I Thought 'Home' Meant Warmth Nope, Just a Doghouse... Till I'm the HEIR, And It's novel Chapter 13

Chapter 5

After Officer William left, Grandma quietly pulleit Mom out into the hallway.

Grandma rubbed her hands together nervously, pacing back and forth for a long moment before finally speaking “Don’t you go on TV all the time?”

Tould you go on TV and ask people to help find Dawn?”

Mom! Are you out of your mind?” Mom looked at Grandma like she’d lost it. “That’s my jobr”

“You think I can just throw up random missing person alerts whenever I want?”

“Besides, is Dawn even missing? She’s just throwing a tantrum!”

“You saw for yourself-you called the cops and they found nothing! And now you’ve dragged this whole circus to my workplace!”

“What, dragging it to the hospital isn’t enough for you? You want to drag it onto TV, make it national news-then you’ll be happy?”

Mom continued her tirade, berating Grandma for her “ridiculous behavior” today.

But Grandma’s expression suddenly turned serious.

“Didn’t you say you wanted to get Lily into surgery as soon as possible?”

“If you find Dawn, you’ll have those two bags of blood you’re missing.”

“What’s easier-finding Dawn, or flying all over the country begging strangers for Rh-negative blood?”

“The blood you need is right there. You’re just not using it.”

“You can afford to wait around. Can Lily?”

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Seeing Mom momentarily speechless, Grandma softened her tone.

“Even if Dawn really is hiding on purpose because she doesn’t want to donate-she’ll come out if you’re the one asking.”

“Isn’t that how it’s always been?”

“Every time you’ve told her to come to the hospital to donate for Lily, she’s shown up. Day or night, in class or out, on her period or not-you’ve never once

asked, and she’s always come anyway, hasn’t she?”

As Grandma lísted off every single time I’d come to the hospital to donate blood, my chest tightened with emotion.

I couldn’t help it-I wrapped my arms around Grandma from behind and sobbed into her back.

Grandma had always loved me. She really had.

After Grandma left, Mom finally agreed to ask about my whereabouts during tomorrow’s interview.

I remembered that interview.

It was something Grandma had arranged to try to mend the relationship between Mom and me. On the day of Grandpa’s funeral, using Grandpa’s old connections, she’d managed to secure an interview with a small media outlet.

The interview theme was called “Childhood.” Grandma had chosen the topic herself.

During the taping, the host played a video.

It started from the day I was born and went all the way up to when I was seven-footage Mom had taken of me.

In the video, I was babbling “Mama” for the first time.

The first time I tried to walk and fell down, you could hear Mom’s bright laughter behind the camera.

On my first birthday, I was wearing a pink princess dress Mom bought me, humming along to the birthday song while nestled in her arms.

The first time I successfully used spoon, I looked at Mom with such pride.

On my first day of school, I clung to Mom’s leg, crying so hard i had snot bubbles.

The first time I performed on stage at school, I snuck Mom’s lipstick and pointed a huge red mouth on myself.

1 had no idea Mom and I once had so many beautiful memories together.

As the frames flickered past, one by one, my vision blurred with tears.

I couldn’t help but turn to look at Mom.

Het expression slowly softened. In certain moments, there was even a flicker of tenderness.

It was like she’d returned, just for a moment, to the person she was in those videos.

At the end of the interview, the host asked Mom if she had anything else she wanted to say.

Mom silently shook her head.

In that instant, my emotions were a tangled mess.

Part of me desperately wanted Mom to look for me. Another part was terrified of what would happen if she actually found me.

But in the end, it seemed like Mom had chosen to let it go.