“So… did you mean that I was the one who hurt myself?” I sneered.
“Letty, stop being so stubborn.” He was starting to get annoyed. “Do you think Zachary and Cameron are so generous to let you go after that dispute? Even if you are not afraid, have you thought about your baby?”
I froze in disbelief. “You stalked me?”
He pulled his eyebrows together and exclaimed, “No, I was just protecting you!”
“Ha! Thank you for that!” I said sarcastically.
Since he did not want to move his car, I had no choice but to move.
He grabbed my arm and warned, “Don’t say that I didn’t warn you, but your stubbornness will ruin you!”
I was already in a bad mood, and there he was, making it worse. “You know what? I’d rather have it that way! Why can’t you just let me be? Why do you have to take my life away from me?” I let out.
Those bad memories had already been buried deep within me, but with John’s appearance, they surfaced once again.
I felt weak and vulnerable.
Twenty-five years ago, in an alley within R Province, a lonely middle-aged lady picked up a baby. The two-month-old baby was crying desperately in hunger.
She was a kind lady who decided to bring the baby back, fed her, and provided her with a comfortable place to sleep. She wanted to hand her over to the police, but they said that there was no orphanage within the province. They could not keep the baby at the police station as well.
Thus, the old lady had no choice but to bring the baby back home and raised her. She was a farmer with a meager salary that could not even afford to provide for herself – it was even worse with a kid.
However, right at that time, an investor built a large factory in R Province and was opened to recruiting people of all ages.
The sixty-year-old lady took the chance and applied for the job. Fifteen years later, she was still working at the factory. Meanwhile, the little girl had grown up old enough to work as well.
However, the lady was already seventy-five years old, and her body’s condition was deteriorating.
To support the girl’s school fees for high school, the old lady volunteered to help raise the investor’s illegitimate son.
The investor gave a large sum to the old lady and paid for the little girl’s school fees in exchange for it.
That little girl was me, and John was that illegitimate son.
I did not know his actual name. I knew him as John after I overheard grandma calling him that when he followed her back home.
John’s arrival ruined my peaceful life. He was rebellious and often caused trouble. He used to lock me up in a cage and throw me into the pond.
Those pranks were still bearable as he would always look for Grandma if I got hurt. Hence, Grandma would just let him be.
The year of my college entrance exam, the factory was under investigation for emitting harmful pollutants. The investor wanted to plan for an incident to ruin the factory as he did not want to take responsibility for the offense.
One of the managers, Mr. Markle, overheard about it and objected. His major concern was that the toxic substances would be released into the surrounding area, causing serious health damage to the residents.
The investor wanted to keep Mr. Markle quiet, so he offered him a hefty sum to get the latter to leave that place. However, Mr. Markle strongly opposed and started a protest.
Eventually, the investor was arrested for bribery. While that happened, his wife got a promotion in K City. To protect her reputation, she filed for a divorce and submitted all the evidence of his deed.
After that, the investor was sentenced to jail, and his assets had all been confiscated. When all that happened, he could not handle the stress and committed suicide.
I only knew the investor was John’s father after that news and that his mother passed away due to lung cancer that same year he was brought home by Grandma.
John was originally a pessimist. It got worse after his father’s death – he did not speak much anymore. Kids in the neighborhood would gather to beat him up while insulting his father.
After that, John fell deeper into depression and stopped interacting with people.
He started to kill stray cats and dogs, often breaking their legs and throwing them into the homes of those bullies. Not only that, but he would also poison some of those animals and pile them on the streets, leaving them to rot.
