"She was my daughter. Of course, she should do things for me. That’s a normal thing for children to do for their mother, isn’t it?" my mother said coldly.
"Do you really still consider her your daughter?" Lizbeth spat with an incredulous look on her face. "Then why won’t you even look at the gifts she carefully prepared for you? If it was Isabella who gave you these, would you be acting so disdainful like this?"
"Enough!" my mother snapped. "Don’t you dare compare her to my Isabella? I won’t waste any more time talking to you. Leave!"
After she said that, my mother tried to forcefully slam the door shut in Lizbeth's face.
Lizbeth held the door. Although she was seething with rage, she still managed to give my mother a bitter smile. Then she reached into her bag and pulled out a blue leather book from it. It was my secret diary.
Ever since I was a child, whenever I felt upset, I would go to Lizbeth's secret hideout with Lizbeth to vent my grievances. That blue notebook had been my emotional outlet for over two decades. It held countless things my parents knew nothing about.
Lizbeth and I had once promised to guard each other's secrets. Yet now, she was breaking that promise. I knew she was doing it out of a sense of justice. She did not want to let me fade away without anyone knowing the truth.
"This is Andrea's diary," Lizbeth said. The sarcasm dripped heavily from her voice as she handed the diary to my mother. "I hope after reading it, you’ll still feel the same."
Then without waiting for my mother's answer, she shoved the diary into my mother's hands and walked away. Her footsteps echoed in the hallway.
My mother stared at the notebook for only a moment before tossing it toward the trash without a second thought. However, as soon as the diary fell, a photograph slipped out, fluttering to the floor.
The photo showed my father, my sister and an unfamiliar woman. The joy on my father’s face in that picture was unmistakable. His wide smile triggered a flood of unease feeling in my mother.
Her feet, which had been set to walk away, froze in place. She slowly bent down and picked up the photo, then scrutinized every detail. The expression on my father's face filled her with dread. The suspicion started to gnaw at her heart.