My name was Ursula Walsh. After working hard for seven years, I made 300 million dollars. I wanted to go home and take a break, and I jokingly told my parents that my company went bankrupt.
My parents and my sister-in-law, who were passionate with smiles on their faces at first, all turned cold and said that they were poor and never had dinner.
But I bumped into them secretly eating meat in the middle of the night.
My mother said, "Ursula is such a loser. She can't do anything right. She has the nerve to come back and live us off! Now that she's back, where should we put our sundries?"
My father said, "Living us off? She can forget about getting a penny from me."
My brother's wife said, "Ursula is back for the house. You know Colin Andrews from the neighboring village? He's a cripple and is still unmarried. Why don't we marry her to him and get a dowry?
"Colin was in jail for ten years and has a bad temper. He will definitely be able to keep Ursula in control."
My nephew clapped his hands and said, "Great! Great! If we have the money, I can have a new phone, right?"
I angrily demanded an explanation but was kicked out of the house on a rainy night.
***
I looked through the crack in the door and saw my family happily planning to sell me. I became furious, my eyes turned red, and my body couldn't stop trembling.
Family ties were nothing compared to interests.
It turned out that all my hard work and dedication over the years were a joke.
They only wanted my money.
They only wanted to squeeze out the last bit of value from me.
Suddenly, my mother pushed open the kitchen door.
When she saw me standing outside, she was first surprised, then she awkwardly smiled and said, "Ursula, I was just about to tell you to eat with us."
"Really? It seems you're about to finish."
I took a deep breath, held back my tears, and said.
"What... What do you mean? Are you blaming me? I'm your mother. How can you be so disrespectful?"
When my mother realized she was in the wrong, she started to act unreasonably and find fault with me.
"I am too respectful to the elderly and love the young too much. That's why you all bully me."
Trembling, I continued, "I paid for the house. I paid for the family's monthly living expenses, which are 15,000 dollars.
"Your bracelet, Wendy's golden hairpin, Dad's leather shoes, Gerry's suit, and Jack's tablet are all gifts I brought this time.
"What is it? Are you saying that I don't even deserve a meal?"
I questioned her.
Mom fell silent for a moment.
My sister-in-law, Wendy Johnston, immediately rushed out, hands on hips, shouting, "What is it? Are you back this time to collect debts?"
"You have gone too far."
I replied coldly. Then I walked into the kitchen, glanced at my father, who had a stern face, then looked at my brother, Gerry Walsh, who was drinking with his head down, and asked him, "Gerry, is this how you repay me?"
From childhood, I had always doted on Gerry.
The teacher rewarded me with a piece of candy. I couldn't bear to eat it and brought it back to Gerry to eat.
He didn't have money to study, so I gave him some.
He didn't have money to get married, so I paid for it.
He said he would repay me.
"Ursula, don't be angry."
Gerry looked up at me and smiled. Then he winked at Wendy, telling her to fix some food for me. After that, he said to me, "If you want to eat anything, tell Wendy."
"I guess you aren't that ungrateful after all."
I smiled and said, "By the way, we agreed that the master bedroom was mine. Move out tomorrow.
"Have you received the property certificate? Add my name to it."
I used to think that since we were family, I didn't have to care about those fussy details. I was busy with work, and whenever I came back, I only stayed for a few days.
But now I thought it through. Why should I be mistreated?
Chapter 2Gerry was dumbfounded.
"You coward. She's fired. What are you afraid of?"
Wendy was unhappy. She scolded Gerry and then said to me, "To tell you the truth, we've already received the property certificate. It's in my name. It has nothing to do with you."
She straightened her chest like a victorious mother hen in a fight.
"So, you mean there is no place for me in this family, right?"
I glanced at Wendy and then looked around, my gaze swept over my parents, Gerry, and my nephew Jack Walsh whose attention was on a tablet.
They all remained silent.
Finally, Wendy spoke, "I have never seen such a self-righteous parasite."
I almost laughed out of anger.
I was a parasite?
Since junior high school, I had been collecting bottles and washing dishes for others to make money to support my family.
In college, I lived frugally. In addition to completing my studies, I worked two or three jobs a day.
I sent almost all my money to my family.
After graduation, I gave them my salary every month. When I was starting a business, it was the most difficult time for me. Back then, Gerry wanted to get married but didn't have money for the dowry.
I went to borrow money and managed to gather 150,000 dollars.
As my business started to thrive, I wanted to make my family live better. So, in addition to giving them money every month as I always did, I also bought various items for them.
Even so, my parents still often called me and asked for money for various reasons.
My father gambled and lost over 100,000 dollars. He kept finding ways to ask me for money every several days.
I always fulfilled their requests.
Yet in Wendy's eyes, all the money I had given to them didn't count at all!
So, I crossed my arms and said to Wendy, "I paid for everything in this house. I bought the clothes you're wearing last year.
"And you call me a parasite?
