The sun shone brightly, with fresh air permeating the surroundings. Estelle welcomed the breeze as she rode her bicycle.
She tilted her face upwards, closed her eyes gently, basking in the warm sunlight.
The gentle breeze was tenderly caressing her cheeks like a mother's touch, warming and soothing. She felt at ease. Ten minutes ago, she received her admission letter from the University of Houston; thus, her mood was particularly good. In her ecstatic state, she hummed to the tune of a pop song, happiness overtaking her voice.
She had been admitted to the University of Houston with the highest scores from her city. Because of her outstanding grades, the university had awarded her a generous scholarship to cover three years of tuition fees.
Once in America, she planned to work and save money. Despite the situation, she felt hopeful that her life could turn around soon. Hooray, her days of suffering were nearing their end! She could even envision a comfortable life beckoning her.
As she turned her bike, she entered an old neighborhood.
Estelle instantly saw her foster mother Lucy and foster father Barrett standing at the entrance of the neighborhood. Lucy covered her nose, demonstrating a sense of disgust in her eyes.
Barrett placed one hand in his pocket, the other holding a cigarette. His stern eyebrows were knitted together in impatience. Both of them were dressed in elegant clothes, quite out of place in such an ordinary neighborhood.
Her foster parents, who hadn't contacted her for five years, suddenly appearing before her, certainly did not promise anything good!
Estelle's good mood faded instantly at the sight of them. Pretending not to see them, she rode past Lucy and Barrett.
She secretly hoped that they would ignore her as well.
Unfortunately, fate has its way of acting unpredictably. From her rear came Lucy's disgruntled voice, "Estelle, you ungrateful girl, I once raised you. I suffered a lot raising you for ten years, how can you ignore me like this?"
Estelle laughed coldly, planting one foot on the ground, she halted her bicycle. Turning around, her pretty face reflected her contemptuous smirk as she scorned at Lucy, "You suffered raising me for ten years?"
"I went to the Hampton family when I was five and all I wore were the hand-me-down clothes from Sandra. All I ate were your leftovers while doing the chores of maids. Since my arrival to your family, you even let go of your maids and barely fed your dogs because I can do their tasks and eat your waste!"
"Indeed, you've suffered a lot!"
Upon hearing these words from Estelle, Lucy's face suddenly turned a big patch of red, and her eyes lowered to look at the ground.
Seeing Lucy blushing to her ears, the sarcastic smile on Estelle's face became even more pronounced. Lucy, you too have moments when you can't lift your head?
Estelle leaned the bike against the side, walked a few steps to Lucy's face, and lifted her hand to stroke the diamond necklace on Lucy's neck. "This necklace looks really good!"
Lucy raised her head to pull out an incredibly hypocritical smile at Estelle, "If you like it, I'll give it to you!"
Estelle sneered, "When you thought that I was superfluous and wanted to drive me out, but couldn't find a suitable reason, you falsely accused me of stealing your million-dollar diamond necklace and directly sent me to the reformatory. This is the necklace you accused me of stealing back then, isn't it?"
The hypocritical smile on Lucy's face instantly stiffened, her originally unsightly face went pale, her mouth opened and closed, but she couldn't say anything. She could only look at Barrett next to her with a rueful look.
Seeing his wife being spoken to like this by his adopted daughter, Barrett's face instantly sank. He coldly said to Estelle, "Enough. What's the point of bringing up the past?"
Estelle glanced at Barrett, her voice cold, "Do you need something coming here?"
Barrett threw the remaining half of his cigarette on the ground, "I heard that you ranked first in the city, and got into the Jewelry Design Department of the University of Houston in the United States?" It was a question, but also a statement.
Estelle couldn't help but raise her eyes to look at Barrett and Lucy. "You are well informed. I just got the notice, and you know about it already."
Just, what does this have to do with them? "Yes." Lucy's hands were holding onto Barrett's arm, a look of extreme excitement in her eyes, which was mixed with a hint of malicious intent.
A warning bell rang in Estelle's heart, "What kind of bad idea are these two up to again?"