Ah Cy had known from the start that she wouldn't have the perfect life every other person had but she had never expected things to turn out as bad as it was. Where had she gone wrong?Ah Cy couldn't help but think. Did she make a mistake sometime in her past life? Why exactly was she so unlucky?
She had no place to go. Her family had never been in support of her marriage to Lu Shen, not like they actually cared about her. Somehow they only found pleasure in dictating her life and ruining it for her. When she had refused to take their advice about Lu Shen, they had been surprised. That was the first time she ever stood up to them. The only reason she had been so adamant was cause she thought things would get better for her, that once she had a husband, she would feel the love she had been lacking for so long. If only she knew that it'd end this way.
Ah Cy had cried so much that she was sure there was no extra tear to spare. She had only one choice at the moment and that was to go to her parents and beg them to take her in. She was willing to lose the last piece of her dignity, not like it had any worth in such a situation. There was nothing else she could do. She knew her parents way too well and she knew that it was a 90/10 probability they'd take her in but she was willing to try. Maybe if she cried enough or begged enough, they'd let her in. Or maybe if she swore to listen to anything they say and be their puppet, they'd let her in. Ah Cy was willing to do anything, at least so she could have somewhere to stay while getting herself back together.
With the last bit of strength she had, Ah Cy walked to her parents house. As she stood in front of the house she had lived for twenty year, she felt memories flooding in. Painful memories. Her childhood had been a pathetic story. Their house was one of the bests in the street. Her brother was treated like a prince, given everything he wanted and she was treated like a slave. They weren't that rich but they had enough for themselves but none of it seemed to ever reach her. Her mother owned her own bakery while her father worked as a manager in one of the big companies in the city. And the company was owned by Lu Shen. It was through her father that she had learnt that Lu Shen was searching for a wife. That was seven years ago. She was just 20 and so naive. She had jumped at the idea and her parents had rejected it outrightly. They thought she was going after Lu Shen's money. They had called her ungrateful when she had refused to listen to them. Ah Cy vividly remembered her father's words,
" If you refuse to listen to us and you go on with this marriage then from that moment, you seize to be our daughter"
And with tears in her eyes, she had responded,
" I wouldn't have any reason to want to be called your daughter"
That's what she had thought. She had expected a happy marriage not slavery. She had expected her life to turn from the misery it was drowning in, to happiness. That's what love does, right? It makes everything better. It gives pleasure not more misery. Why did hers have to be different? With everything she had said to her father and mother, she still found herself in front of their house ready to do anything so they'd take her in. Why? Why was her luck so cursed?
Her hands were visibly trembling when she pressed the door bell. She heard it ring loudly in the house and then she heard that unmistakable sound of her father cursing. There was some shuffling of feet and then the door opened. It was her mother. She stopped abruptly when her eyes fell on Ah Cy. Ah Cy couldn't interprete what expression it was on her mother's face. It was blank, she didn't look angry but she didn't look happy either. She wasn't sad but she wasn't excited either.
"Ah Cy!" Her lips moved slowly and a drop of tear fell off Ah Cy's eyes.
" Mama!" She responded, her voice barely above a whisper. And then, an expression crept into her mother's face. It was that of shock. She looked Ah Cy over, her eyes slowly analyzing her daughter. The last time she had seen her was four years ago and she wasn't like this. And then, the anger crept in.
" What are you doing here?" Her voice was raised, quite unlike the soft whisper she had called her name.
" Mama, please"
" Don't you dare call me that, you little punk"
" Mama, please let me in. I…"
She could barely finish when she felt a sharp sting in her face. The sound of it echoed in her ears and she felt her brain shake. Her mother had slapped her.
" I told you not to call me that. I am not your mother, I am not. I disowned you the very moment you thought you could make decisions on your own"
Ah Cy was dumbfounded. Her body was till numbed from the slap but the tears ran freely from her eyes.
" What are you doing here, huh? What? You wanted to get married, right? We let you be. Go on to your husband's house and leave mine. Get out! Get out of my house, ungrateful brat" Her mother shouted. There was loud cursing from inside the house and then her father appeared at the door. Unlike her mother, there was no waiting period before his anger appeared.
