Chapter 6 Why Am I Treated Unfairly?

• That day, we entered my brother’s car and along the way, he continuously cajoled me into believing that the workplace was great and the pay was lucrative. He also emphasized the effort he took to seek this job interstate for me. After completing my outstation job at Seaview for a year, I would be promoted to manager once I was transferred back here.
• He spoke grandly of this job interstate and the promotion to a manager but as I looked at the pretentious stare of my kin, I couldn’t contain the dejected feeling that welled up within me. Both of us were the biological children of our parents but why was I the one selected to be sold off as a mine worker? Why was I the one to be imprisoned? It was a natural instinct for an animal to protect its cub but my parents and family were completely heartless.
• At that point, I vowed that if they came to their senses and realized their mistake, then I would let bygones be bygones. However, if they intended on inflicting hurt on me, then I would not stand by and suffer this silently!
• Similarly, I would ask my parents seriously for the reason behind their unfairness for all these years!
• In the afternoon, we arrived in town and came to the sales office to purchase a property for my brother. The deposit for the property was paid and at that moment, he actually regarded himself as Annon Hushton. He signed all of the contracts as Annon and handed over the identification card for Annon Hushton too.
• After all of the paperwork was completed, we went to have dinner at a restaurant and during the meal, my brother called the recruiter again to come and pick me up from the restaurant entrance.
• He took me for a fool indeed. How could a recruiter possibly come and pick their recruitee up from the entrance of a restaurant instead of meeting up at a recruitment agency? These people were evidently human traffickers.
• I put down my utensils and grabbed my brother’s bag before saying, "I’ve had my fill. If you’ve nothing else on, then I’ll be on my way."
• After I had said that, I turned on my back to leave but at that moment, my father banged the table and spoke in a cold, menacing voice, "Where are you going? The recruiter will be here shortly, so you have to stay here and wait for him! You can’t leave!"
• My brother also stood up too and he grabbed me by my collar from the back and said, "Why did you take my bag? Put it down!"
• In response, I lifted my head and took a deep breath. After I had finally calmed down, I then turned around to look at him and revealed a pained smile. "This is my bag, Henry. This contains my personal identification, my qualifications, and even the sales and purchase agreement which has my name on it. How can this be your bag? Can you prove that it's yours?"
• "You b*stard!" Instantly, my brother’s eyes widened and they flushed red with anger. He gnashed his teeth and yelled at me, "From today onward, you’re Henry Hushton! I’m Annon Hushton. If you dare to expose this to anyone at all, I’ll definitely teach you a lesson you'll never forget!"
• "Henry, you don’t get to decide this. We’re living in a world with jurisdiction, so we have to show proof to prove our respective identities." My palms were breaking out in cold sweat due to my fright. The terror inflicted by my family, especially my brother with his hideous and menacing aura, continued to give me shivers.
• However, I knew that I had to fight back. After all, Master Campbell mentioned to me before that there were some things that merely seemed terrifying but in fact, they were not. As long as one took a brave step forward then they might experience something different.
• At that point, I chose to trust Master Campbell’s words and I mustered all of my courage as I practically had to fight for my life. “We can bring the policemen with us to head back to our village and get our neighbors to identify which one of us is Annon!”
• In fact, there was essentially no need to judge us by our appearances. Henry and I had grown up in the village since we were kids and the villagers could clearly tell us apart by our voices. It was easy for them to identify the mousey and timid Annon from Henry, who was always insolent and full of savageness.
• As soon as my family heard my words, they all panicked. That was because they had always known me to be a doormat and I was a slave who never went against their wishes. My father tried to exert authority over me threateningly, so he rose from his seat and grabbed me around the collar. "Are you done with kicking up a fuss? Both of you are my children, so I get to decide which one of you is Annon!"
• Meanwhile, I forcefully pushed his hand aside, after which he tumbled backward upon being shoved by me. "Dad, you’re the one being ridiculous! After being imprisoned for five years and being apart from this family during that time, I finally realized that my life shouldn’t be dictated by you guys! Besides, the identification card and qualifications in this bag are under my name. I’m just getting back what’s mine so that’s quite fair, isn’t it?"
• At that point, I paused for a moment before continuing, "As for the property, I’ll take that as compensation from you guys for the life in prison I was subjected to for the past five years. This is quite reasonable, right?"
