"I said she's getting married, and that's that! Things have already blown up—this isn't the time for her to be messing around anymore."
Thomas Reed’s voice exploded like a thunderclap in the living room of the apartment block in the 1973 Machinery Factory housing compound, ripping through the quiet of a hot summer afternoon.
Most families in the building had their windows open to try to escape the heat, and his furious shouting traveled fast through the thin air, reaching every nearby ear.
"Thomas, calm down a bit. People are coming back from work right about now. If the neighbors hear you, how will Ava hold her head up again?"
Sophia Bennett’s soft voice followed, mixed with the sounds of her slippers dragging over the concrete floor.
"It’s a heatwave, why should I shut the window? That girl’s done something this shameless and she’s the one worried about gossip? Please." Thomas’s face was flushed with fury, but he still sat like the head of the house—legs apart on the wooden sofa, eyes glued to the shut bedroom door. His teeth clenched as he growled, "The whole building knows now! She's barely grown and already sneaking out with a boy late at night, watching movies and drinking sodas. You have no idea the shame I felt walking back from work—I’ve never been this humiliated."
"And you!" He suddenly turned his glare to his wife who stood frozen by the window, his eyebrows shooting up as his voice boomed again, "What the hell were you thinking, buying her that floral dress? And then showing it off to everyone? That silly skirt’s all it took for folks to start saying she’s messing around with some lowlife twice her age."
"I... I just thought she didn’t have anything nice to wear..." Sophia mumbled, her face burning with embarrassment as her fingers twisted the edge of her shirt. "She’s getting older, and I figured it wouldn’t hurt to let her dress up a little. It’s not like I went out parading it... Mrs. Chen happened to see her wearing it, that’s all..."
"All dressed up like a floozy just to attract that man, huh?"
"I’ve had enough of this nonsense!"
The bedroom door slammed open, cutting through the argument like a knife. The whole room seemed to jolt.
Ava Reed stood in the doorway, her pretty features sharp and striking. There was something about her—those curved eyes and soft lips—that made her easy to underestimate, always looking sweet and harmless. But right now, she looked nothing like that. She was cold, rigid, her eyes locked on her father with a look that could cut steel.Ava Reed barely glanced at the woman by the window before fixing her eyes on her father, Thomas Reed. Her voice was icy cold. "I told you yesterday already. The girl outside the cinema two nights ago wasn't me. And about that red dress..."
She turned around, grabbed a wad of red fabric off the cabinet near the bedroom door, and tossed it onto the floor in the living room. Folding her arms, she leaned against the doorway and spoke with no warmth, "Since the day I came back to this house, have I ever worn anything that woman handed me? That rag got shredded the moment I brought it back. Who knows which shameless tramp went out in the middle of the night to cozy up with that scoundrel near the cinema?"
As she said the last sentence, a cold smirk tugged at her lips, and she threw a cutting glance toward the woman by the window. Sure enough, Ava caught a flash of resentment and annoyance in her eyes that she could barely hide.
At that point, Thomas struggled to keep his composure. He looked at his daughter with quiet frustration and took a slow breath before continuing his plan, trying not to let the seams show. If this bullheaded girl caught on, she'd wreck the whole place.
Though, honestly, that was exactly what he wanted—to blow everything wide open.
"Cutting up the dress doesn’t change anything now. The whole compound’s buzzing about you and Charles Kendall. You’ve graduated high school anyway. It’s time to pack up and get married over there."
As soon as he said that, a flicker of joy danced across the woman’s face by the window, but before she could speak, a loud crash exploded from the living room.
"Bang!"
Ava had hurled a vase off the side cabinet, and shattered glass flew across the floor in all directions.
She looked delicate on the outside, gentle even—but truth was, she had a spine of steel and a temper that didn’t care who's who when she snapped.
"Thomas Reed, are you out of your mind? You want me to marry that bastard from the Kendall family? The one who beat his first wife to death? Just seeing his face makes me want to puke for three days straight! And now you want me to be his second wife?" Furious, Ava trembled all over, eyes wide in disbelief as she stared at her father like he’d lost his mind. Her voice shook as she pointed at him and spat through clenched teeth, "You're not even scared I’ll tell Grandpa and have him skin you alive for this?"
Unexpectedly, Thomas stayed surprisingly calm in the face of her outburst. The anger from earlier had drained from his face, leaving a grim sort of certainty. "You should’ve already gotten your cousin’s letter, right? Your grandpa and your uncle have their hands full. They don’t have time to deal with you right now. You know what kind of position Charles's father has, and now that the whole town thinks you two are a couple, what else can you do but marry him?""Come on, I’m just the head of a small machinery factory—how am I supposed to go up against someone like the Committee Director? You want the whole family to get dragged through the mud with you?"
Ava Reed stared at her father, suddenly feeling like he was a complete stranger. Her whole body was shaking with anger, fists clenched tight, and her eyes were red as if they might bleed. Her voice cracked as she snapped, "So that’s it? You won’t even bother asking what really happened, just gonna sell me off like some package?"
Thomas Reed's brow twitched slightly, his eyes locked onto his daughter’s. He let out a slow breath.
"Alright, alright, you two can stop right there," Sophia Bennett chimed in, trying to smooth things over. "Those rumors about the Kendall boy’s wife? Just gossip. Nobody’s getting hurt for real. Honestly, this marriage is something people would kill for."
"Shut your mouth! Who said you get to talk here?" Ava shot her a glare and pointed fiercely at her, not offering an ounce of courtesy to her fake, two-faced stepmother.
"Ava Reed! Where’s your basic respect?" Thomas shot up from his seat, anger flashing in his eyes. "You might not like calling her ‘Mom,’ but she’s still your stepmother."
Ava gave a small, sarcastic laugh, her eyes full of scorn as she looked at the two of them. "Mom? Please. I was born with a mother, not with a real father. As for 'stepmother'—spare me. And you…" Ava swiveled her icy gaze to Sophia. "Drop the nice act already. If that old man named Liu is such a catch, why don’t you let your precious daughter marry him? I mean, considering..."
A sweet, coy smile appeared on her face, then her tone turned sharp, making Sophia go ghostly pale. "Who knows who that man at the cinema that day was, right?"
"That's enough!" Thomas barked before Sophia could respond, glaring at Ava. "You stop dragging your sister into this mess. Your aunt and your sister have put up with more than enough from you over the years."
Ava gritted her teeth hard, her eyes rimmed red with held-back tears. She gave her father a look full of disgust and spat, "Thomas Reed, when your mother gave birth to you, did she forget to give you a pair of eyes that work?"
Done with the whole disgusting scene, she turned around, tossed one last sarcastic jab their way, then spun around and slammed the door behind her with a loud bang.
"Idiot!"
