A Call That Changed Her Entire Life

The next morning, Debby and Andrew came to visit Emily in her apartment. They knocked on her door as if nothing had ever happened.

Ideally, they would have laid low for a few days, but Mark pressured them so much with fear and greed that they had to come for Emily again.

To their surprise, Emily opened the door this time without hesitation, even though she shot them an unfriendly glance, and said, "Dad, Mom, what are you doing here?"

"Emily, I'm glad to see you. We're sorry and we hope you don't blame us for what happened before. I've brought you some breakfast. Go ahead and eat it, before it gets cold," said Debby.

Puzzled, Emily looked at the warm breakfast in Debby's hand and said, "Sure. Just leave it there. Thanks."

The couple were expecting a different kind of response from Emily, so they studied the dark beads of her eyes, doubtfully suspecting whether Emily knew what happened last night in the hospital.

'Surely Jack would have told her everything.

But it seems like she had no idea whatsoever!' Debby and Andrew thought.

Debby said tentatively, "Emily, when you were at the hospital last night, your father and I went to see you, but Jack went berserk and kicked us out... Did he tell you anything about that?"

"No," answered Emily. Emily hoped that Debby would willingly explain what had happened, and as long as her explanation was coherent and reasonable, she would believe them over Jack. "What's wrong? What happened?" she asked.

Emily's uncertainty relieved Debby's worries. Unperturbed, Debby confidently continued weaving her lies, "No, we just had an argument because Jack wasn't letting us see you. In the end we decided to avoid making a scene at the hospital and left."

Debby's eyes widened with feigned concern as she said, "Emily, you need to be more mindful of your health in the future..."

Strangely enough, Debby's words raced a shiver through her instead of making her feel better. Anxious, trickles of sweat ran down the back of her neck.

please," said Emily. Impatient, Emily interrupted Debby before she could finish and

will leave once you finish eating your breakfast. I want to

bag of food, unblinking. She wondered why they insisted on watching her eat her breakfast. 'Is

her parents. When she picked up

finish the rest later. Please, go back now," said Emily. Emily looked at the soybean milk, and then took a small sip pretending

Emily closely and finally came to ease after seeing Emily take a sip of the soybean milk. "Emily, we need to go now. If you need anything, just remember to call me or

Then she stood up and walked them out the door,

soybean milk. Emily faked drinking

washed her hand and stuck her finger down her throat to

on her face, she looked at the rest of the soybean milk in

eagerly hoped that

hospital to get it tested. She dreaded every second she had to wait for

was afraid of being proven

type of drugs, we need more time to make some comprehensive tests..." The chemist's voice rang in Emily's ears, but she couldn't hear anything as if deafened

clutched the test results in her hand, frozen like a statue on the bench. Benumbed, her

wanted to poison her with the soybean

meant, Jack wasn't

breath coming in hitching gasps. 'Why would they do this to

that Debby and Andrew, loved Tina over her. She considered them to

Emily to

to discard? Did they have the right to treat her like a dog and take her for granted, just because they had raised her?