Just Blame Me

12

It'd been too long since she'd heard her given name. Lisa didn't react. After a moment, she finally said, "Oh, Mom. Is something wrong?"

"It's nothing really. I just saw you on TV last night. You're already so famous..?"
Lisa's brows twitched. "No, not really. I just did a walk-on."

"Don't lie to Mom. I know that the drama is very famous. All the neighbors are watching it. Our Lali is showing such promise."
Lisa chuckled without responding. Her mom spoke about a few trivial things and then seemed to stumble on her next words. "What was that... Your (younger) brother called last night again and said he's out of money. We just helped pay his tuition fees for the semester, so we don't have any money left. Do you think you could give him some money for living expenses?"

"Oh, is that so. I got it. I'll send it later.
"Ah! That's good. Then I won't bother you anymore."

"Mm..." Lisa's expression dimmed briefly and then she heard the other end hang up.

Rose, who had been eating, put down her chopsticks. She looked at Lisa, face full of indignance. "What did your mom call for? Did she ask you for money again?"

Lisa put away her phone and then glanced at her. "Don't make it sound so bad. She's not some stranger. She's my mom."

"You can treat her like your mom, but she has to treat you like her daughter too!" Rose was entirely angry. "Don't tell me you don't know. She's asking for money for your brother! She gave birth to both of you, but how can she be so biased?! "

Lisa, "..."
Who exactly was she ridiculing here?

Seeing that Lisa didn't say anything, Rose continued to express her own anger. "You're the only one foolish enough to send money every time. It's not like your money falls from the sky! You came to the big city all on your own to work hard, but have they ever worried about you? They only think of you when they need money! If it were me, I'd have cut off our relations long ago. And they still want money. Pah!"

Lisa waited until she finished venting all her anger. Then she said slowly, "Do you know how many baby girls get abandoned in the country each year? What about how many baby girls that never had the chance to even see this world? It's true that my parents didn't want a daughter, but they didn't abandon me or bury me somewhere either. I'm actually pretty thankful to them."

Rose, "..."

This Lisa really was something.

Lisa continued, "Although they're prejudiced, they never mistreated me. They provided food, clothes, and schooling for me. I should at least repay them for that much, shouldn't I?"

Rose curled her lips. "Sure, they provided for your schooling. When you got into a tier-3 school, didn't they say it was too expensive and tell you to go to a technical school instead?"

Lisa bit her lip. Her performance in school was pretty average.

When she started her final year of high school, her mother had told her that if she could get into a tier-2 college, they would let her go there to study.

If she only got into a tier-3 college, they they could only send her to a technical college. With Loss grades at the time, it would have been really hard for her to get into a tier-2 school. It just so happened that an aviation school that was looking for students from their grade.