"Father, please. I promise. Just let me...let me fix this. I can fix this, trust me..." Beautiful Ling-Jia says on bended knees as she begged the man she only came to know a few months ago as her father not to cut her off permanently.
Tears streamed down her flawless face. Her mascara and dress were ruined, but none of that mattered at this moment. Her less prettier step sister, Mei-Ling, sat a few meters away on the couch, watching her beg with bemusement. She was having a lot of fun at Ling-Jia's expense, judging by the cruel smirk on her face.
Their father, the infamous Feng-Wei loommed over Jia, his face etched into a deep frown as he hesitated, his grip firm around the handle of one of her big boxes which he tried to wretch out of her hold. "You had one chance, Jia. One fucking chance, and you blew it. Get the hell out of my house."
It was not the first time he was sending Ling-Jia out of his property. You see, Ling-Jia was the daughter he never wanted. The daughter he never went to look for, and cared about. And now, Jia felt sorry for herself for thinking their plan could've changed the fact that Feng-Wei never, not for once, wanted her to be in his life. She was a mistake, perhaps the greatest mistake he'd ever made.
She'd disgraced him. In front of the powerful Zhao-Chen family. In front of the entire Lanling city.
Her, the unwanted child. The unwanted daughter.
"I warned you when you first came here. To earn your place as my daughter and child, you must be successful in tricking Wu Zhao into marrying you! That was the ultimatum I gave you, and look at what you've done. He left you! Left you for your fellow street whore. I feel disgusted just looking at you right now..." the spittle on his lips flew out as he growled those cruel words. The tears fell harder down Ling-Jia's face, a feeling she was very familiar with spreading in her chest.
Disappointment.
She was a failure.
Mei-Ling clicked her tongue as she got up, sauntering over, her eyes burning holes into Jia. "The Zhao-Chen name is not synonymous with failure, dear sister. How long have you even been here? And look at all the chaos you've caused!"
Before Jia could think of a response, Mei-Ling turned to Feng-Wei father. "I told you. I told you she'd fail, didn't I, father? Yet you were so adamant in giving her a chance. If you'd given me this very responsibility, Wu and I would be abroad right now, all loved up. You can't turn a street rat into a princess overnight. It has to be in the blood. And it seems..." her wicked eyes flitted over to Jia now, "...that her evil mother's blood flows more in her veins. Like mother, like daughter, they say."
She had a point. Jia had failed him. She failed everyone, but most especially, she failed her ill mother, Yan-Qian. Jia had hoped that her marriage to Wu would make Feng-Wei accept them, and also foot Yan-Qian's medical bills. Yan Qian was battling leukemia, and treatment had not been consistent because they were poor. It was the sole reason Jia came back to Feng, to plead that he took them back. She'd hoped to save Qian. To save them.
And for a while, she thought she did. Wu fell in love with her, alright. He fell in love with the charming girl. The one who called him up every night, who organized his schedules, who was in good terms with his family. Ling-Jia was all of that, and even more. So where did it all go wrong? As much as it was all a charade from her end to get him to marry her, those gestures she extended to him were real. She came to fall for him too. Hard. So why didn't it work? And the most painful part was, they had no disagreements leading to the wedding getting called off. The girl he left her for wasn't even his high school sweetheart, or any other important blast from the past, so how did they even meet? And when? And was it while they were bought together? Was he equally fooling her as well?
Jia had no time time to process these questions. The minute the news got to her father that Wu had called off the engagement, he rushed down home to pack up her things, without even caring to know what caused it. "The Zhao-Chen family does no wrong," he'd said. "The fault is from you."
Presently, he took a deep breath, and consulted his wrist watch. "That's enough, Mei. It's no use blaming me. It's late right now, but I want you out of my house first thing in the morning. I don't care where you go to, or whatever happens to you and your mother. You leave this house, and I cease to exist to you. I don't know you, I've never met you, and I don't even want to ever see you around this premises ever again. Do you understand me, Jia?"
"B-But — "
"If I set my sights on you around here again after tomorrow, I, Feng-Wei of the Khan family, will hunt you down and kill you. This entire marriage fiasco has brought a lot of damage, and scrutiny to this family. I think it's only fair you allow Mei-Ling and I salvage the pieces in peace. Go start a new life elsewhere, and earn enough to care for your sick mother. I shall have no business with you or her welfare as it once was before..."
"Do you even have a heart?" Jia asked brazenly, her heart sinking. "My mother has leukemia. She needs your help. If you want to punish me for my misdeeds, leave her out of it. She needs you."
He looked at her for a long moment before retreating into his office, and came back with a thick, brown envelope, waving it at her. Mei-Ling gasped.
"Father!"
"Here you go," he said, ignoring Mei-Ling's wild, jealous eyes as he dropped the envelope on the table. "Your accounts have been frozen, as well as your cards. This should be enough to cover your mother's bills for as long as you search for a job, which shouldn't be more than two weeks. Once it's used up, well, I wish you both well."
She sucked in a breath. This is not real. My father...is it even logical to call him that right now?
"What about Wu?"
"What about him?" Mei-Ling snorted. "He shouldn't be your priority, runt. The man left you. He saw through your bullshit, and dodged a bullet. You should be thinking of where to lay your head tomorrow, because after tonight, it's over for you."
"That's enough, Mei," Father scolded her, then turned to me. "My relationship with the Zhao-Chen family is my business to handle. I have ways in which I plan to get back into their good books..." he looked over at Mei-Ling with a kind of sick hope. Did he even care about them? He seemed to be using them to fulfill his business ambitions. And Mei-Ling was too much of a prude to notice. In her mind, she was the favorite daughter. The legal daughter. The sacrifices that came with that heavy title didn't matter to her. Or she was too blind to acknowledge them.
"B-But Wu..."
Jia flinched as he slammed his hands down, hard on the table. "Enough about Wu! If he loved you, you wouldn't be here right now at my mercy. Take your things back upstairs, and get out once the clock strikes five in the morning. Else, there'll be hell to pay, dear daughter..."
—
Ling-Jia didn't catch a wink of sleep that night.
She cried her eyes out till it was past three in the morning, hugging the brown envelope close to her chest. She couldn't count how many times Mei-Ling opened the door to check if she was asleep. How many times Mei-Ling tried to wrench the envelope away, hissing whenever Jia pulled it out of her reach, confirming that she was indeed awake. Mei-Ling was wicked through and through, and a part of Jia was glad that she was going away from all the toxicity she'd come to face and endure these past few months with them.
So many things occupied her mind. Where would she and her mother go from here? The money in the envelope would be enough for Qian's medical bills, but what about rent? What about food? Where would she get the money to pay Jian-So, the kind middle-aged lady she'd employed to look after Qian?
A raging headache made her temples ache. Her hours of continuous crying was the cause, and she was tired. Wu had blocked her on all social platforms as the news of their failed engagement took over the news. Jia knew she and her mother would have to move out of Lanling. Their lives here had forever been altered, and would never be the same. If they stayed back, they would live as social pariahs, and would suffer greatly.
As soon as the clock struck five, she ran a bath, and locked up her boxes. Her belongings were all intact. Tucking the envelope into her handbag, she made out of the house before Feng-Wei and Mei-Ling would wake up. She didn't want to face Mei-Ling's cruel tongue, or Feng's cold gaze again today.
As she flagged down a cab in front of the Khan mansion, she took one last look at the home she'd lived in for the past two months, fresh tears leaving her eyes. She wouldn't miss it, one bit.
And as she placed her boxes inside the cab, and took her place next to the driver in front, Ling-Jia made a silent vow never to come back there ever again.