CHAPTER 47: CHAPTER 47: BETTY MEMORIES

Betty watched as Emma ascended the stairs in haste, and the sharp pain in her chest intensified.

"Ugh, cough."

"Betty, are you alright?"

Lilian’s face tightened with concern as she grabbed Betty’s arm, keeping her from collapsing.

Hazel, noticing her pale complexion and the way she clutched her chest, rushed over."What happened, Betty?"

She slipped an arm around her and carefully guided her to the couch.

Betty shook her head weakly, coughing into her hand as she pushed herself back to her feet. Her face had lost its color.

"Hazel, I’ll head to my apartment. We’ll leave later."

Maria parted her lips to object, but before she could speak, Betty was already making her way to the front door.

Outside the Thomson house, Betty staggered down the street toward her apartment."Ughhh, what the hell is happening to me?"

Her steps faltered. Instead of continuing home, she turned into a narrow alley, bracing herself against the wall, her hand still pressed firmly against her chest.

Then the memories, those that belonged to the original Betty, began to surge through her mind.

---

"Ah, ah. ah. ah! (Please, I beg you, don’t abandon me. I didn’t bully her, please believe me.)"

Teenage Betty’s voice cracked as she looked desperately at her father and brother, eyes shining with tears.

James averted his gaze, unwilling to meet her pleading stare. Damien’s lip curled into a furious sneer.

"We’ve had enough. We can’t let you stay here any longer. From petty slaps, now you’ve gone as far as injuring her head!"

---

"Ah... ahhh. (Mother, please, I swear I didn’t do it.)"

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING? Release my daughter’s hand!"

Emma rushed forward, prying Damien’s grip away and pulling Betty into her arms.

"James, how can you be so ruthless? She’s our daughter!"

James faltered under Emma’s glare, his eyes shifting aside. His voice came out low, almost defensive.

"Wife... I know she’s our daughter, but she’s old enough to live on her own now. We can’t allow her behavior to continue."

---

"No!"

Betty’s heart clenched as she watched her mother struggle against James’s arms, trying desperately to reach her. But he held Emma tightly by the waist, keeping her from breaking free.

Seated in the car, Betty forced a wavering smile and lifted her hand in farewell."Ah... ahhh. (I love you, Mother.)"

The car lurched forward. Emma’s anguished cry echoed behind it.

"James! Release me this instant! Where will my daughter go? She can’t even speak!"

---

SLAP!

"Hahaha! Look at this bitch, she’s the one who bullied Lilian, right?"

Betty’s head snapped to the side, her chin stinging red from the blow. Tears welled in her eyes as she looked helplessly at her classmates, who only stared back with mocking laughter.

Ah... ahhh... (Why is everyone blaming me? I didn’t do anything...)

The girl leading them, curly hair framing her smug face, crossed her arms and sneered.

"Hah. Look at her, struggling so desperately to speak. This is the punishment you deserve for bullying Lilian."

---

Ah... ahhh... (I want to see my mother. Why won’t anyone talk to me? I have no friends, I’m so lonely...)

Betty curled up on the sofa, hugging her knees tightly to her chest. Tears streamed down her cheeks, her face blotchy and red from the bullying at school.

Ding-dong.

Her head snapped up, eyes lighting with sudden hope.

Ah... ahhh! (Is it my mother? Did she finally come to see me?)

"Click."

The door creaked open, only for her fragile joy to shatter. Standing there was not her mother, but a stern man in a black suit, a leather briefcase in hand.

"Hello, Miss. I am the lawyer sent by your adoptive family," he said, his voice clipped and professional. "They’ve asked me to deliver these papers and require your signature."

Betty’s eyes widened, her face draining of color as she stared at the documents. Blood annulment papers. A cold declaration: she was no longer a daughter of the Thomson family, no inheritance, no name, nothing.

Her trembling fingers hovered above the page as the lawyer glanced at her stricken face, his expression softening ever so slightly. He lowered his gaze.

"Miss... these papers were issued after your father saw the recent footage. The one where you... appeared to be bullying the eldest miss with your friends."

---

At eighteen, Betty moved like a shadow through the aisles of the 7-Eleven, her face blank as she restocked shelves.

