Emergence Novel Chapter 05
The truth was, Mom and I never had a particularly close relationship.
Mom was strong-willed and ambitious, determined to turn me into someone exceptional. She was practically a copy of Damian.
Her most frequent refrain was, “Look at Damian. He’s good at everything. You need to listen to him more if you want to improve.”
Later, when she found out Damian and I were together, she kept hammering it into me.
“Being with Damian is good for you. With your qualities, you won’t find anyone better.”
I came from a single-parent household. Over the years, even though Mom loved tearing me down, she still raised me. Because of that, I always obeyed her.
Yet this time, I wanted to be true to myself.
The days away from Damian felt bright and clear.
Even my editor praised me. “Carefree, your writing has been exceptionally good lately.”
“Carefree” was my pen name.
When I chose it years ago, I hoped I could live carefree and unburdened, no longer trapped by other people’s judgments. But the lingering insecurity from my past still crept into my life in every crack it could find.
The first time I went out in a short skirt, I felt uncomfortable and kept tugging the hem down.
Lused to wear short skirts before, but Damian always said my thighs were too thick and that it looked terrible.
After that, I stopped wearing them. But now, Lily slapped my hand away. “Stop pulling at it. This length looks great on you!”
“Your legs are long and slim. You should show them off with confidence!”
I ate slowly, preferring to chew carefully. Damian always scolded me for it.
He would say, “Eating this slowly wastes precious time. You’re so useless.”
When I once again noticed I was eating slowly and holding everyone up, I instinctively apologized to Lily.
Lily looked at me in surprise. “What are you apologizing for?”
“Eating slowly helps with digestion! It’s a good habit. You don’t need to feel ashamed of it.”
Under Lily’s constant encouragement, I gradually became more confident.
I started reevaluating myself. I graduated from a top university, had a job that could support me, was tall, had a good personality,
Lily told me, “Elara, you really are a wonderful and talented person.”
Even the lady from the restaurant downstairs praised me. “When you first moved here, you always looked so sad. I wondered why such a pretty girl never smiled.”
“Look at you now. You smile so much more, and you look so beautiful!”
She said this on a sunny day after the rain. The clouds cleared, the sun peeked out from behind them, and the puddles on the ground reflected rainbows.
Once I had confidence, even the world became brighter.
I wrote, I lived my life, and the wounds from ten years with Damian gradually healed.
That was until I ran into him again.
I saw Damian at the production meeting for “Undercover.”
My novel “Undercover” was being adapted for film and television. We were selecting a production company to handle the project. Today’s meeting was about choosing the right one.
I did not expect Damian’s production company to be competing for it.
I planned to pretend I had not seen him, but Damian called out to me.
“Elara, what are you doing here?”
Before I could answer, realization dawned on his face. “I get it. You must be a fan of Carefree and snuck in here!”
I stared at him. What did he say?
Damian muttered to himself, “Carefree is talented, but Elara, give it up. No matter how hard you try to learn from her, you’ll never reach her level.”
When I said nothing, his tone softened slightly. “Elara, what I said before did hurt you, but I was also telling the truth.”