" What are you doing here? Why did you leave your husband's house? What do you want here?" He asked all at once, his eyes red to show his anger.
" Father please, please I beg of you…" Ah Cy went on her knees with her head bent low. " Please don't send me away. I have no place to go. I'm sorry I was a bad daughter, I'm sorry I didn't listen to you. Father, mother, please forgive me. Please… I'm sorry"
There was silence and for a moment Ah Cy thought her pleading and tears had done its job but then she heard a loud, guttoral laugh. She knew that laugh from anywhere. Her father never meant well when he laughed like that, it usually meant what was said had got him very angry. And she was right.
He grabbed her hair and yanked her head backward. A small cry left Ah Cy's lips as the tears fell. She tried to keep her eyes down even when he was basically forcing her to look at him. She knew very well that her father didn't like his children looking him in the eyes when he was talking. It meant disrespect and that was the last thing she wanted to portray at the moment. It wasn't the first time he had treated her like this, this was a routine for him. It was little though, compared to when he hits her.
" You bitch…" he said in gritted teeth.
" How dare you come here and ask for forgiveness? I told you, I told you that you seized to be my daughter if you go on to marry that scoundrel but you didn't listen. You thought you were all high and mighty and grown enough to make decisions on your own, right?? Then what are you doing here?"
" Father please…"
" Shut up" he shouted as he pulled her hair even further.
" When I let go of you, I want you to stand up and get the hell out of here before I lose the little bit of patience I have left, do you understand that?"
" Do you understand that?" He shouted loudly and another cry escaped her lips. He pushed her and she landed roughly on the bare ground. Her elbow was bruised and she could feel her blood clotting but that was the least of her worries.
In a swift move, she had her hands wrapped around her father's leg to stop him from going inside. She was literally lying flat as she cried at his feet.
" Father, please don't send me away. Please don't send me away. I'll do anything you say, anything! I won't disobey your any word. Father, I'll be the obedient daughter you always wanted. I'll do anything you say, Father… please. I'll do anything" Ah Cy cried, her figure shaking with every year that fell.
There was another silence, a pregnant silence. And then came her father's voice, calm and quiet.
" It's too late now, Ah Cy. It's too late for you to be the obedient daughter I wanted. I told you not to get married into that family but you… you outrightly refused. I even threatened to disown you and you said to my face that there wouldn't be any need for you to be called my daughter. Do you even know what we had to go through because of your stupidity? Do you have any idea?"
Ah Cy mistook the calmness of his voice to be sadness and looked up at him. She was so wrong. The rage that met her in the face was way more than what she had ever seen on her father.
" Bitch, I'm talking to you. Do you know what we had to go through? Do you know how long it took for me to pay up the debt your foolishness caused? Do you know how I managed to get back on my feet? Do you have any idea?" His voice couldn't have been higher than that. The neighbors were probably wondering already and Ah Cy was confused. What was he talking about? What debt?
" Debt? What debt?" She managed to mutter and then came that dry laugh again.
" You didn't realize yet?What? Do you think that on a normal note I would care who you spend your miserable life with? You see, I saw no use for a daughter like you so I had you married off to a very good friend of mine. You were supposed to be given off to him when you turned 25 but you… you idiot, you ruined all of my fucking plans. I was in debt for three good years and you had no idea. I was almost thrown into prison, because of you. Because of you"
Shocked was an understatement of how she actually felt. Where did all of this come from? This! How come she had never known.
" You had me married off without my consent" she said as fresh tears poured from her eyes.
" You still have the effontery to talk, huh? Get out of my house, get out of my house" He pushed her again and she hit her head hard on the ground.
" Leave here before I get really angry. I'm going to go in there and get my gun and if you're still here when I'm out, I'm going to blast your brain out. I don't care if I spend the rest of my life in jail. It is worth it as long as I have gotten rid of the worst thing that ever happened to me" and with that, he stormed into the house.
Ah Cy was left kneeling in front of her mother.
" Mama…"
" You had better leave. There is no place here for you" Her mother said and just before she slammed the door, Ah Cy saw tears fall off her mother's eyes. The door was locked from inside and that was when Ah Cy realised she was really alone. Alone!!