Rejected by My Billionaire Parents, Accepted by Harvard

My rich parents found me while I was crouched at the edge of the field, checking the wheat.

They looked at me covered in sweat and mud, and the disgust made their voices shake a little.

"You stay home and farm. We'll come back for you in a while."

But the wheat was almost ripe now, and they still hadn't shown up.

Grandma Sullivan packed me a sack of home-grown country goods and put me on the slow rural train to the city.

By the time I reached the James house, they were in the middle of celebrating their fake heiress, Theresa James, getting into college.

They saw me standing there with my woven plastic sack, worn out from the road.

Wanda James's brow creased before she could stop it.

"Victoria Sullivan? Didn't we tell you we'd come get you once things settled down?"

Off to the side, Theresa's eyes went red.

"It's because we were busy celebrating me getting into college that things got delayed. You won't blame me, will you?"

Wanda immediately pulled Theresa into her arms, all tenderness, while the look she turned on me was full of distaste.

Jayden James took all of this in, and his voice came out cold.

"Couldn't wait to come live the good life in the city, could you? That's the countryside for you. Not an ounce of backbone."

Calmly, I picked up my sack, stepped around them, and went inside.

Before Grandma put me on the train, she'd said:

"Vicky, you're about to start college. Think of it as a chance to get used to the city ahead of time."

I'd nodded, doing the math in my head.

A trip to see a bit of the world was fine. I'd be back right when the wheat ripened.

1.

Watching me walk into the house without any reaction at all, right at home.

Jayden and Wanda's faces couldn't hold their composure.

Wanda strode in front of me.

"Victoria, what do you think you're doing?"

I looked at her, puzzled.

"Coming home, obviously."

"Aren't you two my birth parents?"

Wanda's face flushed red in an instant.

Jayden let out a cold snort and led the way inside.

"Now that you're back in the James house, drop that small-minded, petty act of yours."

I pressed my lips together and said nothing.

I picked up the sack and started in.

But Theresa let out a shriek.

"Sis, what's in that sack of yours?"

"Mom works so hard taking care of the house all day."

"You shouldn't bring those filthy things into the house."

I stopped. Watching Theresa's exaggerated show, I lowered my head.

But my hand gripped the sack tighter.

"This is my luggage."

"And it's the local goods my grandma sent for you."

Wanda let out a mocking laugh.

"What good could there possibly be from the countryside? Don't go stuffing all your junk into my house."

I opened my mouth to explain.

These were actually dried lily buds and wild mushrooms Grandma had sun-dried herself, along with cured bacon.

They were farm-raised pork she'd gone out of her way to have the butcher set aside for her.

She had said:

"We don't have anything fine at home, but bring these country goods so your parents can have a taste of something fresh."

Back then, I'd stood there with my head down.

"I don't want to go."

"They know I'm out here, and they never once came to find me."

Grandma had sighed.

"Maybe something got in the way?"

"Go and see for yourself!"

"Think of it as seeing the world. You've been with me all this time and hardly ever gone to the city."

"Listen to Grandma. It never hurts to get out and see more."

She packed my luggage, and she even tucked my college acceptance letter against my chest.

"Take it along, and let your parents see it too. It'll make them happy."

Looking at the eager hope in Grandma's eyes, I nodded.

But, just as expected, things turned out exactly as I'd imagined.

The Jameses clearly wanted nothing to do with the biological daughter who'd grown up in the countryside.

The last thread of hope in me was gone too.

I clutched that acceptance letter tighter and lost any desire to take it out at all.

I lifted my head, cold, and the words that came out were as icy as theirs.

"Right, what good could I possibly have?"

"After all those years in the countryside, surviving to grow up is already something."