The End of Love and Hatred
Chapter 1
The day my mom died, I put on a white dress,
a tradition to show respect.
Suddenly, seven–year–old Billy charged at
- me. He slashed my dress with a pair of
scissors and dumped a whole bucket of
cheap red paint all over me.
“Today’s my mom’s birthday, what do you
think you’re doing, wearing that color? She
hated white more than anything!”
He was definitely his father’s son. They had
always prioritized the same woman.
My skin broke out in hives almost
<
immediately. The blood and paint mixed
together. The cut on my leg throbbed and
itched like crazy.
Billy sneered, “Don’t think that because you
married my dad, you’re the lady of the house.
That place belongs to my mom, forever!”
“You’re nothing but a home–wrecker. Don’t
expect me to ever accept you!”
Looking at this kid who carried my blood but
came from another woman’s womb, I just felt
exhausted.
Turns out, blood doesn’t mean jack, and
seven years of raising him hadn’t warmed his
heart one bit.
“You don’t have to accept me, because I’m
The acrid smell of the paint burned my nose
and covered my face, the itching made me
frown.
Billy scoffed.
“Serves you right. I hope that face rots off
your skull.”
“You’re such a gold digger, thinking you can
get plastic surgery to look like my mom. Get
people to say that we look alike, and then
take her place? Dream on!”
His eyes were red with anger, like he’d
suffered some huge insult.
I’d seen this scene play out way too many
times.
Whenever someone mentioned that Billy’s
face didn’t look much like his late mother,
and actually looked more like me, Billy would
flip out.
I used to try to calm him down, tell him he
was still his father’s dead wife’s son. That he
resembled me just because we’d been around
each other so long.
But today, I didn’t have the strength. I was
just too tired.
I frowned slightly.
“Who said I got plastic surgery? You sleep
with your mom’s picture under your pillow
every night. You know whether we look alike,
Billy. You know.”
“If you don’t believe me, call a doctor and
check it out. Are you sure you want to hear
what he has to say?”
Billy froze for a second. He realized what I
meant and his face turned beet red. He
glared at me and ran off.
I sighed and went back to my room. The
maid, Maria, had already drawn a bath for me.
As soon as I got in, the cut on my leg from
the scissors screamed with pain, and the rest
of my skin burned.
I jumped out of the tub, lost my footing, and
fell flat on the floor. My knee instantly turned
purple.
Billy skipped in, grinning like a devil. “Did you
<
like that bath? All that salt water and hot
sauce? I did it just for you, isn’t that sweet?”
“You’ve been living my mom’s life. You’re
gonna pay!”
He gave me a look of pure disgust and told
Maria to leave, not letting her help me up.
I lay there on the floor, covered in blood and
water, speechless.
I’d lost that much blood before, when they
took my eggs.
Later, that egg and the sperm of the CEO of
the group, combined to become a test tube
baby, in the belly of the wife who was born
with no eggs.
く
Later, that baby who possessed half of my
blood, was born, a boy, named Billy.
The family’s Billy, the wife’s Billy…Billy who
hated me to the core.
I washed myself off, and when I came out of
the bathroom, I saw Michael, sitting on the
couch.
Billy might have my features, but the air of
superiority and cold arrogance he had? That
came straight from the man sitting in front of
- me.
Michael glanced at the hives on my skin.
“Billy was a bit out of line. I got you some
Benadryl. Take it. Don’t let it ruin tonight’s
party.”
く
Even after his ex–wife died, Michael still
threw a huge party every year on her birthday.
He wouldn’t let anyone forget her.
I’d been walking on eggshells in this house for years. I always did what he said, without
thinking.
