6
My grandma immediately grabbed my arm. “Sharon, honey, don’t be rash. This isn’t the time or place. Please, no more fighting.” She almost stumbled, leaning on me heavily, her voice a desperate whisper. “Sharon, just apologize. You can’t let this family fall apart.”
My grandpa chimed in. “Your father’s furious right now. You’re the child, you can’t be so stubborn.”
They both assumed that even if he wasn’t my biological father, after twenty years of calling him Dad, there had to be some bond between us,
My dad’s face was a cold, hard mask. “I am not her father! From this moment on, all ties are severed. She was never mine to begin with. I’m done being the fool!”
I stared at his merciless face and said, word by word, “You’re right. You have been a fool for twenty years. And you have raised a child that isn’t yours. But that child isn’t me.”
My aunt rushed forward to cover my mouth. “Silly girl, stop talking! Isn’t this embarrassing enough? This isn’t the right time. No matter what you’re going through, you need to bury your… your uncle first.”
Even she believed my dad and Mandy. Her voice was thin and unconvincing. She tried to pull me away, but I wrenched my arm free. “Someone is going to be embarrassed today, but it’s not going to be me or my moth-
er!”
My aunt whispered urgently, “Stop being so stubborn! I know this is hard to accept, but you have to think about your mother! She’s seriously ill, her medical bills are going to be huge! You can’t let her divorce your father!”
The relatives were split into two camps, one trying to calm my dad, the other trying to reason with me. But we’re both cut from the same stubborn cloth. Neither of us would back down. This had to be settled, here, right now.
right
Even my mom, heartbroken, tried to stop me. “Sharon, let it go. It’s no use. Your father won’t believe us. From now on, it will just be the two of us.”
My mother is a kind soul. Even after Mandy had stabbed her in the heart, she couldn’t bear for me to expose Mandy’s true identity in front of everyone.
Chapter 1
