Chapter 2 He Tries Hard to Please His Family

• He used to believe he could become part of this family, that he could have his own parents, his own sisters, his own place among them. For a time, he poured every ounce of effort into making that dream come true, trying to win them over, tiptoeing around their feelings, always careful and on edge, desperately seeking approval.
• But how could anyone truly believe they could so easily blend into someone else's family?
• Joshua was an orphan who was raised in an orphanage. Then, when he turned fourteen, a couple named Maggie and David Fraser appeared, claiming to be his biological parents and declaring that he was their biological son. They produced a DNA test as indisputable proof and took him from the orphanage to the Fraser Residence.
• At the time, he was overwhelmed with joy. His heart raced with excitement, eager to embrace the life he had always dreamed of, so much so that he threw himself into it completely, doing everything in his power to fit in.
• No one understood just how deeply an orphan would crave a family, how desperately they long for parental love, how fiercely they yearn for a place they can call home. Back then, Joshua was like a traveler lost in the desert, who, upon suddenly stumbling upon an oasis, was filled with hope and joy.
• He couldn't wait to follow his biological parents back to their grand mansion, eager to become one of them. But what he didn't expect was the cold, hellish rejection that awaited him.
• His sisters and even his parents looked down on him. They saw him as a boy who had grown up in an orphanage, tainted by bad habits. They accused him of being untrustworthy, sneaky, and in need of strict discipline.
• During meals, they would scold him for being impolite, unhygienic, lacking proper manners, and failing to greet people properly. When he came home, they would reprimand him for not entering the house the 'right' way, sometimes even scolding him twice for the same act—once for stepping in with the wrong foot and then for something equally trivial.
• They forbade him from taking part-time jobs, saying it would tarnish the family's reputation. They told him he wasn't allowed to make friends, labeling his classmates as delinquents, people from disreputable backgrounds. They even stopped him from going out to have fun, fearing he might get into trouble.
• Sometimes, their contempt was so deep that they refused to touch any glass he had used or eat from any bowl or plate he had touched. They would throw fits, making it clear that he wasn't to touch their utensils at all.
• But these were minor grievances.
• The heart of the family was their youngest son, Frankie, the boy his parents had adopted after Joshua went missing. Frankie was the apple of their eye.
• Maggie and David had six daughters and one son together. For years, they had desperately hoped for a son, but their hopes remained unfulfilled until Joshua was finally born.
• Then, disaster struck. When he was lost, Maggie was so overcome with grief that she fainted from the sheer devastation. In their sorrow, the couple made the decision to adopt a son.
• Over the years, they poured all their love into this adopted son, treasuring him like a delicate flower and treating him as if even holding him too tightly would break him.
• Wendy, Shirley, Maddy, Judy, Indy, and Cassidy adored their adopted brother to no end. Whatever he wanted, they gave him without question. Everything seemed perfect until Joshua returned home.
• Yet, the tragic irony of it all was that even after finding their biological son, David and Maggie were too ashamed to openly acknowledge him. They felt that growing up in an orphanage had left Joshua with bad habits, making him an embarrassment to the family.
• They refused to take him out in public or introduce him to anyone, fearing it would damage the Fraser Family's reputation and affect the company's stock value.
• They even set conditions: if Joshua could rid himself of his "bad habits" and rank within the top thousand students in the city's exams, only then would they throw a grand banquet and formally announce his return to the Fraser Family, even placing his name on the family register.
• As an orphan, he was overjoyed by this promise. From that moment on, everything he did was driven by the hope of reaching that day.
• He worked tirelessly to win over his family, going out of his way to please his parents and sisters. He fetched water, poured tea, cooked meals, prepared snacks, and did all the household chores.
• He even tried to please his adoptive brother.
• All he wanted was to be accepted by the family.
• But it wasn't until his dying breath in a hospital bed, utterly alone, that he finally understood: No one had ever truly wanted him to come home.
• To the Fraser Family, he was nothing more than an outsider.
• The cruelest part of it all was that, on the day he lay dying from a sudden heart attack in a ward, the family was at home celebrating Frankie's birthday, singing songs and having a jolly good time.
• They knew full well that he was already hospitalized and recovering, yet they still made a big show of celebrating. It wasn't until he became a spirit that he saw his parents and sisters rush to the hospital upon hearing of his death. They hurried through the motions, barely taking the time to arrange a hasty funeral.
• It was all so careless, like burying some stray animal.
• What made it even more absurd was that even in his spirit form, he clung to the hope that when his parents received the news, they would feel regret, sorrow, or at least some pang of guilt