I WISH I HAD A HAPPY ENDING TOO

Chapter 10

Weeks passed, and there I was, letting my eyes wander over the empty space of my apartment. I had only just returned home. I had started to feel like a burden to Cheizeru, especially since her brother, Mark, was planning to temporarily stay at her condo. To avoid being in the way, I decided it was time to come back.

Vin was still constantly bothering me with texts and calls, so I finally blocked his number to force him out of my mind.

As my gaze drifted from the kitchen to the bedroom, I froze. My mind immediately began to conjure painful images of Vin and Furanshin messing around in every single corner of this place while I was away. Even though it was just a torture device manufactured by my own imagination, the pain felt incredibly real.

I couldn't deny it anymore. I missed Vin so much. I missed the old days. When we first started dating, he used to surprise me every single day, and he became so incredibly sweet once we started living together.

We weren't even fighting, right? Why did it end up like this? Why on earth did it?

I was the one who bought this apartment with my own hard-earned money. When Vin's parents—especially his mother, Tita Gina—found out we were moving in together, they were furious and cut him off financially. Vin's mother despised me, largely because of my stepmother, Tita Lucy, who was my father's new wife. She found out that Tita Lucy used to be a prostitute and she hates and despises that kind of job, which is why she hated me because of it. She said she didn't want their family tainted by a filthy family.

That's why I can't help but ask.

‘ Am I really that hard to love? Are my parents' sins my sins to bear as well? If they are tainted, does that mean I'm filthy, too?’

His parents were against our relationship, and my own family wanted nothing to do with me. I had absolutely nothing to call my own because everyone seemed to reject me. Only Cheizeru stayed. She had been the only constant in my life since the very beginning, which was why there were days when I was terrified that fate would find a way to make her abandon me, too.

I had truly loved Vin, even though I knew my half-sister, Porin, liked him too. Yes, my half-sister. My father had a child with another woman who was the exact same age as me. Now, they were the ones living with my father in our family home, ever since he discovered he had another daughter with his first love.

And in the past, Porin liked Vin so much and tried everything to make Vin like her, she even seduced him. And that's the reason why Tita Gina found out about Tita Lucy's old job—because of Porin, who was obsessed with her son. If she used to be happy that her son was courting and falling in love with me, suddenly I looked so filthy in her eyes, though she couldn't stop Vin from loving me. And I admitted to myself that I hated Daddy for having such low taste in his choice of a first love.

I didn't know if my Mom had been angry back then, or if she had known about my father's betrayal and simply chose to forgive him. My Mom died giving birth to me, which was the sole reason my father hated me so much. I think he only started treating me like a human being when I turned fifteen, which was when he officially introduced his first love and their daughter to me. He became somewhat kinder to me, but my life turned into a living hell the moment those two women moved into our house.

"Can I just have this, sis?" I watched silently as Porin suddenly barged into my room and rummaged through my things.

"Mommy, does this look good on me?" Porin asked as Tita Lucy walked in and nodded with a smile. She even stole all my jewelry—gifts from Daddy for my birthdays whenever he was absent. He never handed me anything himself, he would just give me money and items delivered by Tito Edgar instead.

"Don't you dare complain to your daddy, huh?! Besides, you're already living such a comfortable life. Just give all your nice things to your sister." I sat quietly on the bed as they watched me. When Tita Lucy called, Manang entered the room to move the belongings they had chosen over to Porin's room.

My tears fell on their own as I watched Tita Lucy place my most treasured necklace—a gift from Daddy when I was seven years old—around Porin's neck. They closed the door to my room, leaving only the old and ugly dresses in my closet, and Daddy never even noticed that everything Porin wore was actually a gift meant for me! Or maybe he did know, but he simply didn't care.

I packed up and left that house the second I reached legal age because no one believed in me and I had no allies in that house, and Vin was always right behind me, supporting whatever plans I had. He never left my side.

Porin had stolen everything from me, even the debut party for my eighteenth birthday. My father had casually brushed it off, saying my birthdays were always fine and that it was time to let his other daughter have her turn. I had been so against it. As far as I could remember, he had never once thrown a grand celebration for me anyway, because my birthday only served as a painful reminder of my mom's death.

He was so selfish.

Didn't he realize that he wasn't the only one who had lost someone? I had lost my mother, and I had never truly had a father either. I felt like my dad had died right along with my mom.

My father didn't even know how his new wife and daughter mistreated me. Honestly, even if he had known, I doubt he would have cared. When my uncle, Tito Edgar, assaulted me, I ran to my father in tears, but he refused to believe me. That was the most terrifying and traumatic time of my life, and I wanted Dad to believe in me and fight for me, but he didn't. I was the one who defended myself and went to the police for help, only for them and my father to accuse me of being dramatic and making up stories that everyone believed, causing the case to be dismissed. I felt like that was the darkest moment of my life, one I will never forget and will carry with me to my grave. In everyone's eyes, I looked like a fool, a liar, an attention-seeking b***h!

That was the breaking point. I decided to leave everything behind and willingly hand over my inheritance to his illegitimate daughter. It was all useless anyway.

I truly believed Vin would never leave me. He knew every single trauma I had survived. But it felt like history was repeating itself, the same tragic cycle my mother went through with my father and I refused to let that happen. I would never allow myself to be with a husband who had a child with someone else, or a man who didn't consider me his first love. I refused to let my future children experience the pain of a broken family and a love built on betrayal.

My thoughts were abruptly shattered when my phone suddenly vibrated on the table, making me jump. I pulled it out of my bag. I hadn't even realized I had been standing in the middle of the room for so long, just staring blankly at the walls.

My brow furrowed when I saw the caller ID. I walked over and sat down on the sofa before finally answering.

"Hello?" I answered, my voice completely devoid of life.

"This is Pori—"

"I know," I interrupted, cutting her off before she could even introduce herself. I realized I hadn't blocked Porin’s number yet.

"Tsk! Daddy wants you to come home this June 10th. It's his birthday," she demanded in her usual bratty, high-pitched tone.

I fell silent, tracing the edge of the couch with my fingers. Today was only June 5th, so there was still plenty of time to prepare for the grand family reunion.

"Hey? Are you still there? Did you hear me? Don't you dare disappoint Daddy! If you weren't the only one his side of the family actually recognized, he wouldn't even bother inviting you!"

A bitter smirk played on my lips as I listened to her frustrated tone. Ah, now I understand. My father's relatives wanted to see me. For what? To rub it in my face that I'm a liar? That I'll never amount to anything? That I'm someone they could never be proud of? That their criminal relative is innocent, and I'm just playing the victim? That's bullshit!

It had been years since I last saw them, and the feeling was entirely mutual. They didn't consider me family either. They had hated me ever since they accused me of spreading false rumors about being assaulted and r***d by their cousin, Tito Edgar.