
Bearing the Brunt
Chapter 2
My heart almost stopped as I quickly ran over to grab my daughter. But Lena was right behind me, and she immediately pushed me from behind. There was chaos on the top floor. And during the chaos, Tess pulled my daughter and fell from the top of the building together.
Luckily, there was a huge tree right underneath them. The two of them hung on the tree.
Only now did Tess feel the fear as she screamed, "I don't want to die! Mom! Save me!"
Anne also grabbed the branches tightly to stop herself from falling. However, Tess was too scared and her body started to get cramps all over out of nervousness and couldn't grab the branches tightly at all. It was obvious she wouldn't last.
Tess cried out to Anne and begged her. "Please, Anne! Save me! I don't want to die!"
When Anne saw how scared she was, she tried to extend her leg to stabilize Tess and stop her from falling. In about 30 more seconds, the firefighters would be able to move the cushion right underneath them.
However, no one expected Tess to grab my daughter's leg and then use this chance to climb up on top of her. Once she managed to climb up to safety, she kicked Anne's head brutally, biting the hand that fed her.
Anne couldn't grab onto that branch and fell right on the ground.
There was no saving her, and she passed away moments later.
Lena and Tess were scared that I would reveal the truth and immediately made a public statement saying that my daughter bullied Tess in school, and she was the one who had pushed Tess off the top floor. They even had the guts to demand me to pay them compensation.
After losing my daughter, I broke down.
One day after school, I stepped on the gas and rammed my car into Tess and Lena, killing them both. And then, I killed myself inside the car.
When I opened my eyes, I was reborn.
Time turned back to the day that Tess wanted to jump.
Since I had a chance to relive my life once more, I would make Lena feel the despair of losing her daughter.
When I came to, Lena was still laughing at my daughter.
"Seriously, Maya. It's not that I'm trying to tell you how to raise your daughter, but you're giving Anne too much leeway. Only a stern mother like me can make my daughter get good exam results. Only then would she be able to have a good life."
I scoffed inside myself.
A stern mother? Lena had always been abusive. If Tess performed worse than Anne in school or exam, she would immediately hit Tess with a broom since she was a kid. I couldn't even count how many brooms she had broken this way. She had even gotten Tess hospitalized a few times.
I pitied Tess, so I made Anne lie about her results in front of them. That was why Lena felt Anne wasn't as good as Tess. Only then did Lena treat Tess a little better.
But now that Anne had secured guaranteed admission into National University and the whole school knew about it, Tess knew that she couldn't hide this from Lena. In the past, whatever she hid would get exposed one day, and Lena would be even more vicious to her.
I glanced at Lena and asked, "Aren't you worried that your daughter's the one that wants to jump? You sure you don't want to take a look?"
I didn't miss the hint of hesitation on Lena's expression, but the moment I asked her about it, she immediately gave a nonchalant expression. "I won't. It's impossible for my daughter to want to jump."
She was going to feel regret and pay the price for her arrogance.