A Family’s Unfair Preference Chapter 06
That phone call ended with Dad flying into a defensive rage, demanding to know, “Why do you always have to compare yourself to your sister?”
I simply told him I was busy and hung up the phone.
I wasn’t lying; I was genuinely preparing for my transfer.
In my past life, I spent all my time acting as Elin’s assistant. After getting married, I was trapped in this city by my husband and son.
Sometimes I couldn’t help but think that the little Zora, who used to look at other people’s happy families with such deep envy, could never have imagined that the family she so desperately yearned for would grow up to become the very cage that trapped her.
But now, the caged bird had finally grown the wings to fly far away.
Their unprompted phone call had also completely snapped me awake.
I really was still subconsciously comparing myself to Elin.
The growing pains that had plagued my entire past life had seeped through my veins, bleeding right into this one.
But I truly couldn’t let myself be trapped by their so-called “love” anymore.
Once the project wrapped up, I grabbed my suitcase once again, took the recommendation letters from my mentor and seniors, and boarded the train to Lunaton.
It was home to Veyland’s largest research base.
Countless brilliant minds flocked there from all over the country, colliding to spark incredible innovations in technology.
Out there, no one cared about background, status, looks, or pleasantries.
Everywhere I turned, disheveled researchers were buried in tough, mind-bending formulas.
After joining them, I quickly became one of those agonizing souls.
Each morning, I no longer had to stress over picking out stylish, proper outfits.
At meal times, there was no need to chew slowly or strictly observe dining etiquette.
Here, time was the most precious commodity.
To save time for a few more calculations, I chopped off the long hair I had painstakingly grown out.
My clothes were always the simplest — usually a white T-shirt stained with machine grease.
If my parents saw me, they would definitely be disgusted and say I was bringing shame to the Harts.
But I only felt an unprecedented sense of relief.
I was different from Elin to begin with, destined never to be the perfect heiress they envisioned.
This simple life was perfect for me.
Yet for some reason, my parents — who rarely contacted me in my previous life — called my workplace time and time again.
Every time they called, I couldn’t help but wish our work had stricter privacy rules.
The time wasted answering their calls was enough for me to solve several more formulas.
The truth was, their calls never held anything important anyway.
It was either dry, superficial greetings or treating me like a sounding board for everything happening at home.
I just couldn’t understand it.
When I just wanted to treat them with the same polite distance they had always shown me, why couldn’t they just stop bothering me?
What confused me even more was that they kept asking when I’d come back home.
I truly couldn’t imagine how I was supposed to sit at the same table with their family of three, acting as if nothing had happened.
So I brushed them off time and time again, telling them I was too busy with my experiments.
Unexpectedly, they actually showed up in Lunaton with bags of luggage to find me.