Part 3The Divorce Test

"Child Support Payment... Supplemental Agreement?"

"Hazel, what are you doing?"

I cleared my throat and said expressionlessly:

"According to the law, if the non-custodial parent fails to make regular child support payments after a divorce, the child has the right to demand the arrears."

"Dad, all these years, I have never received a single transfer from you in my bank account."

My father immediately panicked. He stiffened his neck and roared:

"I transferred that money to your mother's account!"

I turned to look at the woman beside me, who was slowly lowering her head.

"Mom, did you ever receive Dad's transfers?"

All these years, my mother and I had lived frugally, scraping by in absolute squalor.

She used to be a full-time housewife. After my father left, she worked odd jobs here and there, her income highly unstable.

We moved into a smaller, run-down, subdivided apartment. When our clothes tore, we patched them and kept wearing them. We only bought groceries late at night when the wilted produce went on clearance.

Our quality of life plummeted, and the child support we were supposed to receive every month was nowhere to be seen.

Seeing my mother stay silent, I smiled.

"Or is it that you actually snuck over to Dad's place to eat and sleep every single day, keeping me completely in the dark?"

"You guys lived in a big house while leaving me in a cramped, drafty, subdivided room."

"While you were eating delicacies, I was meticulously calculating how to save pennies just to barely fill my stomach."

I was going to continue, but my father suddenly slammed his hand on the table and barked:

"What kind of nonsense are you spouting, girl?!"

"Your mother and I divorced a long time ago. Why would she come looking for me?"

"Furthermore, when we got divorced, we agreed that I wouldn't need to pay your child support!"

I nodded as if I understood, playing along with his words:

"If that's the case, then bring out that green divorce certificate and let me see it again."

"Let me confirm that you two actually did get divorced back then."

"Hazel!"

My mother's voice cracked. She was clearly panicking.

Back then, they dared to flash that green booklet in front of me because I was too young to realize the certificate was a fake prop.

If she brought it out now, she would immediately be exposed.

My mother subtly covered her purse, trying to sound calm:

"Your father and I have remarried now. The divorce certificate was taken back by the civil affairs bureau ages ago."

"Honestly, why do you have to bring this up on such a happy occasion?"

I refused to back down:

"Then bring out the remarriage certificate and let me see it."

"That shouldn't be hard, right?"

The two people across from me were instantly left speechless, their faces turning uglier by the second.

"What's wrong? Can't produce it?"

"Or is it that you never actually got divorced in the first place?"

"And it was just a fraudulent scheme you orchestrated to 'test' me?"

I let out a sigh. When I spoke again, my voice carried a hint of a sob.

"You kept saying it was all for my own good, to make me more independent."

"But I was so young back then, and you couldn't even guarantee I was fed and warm!"

"When I was being bullied, you stood by and watched with total indifference as if it had nothing to do with you!"

"Dad, Mom, you truly are monsters."

"Hazel! Shut the hell up!"

My father was so furious the veins on his temples were throbbing. He kicked his chair back and glared at my mother in a frantic rage.

"Carol! Look at the monstrosity you raised!"

"Her grades might be up to standard, but she hasn't learned a damn thing about how to be a decent human being!"

"How dare she speak to her parents like this? All that education went straight to the dogs!"

My mother's face cycled between red and white. She opened her mouth several times but didn't dare say anything.

Finally, she probed cautiously:

"Hazel, when you came home this morning, you heard me on the phone, didn't you?"

I was watching my father's furious meltdown with great interest and didn't bother acknowledging what she said.

My father suddenly roared:

"So what if she heard?!"

"Hazel, your mother and I faked the divorce. So what?!"

"We were forced to do it so you could grow up better!"

Emboldened by my father, my mother joined in, trying to argue back.

"Your dad is right!"

"All the hardships you suffered when you were little were to forge your willpower!"

"If we had pampered you from childhood, I guarantee you never would have gotten into Yale!"

"Not being grateful is bad enough, but to actually slander your parents' good intentions... it's just a sin..."

Listening to them desperately trying to assign some noble value to their ignorant, selfish actions, I couldn't help but find it hilarious.

Seeing that I wasn't giving them any reaction, the man quickly reached his breaking point—exactly as I had anticipated—and finally said the words.

"Carol, I can't keep this ungrateful wretch anymore!"

"We're getting a divorce. You keep the kid. This time, it's non-negotiable!"