Her body was frail, malnourished from constant part-time jobs and sleepless nights of study. Despite her good grades, she was still beaten by classmates whose results were worse than hers.

"Madam, I’m leaving. The work is finished," she murmured.

The middle-aged woman at the counter waved her off without even looking."Leave, leave. Why do you insist on making announcements and hurting my head?"

Betty bowed slightly and walked out. The evening air was cool, but her expression never changed. She drifted down the sidewalk in silence, her steps steady but hollow, as though she were simply passing time until her life would end.

Then—screech.

A sharp noise snapped through the night. Two men stepped out, moving fast. One clamped a tissue over her nose.

Betty’s gaze flickered toward them, calm, detached, almost relieved. Her body went slack instantly, offering no resistance as they dragged her toward the waiting van.

She didn’t fight. She didn’t scream. She simply let herself be taken, as if her life was no longer hers to protect.

A single tear slid down her cheek.

Ah, ah, (Thank god i can be able to rest for more than one hour now)

---

"This is your home now. Until your father pays up, you’d better behave."

The fat kidnapper shoved Betty onto the creaking bed and turned to leave. But as his eyes swept the dim room, he froze.

"Huh? Who’s this little girl?" He squinted at the frail figure curled up against the wall. "Hey, bro, did you kidnap her, too?"

A thinner man stepped inside, glancing at the child before shaking his head."No. Not mine. But... it doesn’t matter. If we find out who her parents are, that’s more money in our pockets."

The fat man grinned, a coarse laugh rumbling from his throat."Ha! You’re right about that."

---

"Aunty... will we be able to leave from here?"

Sophia sat on Betty’s lap, her small hands clutching Betty’s sleeve as she asked with innocent eyes.

For the first time in a long while, Betty’s gaze softened with life. She gave a gentle smile, then picked up her notebook and wrote carefully:

{Yes, dear. We will. I promised you, didn’t I? Don’t worry. Can you tell me where your parents are?}

Sophia leaned forward, reading the words with some effort before shaking her head."No, Aunty... I don’t know who my parents are. I’ve been alone for as long as I can remember."

Betty’s eyes closed briefly, pain flickering across her face. When she opened them again, her expression was tender, filled with quiet resolve. She wrote slowly:

{Then you’re like me, dear. But it’s better that you never had to see or feel what I did. Don’t worry... from now on, I’ll treat you as my own.}

---

{Remember our plan, right? Don’t make any noise.}

Sophia nodded and quietly followed behind her. But as Betty edged toward the door, her elbow brushed a shelf—

Clink.

A glass bottle slipped and shattered against the floor.

Betty’s eyes widened in panic. In a split second, she scooped Sophia into her arms, wrapped her in the thin sheets on the bed, and scribbled furiously:

{Pretend you’re asleep. I’m the only one trying to escape. Just stay still, like you were sleeping soundly.}

The door slammed open."Huh? What the hell did you break, bitch?"

The fat man’s gaze swept the room. His eyes narrowed as he saw the shards of glass, then the broken lock. His face twisted with fury."How dare you! You bitch, I’ll teach you a lesson you’ll never forget!"

SLAP! SLAP! SLAP!

"Aghhhhhhhh! (It hurts!)"

The belt whistled through the air, lashing across her frail body. Each blow rang through the room. Betty clenched her teeth, wrapping her arms around Sophia, shielding her as best she could.

"Hah... remember this, whore. Don’t you ever try to run again."

With one final kick, the man tossed the belt aside and stormed out.

Tears streamed down Sophia’s cheeks as she clung desperately to Betty."Aunty..." she whispered, her small body trembling.

But Betty only held her tighter, taking every strike that man directed toward the child, never once loosening her protective embrace.

---------------------------

"Agghh..."

Betty gasped, her back pressed against the cold alley wall, chest heaving as if she had just surfaced from drowning.

"What... was that? Betty’s emotions? Hah... hah... but I already had these memories."

Her trembling hands gripped the bricks behind her as she forced herself upright.

’Back then... those memories were like something I only watched from afar. Distant. But now...’

Her breath caught, eyes wide with dawning realization.’Now, I can feel it. I can feel everything, as if I truly was that Betty who suffered.’