"What about you? All you do is eat, sleep, and play cards."
Wendy was speechless.
She deliberately squeezed out a few tears.
I was rarely at home that I didn't realize that Wendy was such a phony.
A crisp sound rang out.
My dad slammed the table, stood up, and glared at me, scolding, "You damn girl!
"You piss Wendy off! Apologize!
"So what if you bought all these things? Do you want to take them all back?"
Because Wendy gave birth to Jack, she had been favored and never done any chores.
But I didn't expect Dad to be so biased that he couldn't even distinguish right from wrong.
"Who are you to criticize Mommy? You bad woman! Get lost! Get out of our house!"
Jack, who was playing games, suddenly raised his head and shouted at me.
I slapped him, snatched back the tablet, and scolded, "You little brat!"
He burst into tears.
Everyone's expression changed.
"Gee!
"How can we continue to live like this? I don't want to live anymore!"
Wendy sat on the floor and started throwing a tantrum.
"Ursula!
"You've gone too far. Why can't you have a civilized conversation with us? Why did you hit Jack? You're so cruel!"
My mother picked up Jack with a distressed look and turned around to glare at me.
"Ursula, I can let go of everything else. But I can't accept it when you scold Wendy and hit Jack!"
Gerry's face turned serious as he clenched his fist and seemed ready to punch me.
My father was furious, pointing at me and shouting, "Get out! I don't have a daughter like you, you damn girl!"
The family was so harmonious. They stood up for each other.
What was I?
Who could I talk to about the grievances I had suffered? Who could understand?
In that case, there was no need to stay here and endure the abuse.
Chapter 3"You want me to leave? Sure. Just give me my things back."
I took a deep breath and reached out to Gerry. "Give me the keys to the two cars.
"I'm going to load all the things onto the cars later."
But Gerry looked very unwilling.
"Why?"
"I bought the things at home! It has nothing to do with you!"
Wendy sat on the floor and shouted.
"She's right! Nothing here has anything to do with you."
My mother echoed.
"If you want to leave, leave. But don't even think about taking anything with you."
My father sat down and said coldly, holding a glass of wine.
"Ursula, enough. Stop it. If word gets out, we'll look bad. Let's both take a step back, shall we?"
Gerry frowned, looking as if he was letting me off generously.
They were so disgusting.
"Get lost! Now!
"Go away. We don't wanna see you!"
My mother picked up a broom and started hitting me with it.
It hurt so much that I gritted my teeth.
"You don't recognize me as family, do you? Are you sure?"
I was forced to the doorstep, clenching my fists and asking.
"We are sure!
"Go to hell!"
Mom nodded.
Dad and Gerry consented.
"OK. As of tonight, we are done! If you ever run into something, don't come and beg me."
I said coldly.
"Beg you? Are you kidding? You're an unemployed loser. What can you do? Take your luggage and get out of here."
Wendy threw my suitcase out and locked the door.
It started to rain.
The rain poured down on me.
It was so cold.
My heart was utterly cold, too.
I walked alone in the rain. I couldn't find a taxi in the village, so I had to call my good friend Dale Morales for help.
Dale was my college classmate, a fellow villager from the same county, and also a business partner.
We were always close.
After he heard about my situation, he immediately asked his relatives who were around to send me to the county so that I could temporarily stay in a hotel.
After taking a shower, I calmed down completely and immediately contacted the company's lawyer, preparing to use legal means to get back everything that belonged to me.
Anyway, I had all the purchase records and invoices.
I had the chat records, too.
So, I could have most of my things back. As for the rest, I might as well let them have it. Consider it as a charity.
I prepared an apartment in the school district in town for Gerry and Wendy to take care of Jack when Jack went to school.
Fortunately, they kicked me out before I could tell them.
Otherwise, I would have been deceived for a long time.
I might as well sell the place now.
So, I took two days off and went to a reliable agency to discuss selling the place and also to buy a seaside villa.
Unluckily, I bumped into Gerry and Wendy.
"Ursula?
"What a coincidence. Are you here to look for a job?"
Wendy squinted her eyes and asked with a gloating tone.
"Ursula, why don't you go home and apologize to Wendy and Mom and Dad?"
Gerry smiled.
They thought I was down and out, and they spoke with sarcasm and ridicule. little did they know that I wasn't short of money at all.
"I think you've made a mistake. I am here to sell my apartment and also buy a villa."
I said lightly.
I could face them calmly.
Why should I be angry with clowns?
"Your company went bankrupt, and you owe a lot of debt. How could you have an apartment? How could you afford a villa? Are you crazy?"
Wendy laughed until tears came out of her eyes.
At this moment, the agent came out of the office and saw us. She couldn't help but be stunned and said, "You already know each other?"
"Of course."
Wendy glanced at me and said to the agent, "She is my husband's sister, but she cut ties with us a few days earlier. She's just a woman in her thirties who failed in business. No man wants her.
"Don't hire her."