against it, desperate to open it back up. But his strength overpowered m

ashed th

ding on the door. "Am I the only one who doesn't deserve a ch

at followed ne

stubborn, that's why I had no choice. The management doesn't want anyone standing in

ving me in the suffocati

ntil my knees touched my jaw, I hugged myself tightly. Again, Vera. Always Vera.

out of place. I frowned. Why would a storage room carry such a

cked screen glowing faintly as I turned on the flashlight. The beam cut

stared back at me from b

s a c

t. The moment she realized I wasn't a threat, she bolted forward. Before I could s

wrapped tigh

circles across her trembling back. "It's okay," I

hame, my despair....... everything was drowned out by the simple act of holding he

*

let me in, but the real problem lay ahead, waiting for either my stepmother or my sister to open

he time. It was barely 9 pm. Mea

e girl all the money I had on me to buy herself some sweets aft

me with bruises and an ugly cut on my arm. But b

's sleep at this time? How dare you.

sted with rage. But the moment she saw it was me, all that anger dr

osed to end until 2 a.m. at the earliest. So why was she here, already in her pajamas,

the storage room. Or maybe she was simply too baffled at how I managed to free myself, since she had taken e

surprise and confusion, staring at

er. Silently, I walked past her through the gap

mine until tomorrow, when I would once again be forced to shoulder all t

my stepmother's voice rang out from the l

house, the only reason I still endured their cruelty. That and

nough to spend all my savings on that so-called love of mine, who

and this over," my stepmother said, s

watching. She had been awake the entire time I stood outside, pressing t

the envelope and opened it. Halfway through, I froze. My eyes narrowed,