“It must be amazing to be Matthew Wright’s sister!” “It’s no surprise she looks up to her brother.”
“Amber is so lucky!”
…
Tammy was conflicted after reading these comments. Her parents and brother had shielded her so well over the years that no one knew her name. They did that to protect her, as she was kidnapped twice as a child. Also, Tammy was terrified as she thought she would be surrounded by paparazzi every time she went out in the future. She didn’t want to be caught on video when she sneaked out of school.
Her head hurt from thinking about all this mess, so she immediately called Matthew and asked for help.
Matthew answered the phone a few moments later. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m in huge trouble, Matthew!” You’re the only one who can help me right now!”
“Take it easy, Tammy. What’s going on?” Matthew asked calmly.
“Our names are trending on Twitter, and they’ve made all of my personal information public. Can you figure out how to delete them? Mom will probably know I’m a live streamer now. She’s not going to let me off the hook!”
“I’ll look into it right now.” Matthew then started looking up her name on Twitter. Then he said calmly, “Do you think you can keep it hidden from her forever? You should have known this day would come sooner or later.”
Tammy shuddered as she remembered the last time Anna had been angry with her. And she snapped, “I’m so scared! You must help me, Matthew!”
“Mom isn’t as scary as you think,” With a frown, Matthew said.
“Humph! She’s gentle with everyone else but cranky with me!”
“It isn’t her fault.”
“Whatever. I can’t do this by myself! You’re my last hope, Matthew.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll handle it.”
After hanging up the phone, Tammy sat in her bed, still in a trance. She was confident Matthew would solve this matter for her, but she was afraid Anna had seen the tweet. Once again, Tammy thought of the scene in which Anna shouted at her angrily.
As if her phone was a hot potato, Tammy threw it at Alicia. Then she covered her head with the covers, trying to cover all the trouble awaiting her by doing so.
Then, in a trembling voice, Tammy said, “Alicia, please keep an eye on my phone for me. Don’t answer anyone’s calls but my brother’s! If my mother keeps calling me, tell her I’m not here.”
“You want to keep hiding it from her? That is not a good idea, in my opinion.”
“It doesn’t matter. I’m not in the mood to talk about it right now!” Tammy then crawled back under the covers, ready to sleep as it was the only way she could get away from reality.
Tammy had just closed her eyes when her phone began to vibrate. She sat up and asked nervously, “Who’s calling?”
“Your dad. Do you want to answer it?”
“Of course not! He and my mother are on the same side. They even share the same opinion on literally everything. That’s horrible!”
“Should I hang up?” Alicia asked again.
“Don’t hang up! He’ll know I saw him call if you do that. I want to pretend I didn’t notice it.”
“Okay. I’ll put your phone on silent mode then.”
“Suit yourself,” Tammy said nervously. When Alicia was about to give the phone back to her, Tammy suddenly snapped, “Take this evil thing away from me, will you? I just want to get some rest right now.”
“Ah! Tammy, it’s your mother. Are you sure you won’t answer it?”
“Yes, I’m sure!” Tammy shouted.
Then Alicia left the room with Tammy’s phone.
After a while, Tammy woke up because she felt cold. When she opened her eyes, she noticed her quilt was gone. She sat up, rubbing her sleepy eyes. She then noticed a few people standing in her bedroom. Anna was standing on the edge of her bed, holding a quilt. She appeared irritated. And Wayne was standing behind Anna, winking at Tammy.
Tammy was dizzy from having just awoken, so she couldn’t understand what Wayne was trying to tell her. She looked around the room and noticed Matthew standing in the doorway, looking at her. Alicia, who was always timid, stood outside the door, watching them.
As she finally came back to her senses, Tammy realized that her judgment day had come. “Mom, Dad, what brings you here?” Tammy asked with a smile on her face, deciding to play dumb.
“You know well why we’re here!” Anna shouted.
“I’m sure you’re here because you missed me, right?” Tammy asked as she put her arms around Anna. She winked at Matthew at this point, hoping he could help her. To her disappointment, Matthew shook his head at her, indicating that he could do nothing to help her.
“I was going to come home tomorrow to see you,” Still playing dumb, Tammy said in a sweet voice.
Yet, Anna didn’t buy it at all. Then she said in a cold voice, “Get up! You now have five minutes to freshen up. We’ll be in the living room waiting for you.”After that, Anna walked out the door, followed by Wayne and Matthew.
Startled, Tammy leaped from the bed and dashed into the bathroom. It only took her four minutes to brush her teeth and clean her face. When she entered the living room, she found Alicia had already left. At the moment, Anna appeared agitated and on the verge of losing her cool. The two men sitting next to Anna seemed to be terrified of her.
“Am I fast, Mom?” Smiling stiffly, Tammy said in a low voice.
Anna said, “Stand there. Don’t move without my permission.”
Tammy realized Anna was angry because she wasn’t scolding her or pretending to punch her. Anna just stared at her, expressionless. Not daring to look Anna in the eye, Tammy looked down at her pink bunny slippers. She tried to remain calm and respond to Anna’s question rationally. However, she felt like she was in an interrogation room because Anna appeared so oppressive.
“Did you skip class today again?” Anna asked, sounding intimidating.
“Huh? I didn’t. I took a leave of absence.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t feel well.”
“What’s the matter?”
“I had diarrhea last night and only fell asleep after midnight.”
“Is that true? Didn’t you do a live streaming last night? Tammy, I really didn’t expect you could become famous so quickly.” Anna said with a sneer.
“Famous? I didn’t expect things to turn out this way, Mom.” Tammy grumbled.
“We’ve been careful to protect you all this time, so no one knows about you. You’ve ruined our efforts! Do you realize you’re putting yourself in danger?”
Tammy bowed her head, not daring to speak. She underestimated the abilities of internet users and paparazzi to gather information. And she apologized, “I’m so sorry, Mom. I shouldn’t have done that.”
“You know you were wrong? Fine. Then tell us about your ‘career.’”
As Anna had expected, Tammy remained silent. Shaking her head, Anna said, “You don’t want to talk about it?”
“Well, I’d love to. It’s just…”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.