• "You b*stard! I’ll teach you a lesson you won’t ever forget!" At this moment, my father was angered beyond himself and he grabbed a plate from the table to fling at me. Henry also took the opportunity to grab a chair to smash me with it as he tried to grab the bag from me.
• "We’re in a restaurant right now and if you lay hands on me, the staff will definitely call the cops immediately!” I tried hard to overcome my fear and forget about my trembling feet as I kept my eyes on them. “If we end up in the police station, then you won’t be able to handle the consequences! I’ll expose the truth of how you guys framed me into being imprisoned and made me take the rap for Henry. I’ll also expose Henry for impersonating me and attending university in my place. All of these are serious offenses and the three of you would be imprisoned for at least ten years for all of your crimes!"
• At that point, they paused in their movements and I also felt sweat trickle down my back. Suddenly, my mother stumbled to the ground and she wailed while clutching my thigh. "Annon! How can you be so senseless?! We’re your family members! Your brother has arranged for such a great job for you and the pay’s six thousand a month. You can’t treat us like this!"
• Meanwhile, I looked at my mother’s pretentious yet discomposed look and I sniffled while saying, "Mom, it should be way more than six thousand and it should be close to eight thousand, right? Besides, all of the money will be deposited into Henry’s bank account. As for me, I’ll be tricked into going into the mines at Seafield and there’s a high chance that I’ll have to spend the rest of my life there, am I right?"
• "You little b*stard! How dare you eavesdrop on us!" Henry lost his temper once again and grabbed the chair to whack me with it.
• "Well, you guys have no qualms about doing this to me, so why can’t I listen in on your conversation?! Henry, I dare you to lay hands on me! You can try and see what the consequences are!" This was the first time ever that I had gone against my brother and I stared at him coldly.
• The surrounding air suddenly felt quite tense. Once all of the pretentious acts were exposed and every single dirty deed was revealed in public, their faces flushed red and stung with shame.
• My mother was the only one relatively shameless and she swiftly turned into her default brash country bumpkin self. She clutched at my thigh and shook them repeatedly. "Annon, you can’t do this to us! Whatever it is, we were the ones who raised you and brought you up since you were a child. If you take this property for yourself, then we won’t be able to survive! We no longer have any land and we have an eighty thousand debt, so your actions are just pushing us to the brink of death!"
• "Mom, when you guys framed me into being imprisoned and tried to sell me off to the mines, why didn’t you guys consider that you were pushing me to the brink of death too? Do you know the extent of what I went through in order to survive all of these years?"
• As soon as I brought this up, I couldn’t control my tears and I gripped the bag in my hand tightly as I asked them with clenched teeth. "Why do you treat Henry so well while I’m always subjected to unfairness? I want an answer to this. If you give me an answer that pleases me, maybe I can return this sale and purchase agreement to you!"
• My father smashed the plate he was holding onto the ground upon hearing my words and he stood upright to yell at me, "That’s because you bring misfortune to our family! We would not be living such a despondent life if it wasn’t because of your existence! We should have aborted you back then! You should not have been given the chance to live!"
• "Stop that!" My mother stood up while the tears streamed down her face and she mentioned the past as she sobbed.
• Back then, my brother was their only child and my parents held jobs at the county-operated factory. Although they were not exactly well-off, they were relatively respected by the other villagers. After that, they insisted on giving birth to me, their second child, although it was largely discouraged according to the regulations back then. They had to pay a huge penalty to have me, which ended up depleting their savings. Furthermore, they lost their jobs because of this too. From then on, our family had suffered a huge setback.
• That was why they had blamed the setback that the family suffered all these years on me and they had neglected me and vented their anger on me.
• However, I wanted them to tell me what I did wrong. After all, I didn’t ask to be born.
• I clenched my teeth as the tears streamed down my face and I glared at them ferociously. "Is this even my fault? You guys gave birth to me and yet you didn’t raise me properly but vented your anger at me instead. How is this fair to me? Dad, Mom, I’m a human being too. I’m not an animal and neither am I cattle waiting to be slaughtered by you!"
• "You b*tch! You were the one who insisted on giving birth to him back then! I told you that he was a monster. Look! The monster’s seeking revenge now!" My father felt guilty, so he didn’t dare to target me but he turned to slap my mom across the face.
• As for Henry, his shifty eyes glanced from left to right before he leaned close to our father’s ears and whispered something to father. Shortly after that, he took our father’s cell phone and walked out of the room.
• Henry was a conniving man and he was always plotting his way so he definitely was up to something nasty as he left with the phone.