My parents refused to pay for my college, saying I should be ‘Independent’, 9 years later..

An Unexpected Encounter at the Luxury Hotel

My name is Hazel Anderson. I am turning 30. Currently, I live with my husband Phillip, who is five years older than me, and our five-year-old son, R. We are a family of three.

Today, I am attending a friend’s wedding ceremony with my husband. Though I call them friends, they are closer to my husband than to me, and I only know them by face. The ceremony is held in a first-class hotel, and I find myself captivated by its luxury.

While my husband exchanged greetings with acquaintances at the venue, I went to the restroom for a bit. Coming out of the restroom and heading back to the ceremony, I heard an unpleasant voice.

“Oh look at that defective item. Why are you here, huh?”

“Mom, what do you mean by that?”

“Oh, it’s true. Why is there a defective item here? We didn’t invite them, did we?”

I feel as if disdainful words are being exchanged around me, and they seem to be talking loudly on purpose. This is not just gossip; it is overtly offensive. However, no one addressed me directly.

I don’t want to associate with such rude people, so I quickly left the area.

“Wait, you ugly thing, you can hear me, can’t you?”

I felt someone call out from behind but I ignored it. My name is not “you ugly thing.”

As I walked firmly down the corridor, the sound of hurried footsteps behind me startled me. They should have given up since I was ignoring them. Why would they embarrass themselves with such behavior?

While I was pondering this, someone suddenly grabbed my arm. It appears that they had run after me. The grip on my arm was so tight that it was painful.

“So wait a minute! I’m telling you!”

I stared back at the woman who was shouting breathlessly and shook off her arm. She seemed not to expect such a reaction and staggered back with an exaggerated outcry. I felt that her frail behavior was pointless.

“Julia, are you okay? Why are you being so violent? Ignorance really is a problem.”

Another woman rushed over, supporting her while giving me a stern look.

“What’s going on? Who might you be?”

“Huh? Who might I be? Have you forgotten about me?”

“Yes, it seems you are very self-centered and rude. Have we met before?”

As I asked this, she raised her eyebrows in astonishment.

“Huh? What are you talking about? Do you think you have the right to act like this? You with just a high school diploma!”

“If you say you’ve forgotten, I’ll refresh your memory. I’m your sister, Julia. Hearing the name must jog your unfortunate mind, right?”

“And this is our mother. Can you really say you forgotten your own mother?”

“Ah, yes. Maybe there was someone by that name around me in the past.”

I shook my head slightly. It’s a waste of time to engage in serious dialogue with these people. Dissatisfied with my response, the two women showed even more anger.

At that moment, two men hurried over.

“What’s going on here? We could hear voices all the way over here.”

“Julia, are you done preparing? Oh, you’re still in your regular clothes. You better hurry and change.”

“Dad, Daniel! This person, this suspicious person has sneaked into our wedding! Please kick her out immediately!”

The woman claiming to be Julia pointed at me while shouting. Weren’t they taught that it’s not nice to point at people?

The reactions of the two men who saw me were completely different. The man called Dad widened his eyes and then clearly showed a displeased expression. The man known as Daniel froze with a look of shock, and his face gradually paled.

“What’s going on? Why is Hazel here?”

“To see her face on such a happy day! Exactly, she must have slipped in by mistake. It’s unbearable!”

“Hey, call the security quickly!”

“Wait a minute! What are you saying? Be careful with your words! This person is—”

While the man called Dad agreed with Julia, Daniel spoke up with a pale face. Seeing this, I muttered quietly.

“Hm, you really know nothing.”

My remark went unnoticed by those around me.

The Shadows of a Toxic Upbringing

“Hazel, there you were. I’ve been looking for you.”

A new person appeared. It was my husband, Phillip. All eyes turned to Phillip, who seemed slightly surprised.

“Sorry, I was on my way back but got tangled up with some strange people.”

I said this with a wry smile and moved closer to Phillip. Phillip looked around and murmured briefly.

“Ah.”

He seemed to grasp the situation immediately. His insight was indeed remarkable. Julia had been captivated by the sudden appearance of Phillip, but when I stood next to him, her expression changed drastically and she glared at me sharply.

The two so-called parents still did not fully understand the situation and showed confused expressions. Daniel was visibly flustered. He was the first to speak.

“Mr. Anderson, I apologize. My wife said something inappropriate. I really am sorry to your wife too. Come on, Julia, apologize too.”

“Why should I apologize? They are the ones who should be apologizing!”

Julia pointed at me again as she spoke.

“This disrespectful person intruded on our important wedding! I don’t know how this happened, but this woman is a disgrace to our family!”

“We should have cut ties with her long ago and never met again!”

“Wait, family?”

Hearing these words, he looked surprised and glanced back and forth between me and Julia. Just then, the two called Dad and Mom intervened.

“Oh dear, Daniel, I’m truly sorry. We have a problematic eldest daughter.”

“She’s such an embarrassing subject that it’s awkward even to mention her, and we’ve managed to hide this fact until now.”

“In truth, we kicked her out of the house 9 years ago. How did she even find out about Julia’s wedding?”

“What does she intend to do by coming here uninvited? Surely she isn’t planning to ruin the wedding, is she?”

“Actually Daniel, this girl is stupid. She only graduated high school and couldn’t attend university.”

“After graduating, she just loitered around doing part-time jobs, staying at home and being a real nuisance. She was like a parasite.”

“She should be grateful we provided for her through high school. Why did she sneak into the wedding?”

I had received such harsh treatment, yet I had long severed ties with this family and effortlessly brushed off all their insults. These people were, in fact, my family; at least that’s what the Family Registry stated.

However, my parents doted on my sister, who is 6 years younger than me, and had neglected me from the time I began to develop my own identity. My father’s family has been producing doctors for generations, and our home was a clinic. My mother worked as a nurse in the family-run clinic.

To an outsider, our family might have appeared to live without any want; however, the reality was a home filled with toxicity. I remember trying hard to earn my parents’ love when I was young, but I gave up all expectations from my family. The reason for favoring my sister was incomprehensible to me.

She was deemed attractive and I was not. Fortunately, although it might sound odd to evaluate myself, I was intelligent and excelled academically. Therefore, I focused on my studies with the goal of leaving home early.

During that time, I felt like I was acting the role of the defective elder sister in the family.

“Listen, I won’t allow you to go to university. You are inherently a defect. There’s no way you could get into university.”

“Start working immediately after school graduation. Become independent and contribute financially to the house.”

“It’s thanks to us that someone as unattractive as you could grow up at all. You owe us a debt of gratitude.”

“That’s right, you never seem grateful. As for college expenses, we might consider it for Julia, but there’s not a single cent available for you.”

“You will spend your life serving us. Even if you do get a job, it won’t be anything significant.”

This is what my parents told me during my senior year of high school. By the way, this conversation was recorded at the time and has been preserved to this day.