âEve, I know youâre angry that I didnât look for you throughout the years. I just⦠I just didnât know how to face you, so I-â
Isabelleâs remark was tantamount to pouring fuel on the fire. I jerked my head up and glowered at her resentfully even as I roared, âJust because you didnât know how to face me, so you decided to avoid me? For that reason, you simply pretended that you have no daughter? If it werenât for this party today that had us bumping into each other, were you planning to avoid me for the rest of your life?â
âNo, thatâs not it. Let me explain, Eve. I-â
âThen, tell me thisâwas it you I saw on the street three days ago?â I snarled, all my sanity obliterated by rage. After so many years, the image of my mother has become increasingly faded. Sometimes, when I dreamed of her at night, I even doubted that I actually had no mother and all those wonderful memories were just fantasies my mind made up because I was missing my mother too much.
âYouâve grown up, Eve.â The look in Isabelleâs eyes as she gazed at me radiated an indecipherable sense of sorrow. She stared at me intently. âIâm really glad to see that youâve grown up well and are even so outstanding now. It seems that your father took good care of you. It turns out that he has some conscience, after all. As such, I can finally rest easy.â
Haha! Sure enough, she has never paid any attention to me throughout the years. Otherwise, why would she say such a thing? Nathan is good to me and took good care of me? Thatâs the funniest joke Iâve ever heard! If it werenât for my memories verifying the fact that Iâm truly a Tanner, a daughter of the Tanner family, Iâd suspect that I was merely adopted. Thus, they then had reason to be apathetic toward me, and my father could also treat me worse than a stranger!
âYou only need to tell me thisâwas it you I saw on the street that day?â I demanded through gritted teeth. âI donât want to listen to anything else.â
Isabelle went silent for a moment. At my obstinacy, she finally nodded before heaving a sigh and admitting, âYes, it was me.â
âHaha!â I inexorably burst into laughter, cackling so hard that I doubled over. âYou shouldnât have attended this party. And even if you did, you shouldnât have asked for a meeting with me. Since you didnât want to see me in the past, whatâs the point of doing so now?â
âEve, I just⦠just⦠missed you too much, so I came to see you. Iâm sorry.â Isabelle sighed again. She seemed to be enveloped by great sorrow, making her entire person seem melancholic.
âDid you miss me so much that you didnât even have the time to give me a call?â Inhaling deeply, I lifted my head and tried my utmost best to hold back my tears that were on the verge of falling. I donât want to cry, nor am I willing to do so! If Iâm the only one whoâd been anticipating this reunion that had been a long time coming, why should I shed any tears?
âItâs not that I didnât want to give you a call, but I couldnât do so,â Isabelle murmured.
âPlease stop putting up an act. The moment I reached eight years old, I no longer had a mother. When my father beat me, I didnât have a mother to protect me. When Yvette picked on me, I likewise had no mother to shield me. When Crystal pushed me in the water, causing me to almost drown⦠and when my reputation was ruined after my husband was snatched away, pushing me to the brink of ending everything, no one around me cared about me. Where were you then?â
That was exactly how human nature workedâone might not really care when it was something unattainable, but when one came to possess it, one couldnât accept the pain of losing it. I yearned to see her, but I didnât expect that I could actually bring myself to say something so outrageous after seeing her now!
âNathan wasnât good to you?â Isabelle demanded furiously as she finally registered the meaning of my words.
I didnât want to continue talking to her anymore, so I spun on my heels to leave. However, she grabbed my wrist. âEve!â
âIâm sorry, but Iâm not all that close with you, Mrs. Goldstein. Please excuse me if thereâs nothing else. I still have to attend the art exhibition and compete tomorrow, so I donât have the time to tarry here.â Shaking off her hand, I bolted out of the room.
This time, Isabelle didnât chase after me, and I couldnât really tell whether I was more disappointed or sad. After leaving the room, I couldnât help bursting into tears. I wailed at the top of my lungs.