“Besides, you were already ten back then, a child from the mountains, poor in studies, with no skills, wild and rough. No one would want you.”
“You’re eighteen now, still without any proper schooling. Other than going home, do you plan to stay in this orphanage forever?”
My biological mother’s face stayed calm as she stripped me of all worth with her words. When it was revealed that Phoebe Romero and I had been switched at birth, they found me right away.
The day before, they hugged me and said I had suffered enough. But the next day, because Phoebe wanted to run away from home, they sent me here instead and left me to survive on my own.
It wasn’t that I felt much for them, but they were still my biological parents. Yet they refused to even give me a place to stay. Feeling upset, I spoke up in protest.
All I got in return was their disgust.
“The switch wasn’t Phoebe’s fault. All these years, she’s been kind and filial. If you move in, people will start asking questions about her background, and it’ll affect her emotionally.”
“You’re our real daughter. You’ll have everything you deserve one day. Once Phoebe gets into college and stops feeling insecure, we’ll bring you home.”
Those words completely broke the little affection I still had for my parents. Without looking back, I walked straight into the orphanage.
I never thought that the son of the richest man in the city would throw a tantrum about wanting a sister, and when he came to the orphanage, he picked me the moment he saw me.
At that time, I was pinning down a boy who had bullied me and beating him up.
“This little sister is really something else. I can tell right away she’s meant to be my sister.”
And just like that, I became the child of the richest family.
“You’ve got such a bad temper. All these years, you haven’t even called us once. But I know, deep down, you still think of your parents.”
“Otherwise, why would you have personally knitted a scarf for me? You still care about your mom and dad.”
I almost laughed.
A large part of the orphanage’s expenses came from donations, including those from the Romero family. Every year, the orphanage sent handmade gifts as a token of thanks.
When I first came to the orphanage, I knitted a scarf only to complete an assigned task. The dean must have taken it and claimed it was made especially for them, hoping they would take me home.