Chapter 2
"Daddy! Mommy! Jessica was so scared! A huge fire suddenly broke out," Jessica shouted.
"My dear baby, let me check if you're hurt," Lucy said.
"I'm not hurt. Luckily, this girl protected me from the fire," Jessica replied.
She wiped her nose and pointed at me.
Lucy set her down and walked to me.
"Thank you for protecting Jessica, kid. Are you hurt anywhere? Let me take a look," she said gently.
Seeing Lucy's gentle expression, I felt like a dream.
She had spoken to me in that same soft voice in my old life, too.
But after Jessica's face was ruined, all her warmth toward me disappeared. She became cold and distant.
"Anna, no matter how Jessica treats you, you should be grateful. You owe everything you have to the Shaw family," she'd said.
The longer I stayed with the Shaw family, the more I realized they all wore two faces.
"Mommy, her arm is hurt," Jessica said.
"Oh my! How did she get hurt so badly?" Lucy exclaimed.
She was so startled by the blisters on my arm that she stepped back in shock.
Luckily, John caught her from behind, so she didn't fall.
"Since you saved Jessica, why don't you come home with us and get some rest and heal well?" John said.
I hadn't expected that this time, when I was the one who got hurt, the Shaw family would still want to adopt me.
I quickly refused. "No, thank you. I don't want to leave the orphanage."
Alice James, the headmistress of our orphanage, was so anxious that she kept pulling at me.
"Summer, just say yes. If you go with them, you'll be able to stay in school," she urged.
I shook my head. I had no intention of having anything to do with the Shaw family ever again in this life.
"Hmph! Whatever, I wouldn't want to live with you anyway," Jessica said.
She stormed up to Eric.
Eric gave Jessica an indulgent smile, one I'd never seen from him before.
"Dad, if she doesn't want to come, let's not force her. Just give her some money to make up for it," Eric said.
I looked up, surprised, and gave Eric a surprised look.
Last time, it was he who kept urging John and Lucy to adopt me.
Why did he suddenly change his mind this time?
"That's right, Mr. Shaw. If you want to thank me for saving your daughter, why not donate some money to the orphanage to help fix up the place?" I said.
In the end, John and Lucy decided not to adopt me because of Eric's objection.
The orphanage got a generous donation of 300 thousand dollars, which was used to rebuild the house that had been burnt down.
And all the old wiring was replaced.
Alice still looked a little regretful about it.
"Summer, why are you so stubborn? Do you know how lucky you'd be if the Shaw family adopted you?" she sighed.
I shook my head. That kind of luck was more than I could afford.
"Mrs. James, I really don't want to leave all of you. Now that we have the money to rebuild, isn't that great?
"By the way, how's the little one who broke her leg?" I asked.
Alice tapped my forehead in mock anger.
"Still worrying about others, huh? You haven't even put any ointment on your arm today, have you? If you don't treat it properly, it'll scar," she said.
"It's okay. Long sleeves cover it," I replied.
"My silly kid. Others might not see it, but you will."
Yes. All those scars on me in the past, no one ever saw them but me.
"Mrs. James," that girl called out.
"Crystal, come here, sweetie. Summer was just asking about you," Alice said.
So, her name was Crystal.
In my old life, she'd only been at the orphanage a few days before she was burned to death.
By then, I'd already been taken in by the Shaw family, so I hardly remembered her at all.
I tapped on Crystal's head and asked, "Are your legs feeling better now?"
"Yeah, it's all good now. Thank you," Crystal said.
After that, Crystal became my little shadow. Wherever I went, she went too.
I asked Alice how Crystal came to the orphanage.
Alice told me she was abandoned at the orphanage's doorstep one winter.
It was snowing heavily that day. Crystal was curled up in a tiny ball, her small body already cold to the touch by the time anyone found her.
She got a fever for three days, and when she finally woke up, she'd lost all her memories.
Because she was found on a snowy day, they gave her the name Crystal.
"So, was I found in a summer?" I asked.
Alice smiled and ruffled my hair. "So clever you are."