Chapter 2

Deiseree’s POV

My eyes darkened. “What? What did you just say? Say that again and I’ll make sure that would be the last word you’ll be saying,” I asked in a serious tone.

I was fine with them criticizing and mocking me, but when they disrespected my father, that was another story. I could never ignore that. I clenched my fist—but not to punch them, though I wanted to so badly; I was doing it to calm myself down and not hurt them. I took a deep breath and straightened myself up.

“Yes, you’re right. I was poor, and I couldn’t compete with your wealth. My clothes couldn’t compete with your clothes. I stank because we didn’t have enough money to buy perfumes. I didn’t buy new clothes because I could still wear the old ones. I didn’t have everything to be proud of, but I had never been ashamed of being poor because I knew my father worked hard to educate me and teach me how to live like a real person. He taught me good manners, and he loved me.” I smiled absently, then turned back to them, smiling but still feeling annoyed. “What about you? You’re filthy rich, as you said. You have all the material things, yes. You can have new clothes every day because you have everything. You have the ability to buy expensive clothes and perfumes. But you know what you lack—the thing that you will never be able to buy no matter how much money you have.”

They looked at each other, then turned back to me.

People who had no idea about manners.

Tsk! Tsk! Tsk!

“What do you mean, poor girl? We can buy anything; what can’t we buy?” Mia and Bela asked with interest.

I fixed the tangles in my dirty white uniform, and then I faced them with a smile. “Good manners and right conduct,” I answered.

“You!”

“Hep! You’re right though, you can buy a lot of things since you’re rich as hell. Why don’t you try to buy someone you can talk to so that I’m not always the one you unbusy people mess with? Understood?” Their eyes widened as they looked at me in annoyance, while I just smiled as if I’d won the lottery.

When they didn’t say anything, I took that opportunity to leave and head to the door of Chris’s classroom because they definitely wouldn’t dare follow me there—there was a teacher. I looked at them once more before I looked inside the classroom to greet my brother.

“Eree!” When the class ended, Chris immediately came to me and hugged me.

I took his bag, and then I picked him up. “How was your day, my cute little brother?” I squeezed his cheek.

“It was fun, sis. I had many perfect scores, and I was always the one raising my hand! Mister Simon said I’m very good.” He sounded so proud, which made me smile.

“Wow! My brother is great. You’ll have a prize from me later.” I squeezed his sharp nose a little. “Let’s go and get Luke, okay?”

“Mm.” He answered, nodding.

I was happy for my siblings because they worked hard in their studies like me, even though we were poor. They didn’t know how to give up, even at a young age. They weren’t weak, even when Mom left us after she gave birth to Chris. We leaned on each other, especially Dad, who never failed to make us feel his love.

Dad was the only one who provided for us. When there was an offer, I also went to part-time jobs to help my father, but I made sure that my studies wouldn’t be affected. I also saw how hard it was for my father to raise my siblings, so I wanted to help him. I had experienced doing laundry, janitorial jobs, and even carrying heavy loads. The pay wasn’t that much, but it helped.

“Eree, I’ve been waiting for you for a while. What took you so long?” Luke complained when we arrived at his homeroom.

I looked at him in confusion. “It’s not like we’re late; you were just early. But why?”

“Our teacher wasn’t there for the last subject, so we were sent home early,” he answered as he slung the bag over his shoulder. “Hey there, Chris!” He pinched our youngest’s nose.

Luke was younger than me, but he was more mature. He was taller than me so… let’s not talk about my height, because I wasn’t interested either.

“So, what, let’s go home?” I spoke.

“Let’s go, sis,” Luke said, then we headed together.

Chris told us endless stories as we walked home, to which we listened patiently. Chris was only seven years old, but his skills were already obvious. Luke was twelve, and I could say that he was the smartest of the three of us because he still held the title of the best in all subjects. As for me, I just maintained my grades in the nine lines so I wouldn’t disappoint Dad. Like he said, I didn’t have to be the best, I just had to be better than the rest.

As we approached the house, we noticed that several cars were parked in front. My siblings and I looked at each other. Seemed like we all had the same thought.

“What’s the problem?” I heard Luke ask, and I shrugged.

I looked at them carefully. “I don’t know either, Luke.”

“I think it was our house.” Luke’s worried gesture worried me too.

“Come on, come on!” I told them, and then we hurriedly headed in the direction of our house.

“Please don’t take my children’s things! Take everything; just don’t take their things!”

We immediately ran toward our father when we saw him trying to take the electric fan that my siblings and I used at night from one of the creditors.

Luke held our father’s arm. “‘Dad! Dad!”

“What’s going on, Dad? Why are they doing this?” I was confused because I noticed that the courtyard of the house was messy.

“We’re going to take all of your things because your father can no longer pay his debts to us.”

Instead of Dad, it was the man standing in front of our door who answered.

He was wearing a black coat with red long sleeves inside. Instead of a cigar, he was smoking a pipe. He was also wearing one of those fedora hats. His stomach was a bit bloated, giving him the gangster vibe I saw on television.

“What?” I was confused. “Dad, what’s going on?” I turned to my father, who was in tears.

I knew the people my father took loans from, but these people were a new face to me.

He sighed and held both of my hands. “I took a loan to build a business so that we could live and finance your education, but…”

I could see the regret in my father’s eyes, and I felt even more pity for him.

“Dad, you didn’t…” I just burst into tears.

“I’m sorry, kids,” he said softly, and we just hugged him.

“These items are not enough to pay your father’s debts. You have to find a way to pay our boss because if not…”

The guy stopped and turned to me.

“You’re the one we’ll take as payment.” He looked at me with lust and I felt so disgusted.

“I will! I will pay you! Just don’t touch my children,” Dad begged. The guy just sneered at him.

“Alright, take everything, and let’s go!” I heard the man order his colleagues.

Dad did nothing but watch as they took our things that could be sold. I just hugged my two brothers while watching them consume our belongings.