"Fate brought us together in troubled times..." Rachel's phone rang while she was busy with her work.
Rachel was working at a mansion coffee shop, and her colleague Aunt Fisher had taken the day off, leaving Rachel to handle all the cleaning upstairs and downstairs by herself.
As she worked, she picked up her old Nokia phone and answered the call.
"Hello, this is Rachel from the mansion coffee shop. Who is this?"
"Rachel, it's your uncle," came a familiar yet distant voice of a middle-aged man on the other end of the line.
Uncle Grady!
She froze, half-bent over, in the middle of mopping the floor. She didn't expect him to call, they hadn't been in touch for a long time. Was something wrong?
The memories she had buried deep in her heart suddenly resurfaced.
Rachel's father was actually her stepfather, and she had taken her mother's last name.
Her parents divorced when she was still very young, and she grew up with her grandfather. When her grandfather passed away, Rachel was only eight years old.
He had entrusted her to Uncle Grady, who treated her like his own daughter. Rachel also saw him as a father.
But after that incident, there was a knot in her heart she couldn't untangle.
Years ago, Grady's daughter Nora had tricked her, causing Rachel to lose her virginity, get pregnant, and be humiliated by everyone around her.
When Grady found out about the pregnancy, and didn't even know who the father was, he was filled with shame and anger.
"How can you be so shameless? I raised you, and you've brought shame upon me," Grady yelled, slapping Rachel hard across the face.
Rachel was caught off guard and fell to the ground. Her face swelled up, and her head buzzed.
After a while, Rachel finally came to her senses. She sat up and curled into herself, hugging her knees and sobbing softly.
She didn't understand why she was so foolish to trust Nora when she said she'd go to the bar with her.
Allen had always teased her, why did she believe her? She just didn't expect that Nora could be so cruel.
How could she even explain it? Could she say that Nora tricked her into going to a bar, got her drunk, and pushed her into a room upstairs?
Would her uncle believe her?
And even if he did... what then? She was already pregnant. Her reputation was already ruined.
Rachel couldn't find a way out of her heartbreak. Her nails dug deep into her palms, but she didn't even feel the pain.
The voices around her were sharper than knives, stabbing right into her heart.
"Just like your mother. So cheap. You've lost all face. How are we supposed to face people in the future?" Queenie, Rachel's aunt, sneered as she glared at her lying on the ground.
She wished she could kick her out that very moment. Rachel asked herself, why did it hurt so much?
She thought she had built up a strong enough wall to block out words like that. As long as her uncle still loved her, that should've been enough...
Nora was hiding behind the door, watching it all happen.
She used to be jealous that their grandfather always favored Rachel, everything good went to Rachel, and only leftovers came to her.
Later, when Rachel moved into their home, her father also started doting on her.
The love that originally belonged to Nora had been taken away, and it made her bitter. She teased Rachel both in front of people and behind their backs.
But this... this was the first time her father had ever hit Rachel. And it really hurt her.
Grady was a very proud man, and Rachel had always been a well-behaved, respectful child. Now that something like this had happened, how could he not be heartbroken?
But still, when he saw Rachel curled up on the ground, crying, he felt heartbroken all over again.
"Go get rid of that wild child in a couple of days." Grady shook his head, sighed, and walked away.
Rachel stared at her uncle's departing figure in shock, tears streaming down her face.
Her uncle had called her a wild child, not even a bastard. Did he always think of her like that deep down?
Now he was only angry because she had embarrassed him, not because she had been taken advantage of by someone else!
No one cared that she was sad and helpless to the point of wanting to die.
Her world was falling apart, piece by piece. She had felt so scared and alone back then... but who would care?
Her father, her mother, and now even her uncle didn't like her. No one in this world liked her!
Nora was even more annoyed seeing her father leave like that.
If it had been her, her own father would've beaten her to death for something like this, but he was only treating Rachel like that?
Rachel was just a wild child that her parents didn't want and had dumped on them!
Nora felt jealous and couldn't stop herself from wanting to say something.
But then she saw the way Rachel was looking at her, with eyes full of rage.
Rachel really wanted to stab Nora with a knife and dig out her heart to see if it was black.
She was her sister! How could she treat her like this?!
But Nora was her uncle's only daughter.
Nora got scared and swallowed the words that were about to come out, but she still smirked like she had won.
Rachel stumbled out the door, not knowing where to go. The road ahead was so long, and Nora's laughter behind her was so sharp it hurt her ears.
She moved out of her uncle's house and dropped out of school. She rented a place on her own.
She had thought about getting an abortion.
After all, she was only eighteen, still young, with her whole future ahead of her. But Rachel couldn't do it.
The baby growing inside her was part of her, and even though she was still just a girl herself, Rachel could feel her presence.
It was honestly kind of magical.
She didn't have a father, but she had a mother! Rachel swore she would be there for her baby, unlike her own mother, Ophelia.
She wanted to love her child just like her grandfather had loved her. This baby would be her own blood.
And so, Rachel started her life as a working mom. Time passed, and Cora grew up. Rachel didn't hold any grudges against her uncle anymore.
He had just done what he thought was best at the time.
Thinking back to those memories, Rachel's eyes filled with tears. "Oh, Uncle, is there something you need?" she asked, trying to keep her voice calm.
"Are you doing well?" His voice was gentle, but there was a little hesitation and concern.
"I'm doing fine. I work for a big company now, as a white-collar worker. The job is easy, the pay is good, and the benefits are great." Rachel smiled, but her eyes looked empty.
It was supposed to be the job of her dreams.
"What about the little one? Is she doing well?" Her uncle hesitated before asking.
"Cora? She's doing great. She's well-behaved and super obedient."
"That's good to hear. That's really good to hear," her uncle said, finally sounding a little relieved.
I felt kind of happy hearing that he was happy I was doing okay.
"Well… will you come back for your grandfather's anniversary next month?" Her uncle paused, then asked.