"Kristina, what are you doing? I work so hard to support your education, and this is how you repay me.
"If I had known you'd turn out like this, I wouldn't have let the doctors save you. I should have saved your brother instead and let you die."
I didn't dare argue. My mom always said such things when she was angry.
I felt guilty about the brother I never got to meet. After all, my mom had always told me that if I hadn't taken all the nutrients in her womb, maybe he could have survived until the doctors could save him. It was all my fault.
Seeing me remain silent, my mom got even angrier.
"Why aren't you saying anything? Are you secretly cursing me in your heart? Now that you're grown up, you've become rebellious. Are you hiding a boyfriend from me? I have read your diary.
"You even wrote, 'He smells so good, like the scent of gardenias carried by the wind.' How could you write such things? Have you no shame?"
Hearing my secret exposed, I quickly raised my head, only to see Locke standing nearby.
I realized he had overheard my mother's words.
A wave of embarrassment and shame washed over me.
I ran away without looking back.