Chapter 128. Blank Patriarc

Those words keep resounding in my ears, switching voices. One moment, it’s mom’s voice. The next, it’s Shawna’s, then Iyanu’s, then aunt Mellow’s.

Speaking of the witch, Iyanu, I spot her standing in the crowd. That person in the joker mask must be her. She loves anything that has to do with joker, and has worn that mask for the umpteenth time.

I push myself through the crowd to approach her. “Why did you do it?” I ask the moment I reach her. Only Iyanu would stoop so low to do a thing like this. It’s how she has been since high school—sabotaging anything good for me whenever she’s around. For once, I thought she had changed.

“For obvious reasons, baby girl, I wouldn’t want you lying to this lot now, would I?” she purrs behind her mask. “They need to know who you really are. Plus, it’s my birthday gift to you. If no one buys your work, I will—if you will sell it at the meager price it’s worth.”

Within me, I struggle to breath as the place grows stuffier, suf