Only a few years had passed since then, but everything had changed drastically.

I was no longer Mom and Dad's "precious baby daughter" who needed to be spoiled. Instead, they painted me as a jealous, petty, and unreasonable brat.

I looked Dad straight in the eye and said, "Well, I'm sorry that you gave birth to a jealous, petty daughter like me. But it's fine now. I'm not your daughter anymore!"

Dad's face turned dark.

"I've already told you to put that attitude away! What else do you want from us? I see now that your Mom and I have spoiled you too much, Irene Sherman!"

I scoffed and said, "Well then, we'll just go our separate ways from now on."

With that, I turned and continued packing my things. Dad just stared at me incredulously. Then, he grabbed me by my arm and yelled at me.

"Are you out of your damn mind, Irene Sherman? How dare you say something like that to us!

"When have your mom and I ever treated you wrong? We've raised you for years! And now, you're planning to cut off relations with us because of a stupid persimmon? Do you not have a conscience?

"How dare you walk out on us like this during Christmastime! Are you trying to make us look like fools in front of the neighbors?"

I flung his arm off and iterated clearly, "You're the ones making a fool of yourselves first!"

Just then, Dad suddenly rushed out in a hurry. When he came back, he had a whole handful more persimmons in his hand. He flung them at me and yelled, "Fine! You've never eaten a persimmon before? Eat them all! Finish everything!

"You want to leave? You'd better finish every single one of them before you even think about it again!"

His outburst got everyone crowding around us at once.

Isaac Sherman, my older brother, finally spoke up. However, he only continued to chide me and pin the blame on me throughout.

"Irene Sherman! Can't you behave yourself for once? Must you go and get Dad angry like this? Look at what you've done to the family!"

His wife, Cathy Morrison, chimed in and said, "He's right, Irene. You should have just kept your mouth shut and put up with it. Mom and Dad are getting older now. You should stop causing trouble for them!"

My two nephews saw Isaac and Cathy chiding me and began shouting at me, "You're a bad aunt! You're a very bad aunt!"

Meanwhile, my younger brother, Ivan Sherman, wasn't as "poised" as they were and just shoved me hard instead.

"The entire household has been thrown into chaos ever since you came back, Irene! When will you finally realize that it's all because of you? Viv would never have acted like a petty bitch like you!"

Vivian pretended to talk sense into him. "Don't be like that, Ivan… I know that Irene never meant for any of this to happen.

"Irene, hurry up and apologize to Mom and Dad. We'll just let bygones be bygones after that."

She then came up to me to tug me along, and I neatly stepped aside. However, a split second later, she threw herself flat on the floor.

I chuckled coldly. Her clumsy acting was simply laughable.

Yet, everyone else in the family fell for it.

They immediately went up to her and picked her up from the ground, asking her if she was alright.

Vivian had tears in her eyes.

"I'll be fine. It's not Irene's fault. I was just too clumsy and tripped over nothing. Please don't blame Irene for it."

Her words only stoked their anger.

"Irene Sherman! How could you be such a vicious bitch?" Mom yelled at me in disappointment. "You've disappointed me!"

I ignored them completely and began eating all the persimmons on the ground. Then, I turned around to face them and calmly said, "I've finished the persimmons. That means I can leave now, right?"

A complex look appeared in everyone's eyes at once. They never expected that someone who had once been so docile and obedient would suddenly become so stubborn and determined this time.

Mom then fell to the ground with a loud wail and began to sob.

"How could you do this to us? What have I ever done wrong? Where did I go wrong to have given birth to such a horrible and vicious daughter like you? I don't want to live anymore!" Mom screamed before rushing over to the table to bash her head against the corner.

Everyone quickly held her back.

Isaac's eyes were bloodshot as he glared at me.

"Irene Sherman! Are you happy only if you completely destroy and tear the family apart like this?"

Meanwhile, Mom kept trying to kill herself, and the rest of the family hurriedly brought her out of the room.

Soon, only Vivian and I were the only ones left.

She pretended to be concerned about me as she said, "You know, Irene, I never thought that everyone in your family would actually stand up for me against you over such a minor grievance.

"I guess you can pin the blame on me all you want, but you really should stop making Mom and Dad mad. They won't be able to take it."

Then, she leaned closer to my ear and whispered, "But don't worry. I'll take good care of them in your stead. After all, I know more about their likes and preferences than you, their own biological daughter.

"They even promised me that I'd get your share of the inheritance once they'd claimed eminent domain compensation from the government."

I was shocked. I never thought Mom and Dad had already gone that far.

At that point, I realized that all of the care and concern I'd shown them all this time had been nothing but a joke.

Whatever. I didn't care anymore.

However, I didn't think that Vivian would suddenly use the same trick again.

She messed up her hair and began slapping herself loudly while shrieking, "Please, Irene! Don't hit me anymore! I don't want the persimmons anymore! I'll apologize! I'll apologize for everything!"

Ivan was the first to rush in. He didn't even bother getting things straight before kicking me to the floor.

"How dare you lay a finger on Vivian, Irene, you bitch!"

Isaac and Cathy were the next to rush to us. Isaac slapped me hard and yelled, "You're being more and more unreasonable, Irene Sherman! How dare you hit Vivian!"

Meanwhile, Cathy helped the shivering Vivian sit up in the corner and comforted her.

"It's alright, Viv. It's going to be alright. I'm here."

Mom also rushed in afterward and grabbed me by my hair, yanking at it harshly.

"Irene Sherman! How dare you hit Viv! I'm going to kill you!"

Dad then pinned me to the ground and yelled, "You damn bitch! How dare you do such a thing to Viv just because you thought we let you off easy! Get down on your knees and apologize to Vivian this instant!"

Then, he yanked me up and slammed me down harshly on my knees. My bones nearly cracked from the impact as it slammed against the hard floor.

I glared at the crowd of people who'd been my family for the first 20 years of my life, now threatening and beating me up all for the sake of an outsider, and felt my heart turn to stone.

I wiped the blood from the corner of my lips and glared daggers at them.

"I'm going to call the police! Not a single one of you is getting out alive!"

Isaac was even more enraged by this. He kicked me hard in the back and thundered, "The police! To hell with that, you stubborn old bitch! I'm going to fucking beat you black and blue!"

He'd kicked me so hard and so suddenly that I took the full impact and landed on the floor on my chin. Blood immediately poured from my face.

The commotion was so loud that the neighbors began inquiring at the door, rushing in to stop the fight.

"You can't do this! You're going to kill her at this rate!"

However, Dad didn't care.

"Stay out of my business! What's the big deal about teaching my own daughter a lesson?"

He then turned to me and said, "You had better grovel and beg Vivian for forgiveness before we even consider forgiving you. If not, we're going to teach you another lesson!"

I slowly got back up and spat a mouthful of blood on the floor.

"Over my dead body!"

Dad flew into another rage, raising his hand to cuff me.

I shut my eyes, bracing for the punch.

However, a split second later, I only heard the sound of Dad's painful screech.