My Mother Doesn't Love Me Anymore

: 2

2

RIP!

Thank God I had lunged forward with everything I had. My mother only managed to slash the corner of my shirt.

I made it into my room.

The first thing I did was lock the door, a cold sweat breaking out all over my body.

Thank goodness I was fast enough. Otherwise, my mother would have hacked off my legs all over again.

I could have survived in my past life. I just wasn't willing to be paraded through the streets by those people in my mother's place, so she chopped off my legs to force me to comply.

I was sent out, covered in my own blood.

My mother said having a daughter like me was a disgrace.

So, she punished me herself first.

I thought that they, seeing me covered in blood and clearly unable to walk, would spare me the public parade.

But I never expected them to be just as ruthless.

When they saw I couldn't walk, they just found a small delivery cart, put me on it, and paraded me through the streets that way.

They beat gongs and drums, shouting out all the things my mother had done.

The real joke was, after I had been tormented by that mob and paraded around for an entire day, my own family refused to let me come home.

They said our family had no room for someone so disgraceful, that I wasn't worthy of the name Rhodes.

Even though I hadn't done any of it, the moment I was thrown out, even my mother—the person who was actually responsible—acted as if I had. She was ashamed to have ever given birth to me.

The neighbors all pointed and stared. A flood of vicious words rained down on me from all sides.

In the end, I bled out. Exhausted and starving, I died right next to a trash can.

BANG! BANG! BANG! My mother was frantically hacking at my bedroom door with a kitchen cleaver.

I was slow to get up, and a bloody gash was torn across my back.

Still, it was a lot better than having both my legs hacked off like in my past life.

"Rowan Rhodes, you ungrateful little beast! Open this door for me, now!"

My mother kept swearing as she hacked at the door.

It was as if I were the unpardonable sinner, the one dragging her to hell.

"Sister, please open the door! Mom gave birth to you, she raised you... is this really how you're going to repay her?" Outside, Mina's voice chimed in right after my mother's.

Goaded on by Mina, my mother started hacking at the door even harder.

"Mom, give it up. I didn't do it, and there's absolutely no way I'm going out there to confess. Instead of wasting your energy on this door, why don't you look at your other daughter? She's so 'understanding.' I'm sure she'd be willing to help." I said, leaning against the wall, before getting up and moving toward the window.

Halfway there, I shoved my vanity against the door. I didn't trust the lock. 'My mother has gone completely insane.'

We live on the seventh floor.

Jumping from here was obviously not an option.

But if I stayed here, it was only a matter of time before my mother chopped her way through that wooden door.

I heard Mina shriek from outside the door. Then she started pleading with our mother even more desperately, saying that I was the one who looked like her—that if they threw me out, no one would ever know the truth.

The sound of my mother hacking at the door paused for a moment, but then it started right back up.

She still wanted to send me to my death. After all, she couldn't bear to sacrifice the precious darling she'd doted on her entire life.

I glanced down. It was a long way. Just looking at the drop was enough to make my legs tremble.

There was no other choice. My mother had already managed to break a hole in the bedroom door.

If I didn't get out of here, I'd be unable to avoid the tragic fate of my past life.

Steeling myself, I gritted my teeth and climbed out onto the balcony.

To the side was our apartment's external air conditioning unit.

If the anchor bolts were sturdy enough, they should be able to hold the weight of a full-grown adult.