“The younger daughter is so sensible! My older one also stopped listening after I had a second.”
“Good thing this mom has two kids. If it was just the eldest, she’d be miserable.”
“This eldest daughter is useless. Where does she work? Not even filial to her mom—you should go make trouble at her workplace!”
Expressionless, I watched as my mom enthusiastically replied to these comments criticizing me.
“Yes, the elder daughter isn’t as considerate as the younger one.”
“Ah, she’s so hot-tempered. Can’t argue with her.”
And then, under the videos about our upcoming trip and the new furniture at home, she responded again,
“My baby girl really knows how to care for me.”
But it was me who paid for the trip, stayed up late making travel plans.
It was me who used my salary every month to replace the furniture.
It was me who took on all the household chores.
Yet she happily went along with the assumptions of strangers, giving all the credit to Emily.
And she let strangers online insult me endlessly.
I gave a bitter laugh.
They say never empathize with parents, because they’ll never empathize with their children.
Now, I realized how true that was.
No matter how obedient and considerate I was, no matter how much I catered to my mom—
She would always take it for granted, seeing only what she wanted to see.
If that’s the case,
Then I’d simply become the daughter she already believed me to be.
As my mom hummed a tune and strolled back with the neighbor lady, I was in the middle of refunding our tickets.
Since the tickets were tied to her ID, she got the refund notification too.
The next moment, she stormed up to me, waving her phone in disbelief.
“You canceled the trip! It’s only five days away! What are you doing?”
For the first time, I didn’t rush to explain.
I just calmly watched her shouting at me, suddenly finding it all meaningless.
Under my gaze, she shifted uncomfortably.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Nothing.”
I smiled, my voice steady.
“I have work next week. Can’t go on the trip, so I canceled.”
She immediately grew frantic.
“Why cancel ours if you can’t go? Emily and I can still go!”
“You won’t go, and you won’t let others go either?”
I suddenly remembered the summer after middle school.
Emily had seen Disneyland on her phone and begged to go.
Mom instantly bought tickets to take her.
I thought I was included. I packed happily, even helped Emily pack her clothes.