her medical bills drained everything they had.
Their coworkers constantly urged them to give up. "Just take the kid back home. If she dies here, you won't be able to explain it to the elders. You've already spent so much money, and she's still not cured. With all that cash, you could have another healthy baby. Maybe even a boy this time."
But Walter was a man obsessed with his pride. He felt that abandoning a sick child would make him the laughingstock of their village.
His pride wouldn't allow him to bring a dying Juniper back. They poured every single cent they earned into her treatments. When they couldn't even afford food, they begged the market vendors to let them buy on credit, scraping by on a few pennies at a time. They survived like that for over six months.
But the moment Juniper finally stabilized, the very first thing the couple did was pack up and take her home—without paying back a single cent of the grocery debt.
On the train ride back, they both felt incredibly smug, convinced they had pulled off a brilliant scam.
Walter knew that if his and Beatrice's lives were broadcast on television, people would call them vain, greedy, and utterly incompetent.
And being called incompetent was his greatest fear.
The year Juniper was accepted into Capital University was the absolute highlight of Walter's miserable life. Everywhere he went, he made sure to flaunt the government grants she received.
He felt his entire life had finally been validated. Having such a successful daughter made all his suffering worth it.
But then Juniper's life fell apart, and Yvonne Saint showed up at their door.
That was the first time Walter truly understood the insurmountable gap between his world and theirs. He felt lower than dirt. Just making eye contact with Yvonne filled him with an impotent, burning rage.
Incompetence always bred rage.

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