Zoey didn't talk much after signing the contract and let every conversation Kate brought up to string her along dry up.
At the end of the day, her parents were strongly convinced she was a delinquent and immediately disapproved of her in their heart.
Kate was immediately elated when she saw this. To deepen their disappointment, she brought up complex mathematics and physics formulas that she knew in a bid to make a fool out of Zoey.
That was when Henry remembered to ask.
"So Zoey, how is your schoolwork?"
The words had barely left his mouth when Gina reached for Kate's hand across the table, rubbing the back of her hand affectionately.
"Your sister isn't doing too bad. She's at the top of her class and has the praise of every teacher in her school."
"Remind me again, Kate, didn't you come first place in the district's science competition last year?"
A flicker of triumph flashed past Kate's eyes as she glanced at Zoey before she lowered her face shyly.
"Mom, it's nothing to talk about over dinner. And don't use such complex words. Sister has been in the countryside all these years. I don't think she even knows what a science competition is."
Henry huffed and straightened his back.
"Though she has lived in the countryside all her life, she still has the family's genes flowing through her veins. Unless she's just a dullard through and through."
Gina immediately nudged him.
"Don't talk like that, Henry. It's alright if Zoey isn't doing too well at her studies. As long as she doesn't come last in her class, there's still room for improvement."
Kate sat up and glanced at Zoey squarely, her cheeks drawing beck into a bitter smile as she assured them.
"Dad, Mom, don't worry. Since it's all my fault I got the education meant for sister, I'll make it my responsibility to teach her everything I know."
At this, Gina hurriedly shook her head in refusal and held her tighter.
"Baby, you don't have to feel that way. What happened with you two is the nurse's fault. I thought we've gone over that so many times."
Kate pretended to shift uncomfortably and lowered her eyes again.
"Mom and Dad understand so much, but you're not sister. Though she doesn't make it obvious, she must resent me a lot for the years of hardship I made her endure."
"Tutoring her to the best of my knowledge is the least I can do to make her resent me less. So please, let me do this."
Though she said this in a tender and shaky voice that sounded like she was about to tear up, she gagged inwardly.
Henry and Gina naturally exchanged glances, then looked at Zoey, who hadn't said a word the entire time.
Their faces instantly cracked in disbelief.
This ungrateful girl.
Kate was making such a big sacrifice for something that wasn't her fault, and she just sat there, thankless.
If the DNA result hadn't said she was really their daughter, they wouldn't have any problem believing Kate was their biological daughter.
What an unfair world.
A bum in the countryside got blessed with a daughter with such wonderful manners, while their biological daughter was nothing but an ungrateful brat.
"I don't want to go to school." Just as they were cussing her out in their minds, Zoey's calm voice filtered into their ears.
Kate almost cackled.
What? I haven't even begun yet and you're chickening out already?
I'd be damned if I let a good opportunity to show how worthless you are to our parents go to waste!
With that, she dramatically shoved her chair backward and got up to hold Zoey by the arm.
"Don't say things like that, sister. You may have lived as a bum in the countryside for 18 years, but that doesn't mean you should continue living as one. You can't!"
"If you're scared you'd find it difficult to assimilate the things I said earlier, you have nothing to worry about because you have me."
"If you try not to loathe me as much as you do now, I'll be able to tutor you until you're at the top of the class!"
Henry leaned back on his seat and harrumphed in disdain, "Hmph! Don't try so hard. Since she has no desire to go to school, just tutor her so she doesn't fail completely."
"Once she graduates high school, she'll see for herself what useless grades bring to their lazy owner!"
He had just finished speaking when a tired hiss filled the air, causing all three of them to whip their heads toward Zoey in surprise.
At the three pair of eyes on her, she paused, realizing she had hissed out loud.
Tugging her right ear, she pressed her lips into a thin line and stared back at them blandly.
Such talkatives. Every single one of them.
How could people talk this much? The last time she saw anyone talk this much was on television.
As Zoey complained inwardly, Kate was trying so hard not to smile, but her cheeks continued drawing back without her consent.
Hence, she turned it into an angry smile and scoffed righteously, "Sister, did you just hiss at Dad?"
Zoey swallowed and lowered her eyes apologetically.
"I'm just tired. We've been sitting here for two hours. Why do we take this long to eat?"
She was genuinely curious.
Why spend two hours at the dining table when you could be doing something else?
Life was already too short to spend doing meaningless things.
Gina forced on a smile and parted her lips to retort, "We take our time to eat so we can chew properly. When you chew properly, your food digests better and you don't get stomach…"
There it was, the boring lecture she didn't need.
Out of habit, Zoey pulled the chair back and left the dining room, leaving everyone speechless.
She didn't realize what she had done until she was right outside, ringing someone in the countryside.
"I told you the next time you can call me is in 90 days. I'm hanging up now and I'll blacklist your number too." A woman's impatient voice hissed as soon as the call connected.
Zoey had the phone on speaker as she began complaining, "Beautful lady, can't you… kidnap me? Just put a ransom on my head. One hundred million or more."
"These people won't care one bit about me once they hear such an amount and immediately forget they have a daughter."
"Eh, no. I just got rid of you. I don't want you back." The woman quickly refused.
Zoey bit down on her lower lip.
"This is why I have such a nasty temper. I'm so used to people being straight to the point that I walked out on my blabbering biological mother mid-sentence."
"That's it. Get out of my phone."
And the line went dead.
She immediately tried to call again, only for the call to abruptly end.
Casually blocking someone she had seen every day for almost two decades.
What a heartless woman.
Slipping the phone into her pocket, she reached into the other one with her hand and took out a cigarette to light.
However, a hand suddenly reached out and snatched it.
Frowning, she looked to the side to see a man in a wheelchair giving her a stern gaze.
"Don't you see the 'no smoking' sign in front of you?"
Indeed, she had missed it in her fit of rage.
Glancing around, she saw the midnight black Audi parked a few meters away from them and stared down at him again.
"Is that your car?"
The man first followed her gaze before nodding.
"Yes, why?"
Tinting her head to the side, she smiled in satisfaction seeing no sign around it.
"It doesn't have a 'no smoking' sign, can I smoke inside it instead?"
This shamelessness… the man was bewildered.