Fighting off My Stepmother's Slandering by Making Meatball

Grandpa and Grandma praised me for being a good child, while my dad remained silent, he felt upset and depressed. This tense atmosphere lasted until the evening.

After countless hours, we finally finished making two hundred and fifty kilograms of meatballs. By then, our hands were so sore they could barely move.

My dad stepped out to buy a pack of cigarettes, while Grandpa and Grandma went into the kitchen to start cooking the meatball. I sat on the couch while scrolling through my phone, occasionally glancing up at the night sky with a faint smile.

This time, I had stayed home the entire day and never took one step outside. No one could possibly pin my stepmother’s miscarriage on me again or so I thought.

Just as I took a sip of water, the front door burst open. My so-called fiancé, Finn, stumbled in. He was supporting my stepmother, Olivia.

The moment she saw me, her eyes turned red with rage and she immediately started screaming at me, "Megan! You're truly heartless! I have been nothing but kind to you but you deliberately caused me to lose my baby!"

I did not even have a chance to say anything before my fiance, Finn, chimed in. His voice filled with disappointment, “That’s right, Megan. I never thought you’d be this cruel. You’ve really let me down. I can’t be engaged to someone like you so I’m calling off the wedding!”

I blinked innocently. “What are you talking about? Mom, were you really pregnant? Since when? Why didn’t I know about this?”

Olivia's tears fell even harder when she saw me act like this.

“Don’t pretend you don’t know! I only told you just last night that I was pregnant! Then this morning, you tricked me into going to the market for discounted eggs, because you knew it would be crowded. You made sure I got pushed around until I miscarried!”

“I barely survived in the hospital and now you’re standing here acting clueless and asking me about this?” she asked while sobbing.

"How could you do this, Megan? Women should support each other, but you … ugh you don’t even have a heart! She shrieked again.

The whole family still lived in an old courtyard house, despite we owned a new apartment in a modern district. It was tradition, my grandparents insisted.

Since tonight was New Year's Eve, many of our neighbors gathered outside to build snowmen and set off fireworks, so they naturally overheard the commotion at our house. Being busybodies, they started gathering around our door, eager to see.

Olivia purposedly stood at the door and did not step inside. Instead, she yelled at the top of her lungs.

When the neighbors heard her accusation, they looked at her with stinky eyes.

“I always thought Megan was such a sweet girl. Who knew she had such an evil heart?”

“Looks can be deceiving! We watched her grow up, but we never really knew what she was capable of,” they said.

One middle-aged woman shook her head. “That settles it. I need to warn my son and daughter-in-law to stay away from her. Who knows what she might do to my family one day?”

Voices of agreement rose around her. One by one, the neighbors made it clear that they would not let me near their youngsters anymore.

Tears welled up in my eyes. However, this time, they weren’t from helplessness or despair like in my past life. No! This time it was from excitement.

Seeing my reaction, Olivia assumed I was scared of her accusation, so she became even more dramatic and painted me as the evil villain to anyone who would listen.

Meanwhile, my fiance, Finn, didn’t even give me a chance to explain. He grabbed my arm and forced me to kneel before Olivia.

"In the past, children were expected to respect their elders. Not only have you failed to honor your stepmother, but you also caused her to lose her child! You have to apologize to your stepmother and make amends!”

"As a woman, you should obey your father and then obey her husband after she got married. So, as your fiance, it’s my responsibility to teach you a lesson.”

With that, he yanked my hair and forced me to bow my head. He pushed my head and forced me to bow seven or eight times in a row. He held me so hard that my head hit the floor with loud, painful thuds.

Blood trickled down my face, but Finn acted as if he didn’t see it. Instead, he took it even further.

“An apology alone isn’t enough to make up for the loss of a child. There has to be material compensation as well.”

“Megan, hand over your year-end bonus so your stepmother can buy nutritional supplements. And while you’re at it, sign over your new apartment to her so she has a comfortable place to recover.”