章)The day Emily was brought back from the rundown apartment complex, it poured heavily outside.
The streets, shrouded in rain mist, seemed unable to wash away the poverty lurking in their corners, no matter how hard the rain fell.
Emily leaned out of the car window, glancing back repeatedly.
In the downpour, she spotted Jake sprinting after the car.
He chased the vehicle for a hundred meters until it drove up the overpass.
He stood in the rain, hands on his knees, gasping for breath. Rainwater trickled down his high cheekbones, dripping continuously.
As his figure disappeared at the end of the street, Emily felt the rain blur her vision.
Her mother, Sarah, scolded her sharply, insisting she close the window: "Its dangerous! Dont stick your head out!"
Emily bit her lip, remaining silent.
...
Her parents had divorced when she was very young.
Emily had always lived with her father, making her mother a distant and unfamiliar figure.
As a child, her neighbors often teased her, saying her mother didn鈥檛 love her anymore; that she had married a wealthy man and abandoned her; or that she had a new baby and no longer wanted her.
No matter the speculation, they all ended with the same conclusion: "She doesn鈥檛 want you anymore."
Emily had cried silently under her covers.
Her long and lonely childhood came to an end that unremarkable rainy night when her father brought home a filthy boy.
The boy was covered in dirt, his pitch-black eyes resembling those of a wolf cub, and his sharp features exuded an air of fierceness.
Emily was terrified and hid behind the door.
He was Jake, the child her father had adopted, rumored to be the son of a deceased convict.
At first, Emily was afraid of him, even hesitant to speak.
It wasnt until he fiercely defended her against a bully in the neighborhood that she finally took his dirty hand and called him "brother."
Two years later, her father passed away unexpectedly. Jake, who had just started high school, dropped out and opened a food stall under the overpass to support himself and Emily.
They lived in the cheapest rundown area of town, where every corner seemed dark and filthy.
Despite being surrounded by oil and smoke, Jake raised the cleanest and most obedient girl.
She always wore a spotless white dress and had cute braids, her eyes sparkling like crescent moons, pure and bright.
Although Jake often called her "dog" and teased her, she was the brightest sun and moon in his life, illuminating his dark and bleak future.
Until today, when her mother鈥擲arah鈥攁ppeared and took her away from him.
...
After divorcing her father, Sarah had struggled in the city for several years, working diligently and rising from a sales associate to a top salesperson.
With her outstanding looks and sharp mind, she caught the eye of a corporate executive and found a love that many envied.
During the two years following her fathers death, Sarah was in the sweet phase of her new marriage. Although she wanted to bring Emily to live with her, she ultimately couldnt bring herself to do it.
Now that Emily was older and more mature, and Sarahs marriage had stabilized, it seemed the perfect time to bring Emily back home.
Taking Emily away from Jake required no legal battles; her status as a mother was enough.
Sarah had initially thought Jake would never agree to let Emily go.
She had heard that he was quite wild, having once beaten up a thug who tried to harass a girl, sending him to the hospital for months.
However, to Sarahs surprise, before she could even offer him a ten-thousand-dollar card, Jake immediately agreed to let Emily go.
He knew that only by following Sarah back could Emily have a better future.
Sarah took back the card, only telling him to contact her if he needed anything in life.
On the night before she left, Emily quietly climbed into Jakes bed while he was asleep, leaning against his back and silently shedding tears, afraid to make a sound.
So, the next day, when her mother came to pick her up, she didnt cry. With swollen eyes like copper bells, she obediently got into the car with her mother.
...
The villa community where Sarah lived was called Cloudwater Heights, located in the center of the city, a quiet oasis amidst the hustle and bustle.
The roads were lined with white European-style villas, each with beautiful gardens filled with lush greenery, banana leaves towering over her, swaying in the wind as if to show off.
At the entrance stood a man in a dark shirt, holding an umbrella, waiting for her. He was likely her stepfather, a man named John.
Though he couldnt match her father鈥檚 striking looks as a former police officer, he appeared friendly.
John kindly welcomed Emily into the house, even carrying her luggage inside.
The room was decorated in a modern style, with a high ceiling in the living room and a beautiful chandelier illuminating the space.
Sarah had prepared a lovely room for Emily, featuring a bright study by the window, a bed draped with lace curtains, and a beautiful European wardrobe, resembling a little princesss room.
Yet everything here felt so foreign to Emily.
She missed the little home she had shared with Jake.
...
Dinner with the "family" was awkward.
Emily was a typical girl from the neighborhood, only showing her true self around those she was close to. Jake had spoiled her, allowing her to be lively and carefree.
However, in front of unfamiliar faces, Emily remained guarded, eating quietly without speaking.
Only when her stepfather asked her direct questions would she respond.
"Congratulations, Emily, on getting into the best high school in the city," John said to Sarah. "You said her grades were poor, but how could she get into such a prestigious school?"
Emily replied honestly, "I was the last one to get in."
Johns smile faltered slightly before he continued, "That still shows Emily has potential. You know how many students are trying to get into this school."
Emily chewed her food without tasting it, softly saying, "It鈥檚 not skill, just luck. I filled in the English test randomly, and the result..."
Before she could finish, Sarah shot her a warning glance.
She swallowed her words along with her food, silently bidding farewell to her past fifteen years. But that didnt mean she didnt have the rebellious spirit of adolescence.
Jake had told her to behave in her new home. Even if it meant pretending, she had to act good; otherwise, if she misbehaved and was sent back, he wouldn鈥檛 want her anymore.
Emily closed her mouth and stopped talking.
John seemed eager to bond with Emily, awkwardly trying to find topics to chat about.
He didn鈥檛 seem like a bad person, and Emily wanted to show some friendliness, but the only way she could express that was by keeping her head down and eating.
John continued, "By the way, your brother is also in high school at South City High. If you have any issues at school, you can talk to him and treat him like your real brother."
Emily knew the "brother" John referred to was his son, her stepbrother.
However, she hadn鈥檛 seen him at the dinner table today.
John explained, "Your brother went on a trip during the summer. Hell be back soon to start his senior year. If you had come home a few days earlier, he could have taken you on the trip too. I heard they went to Tibet. Dont you young people want to go to Tibet for a spontaneous trip to cleanse your soul?"
Emily watched his forced smile and chose not to respond.
Parents often think that children of the same age can become fast friends with just a few words, but that鈥檚 a huge misunderstanding.
Back then, it took her at least half a year to accept Jake.
*
After dinner, John had to return to work, and Sarah had things to handle too. She had initially wanted to stay and help Emily organize her luggage.
However, after Emily told her, "Thank you, but you dont need to," Sarah understood that the estranged mother-daughter relationship couldnt be repaired overnight.
She gave Emily a few instructions, telling her not to feel constrained and to ask the housekeeper for anything she wanted, before leaving with John.
Through the floor-to-ceiling window, Emily saw John holding an umbrella, while she stood in the rain, watching her mother get into the car, her suit soaked by the downpour.
He seemed like a decent husband.
At her age, it was rare for Sarah to find a fulfilling relationship and re-enter marriage.
The various scenarios she had imagined the night before might not happen after all.
In the afternoon, Emily sat under the eaves, watching the rain.
The downpour was relentless, sounding like beans hitting the ground, as it dripped steadily from the eaves. The banana trees in the yard swayed wildly in the wind.
She yawned.
Just then, Emily received a call from a friend, asking her