Aunt Deletes My Files to Ruin My Job, but It Costs Her Daughter's Instead

Chapter 3

Aunt Karen glared at me with a nasty look in her eyes. "Brynn, what’s with that look? You gonna hit my son? He’s just a kid! What’s wrong with kids being playful? You’re an adult, aren’t you embarrassed to pick on him like that?"

She scoffed, then added, "It’s just some files. So what if they’re deleted? Your job that pays a few thousand bucks probably doesn’t have anything important on it. Worst case, you get fired. That’d actually be great, then you can come back, get married, and your parents won’t have to worry anymore."

I could feel my blood boiling, but I took a deep breath, closed my eyes for a second, and forced myself to stay calm. I quickly messaged Rachel, telling her to resend the files ASAP, there might still be a chance.

But Rachel didn’t respond. She wasn’t even looking at her phone.

Panic hit me, and I reached for my phone, desperate to call her.

Aunt Karen handed it over with a smirk. "Learned your lesson, huh? If you’re ready to admit you were wrong, apologize to me and my son. Then I’ll give you your phone back."

I couldn’t hold it in anymore. "He’s the one who messed up! Why should I apologize to him? Being a kid isn’t an excuse!"

Aunt Karen’s eyes practically popped out of her head. "Big attitude for someone so useless! What right do you have to yell at me? You make 3,000 bucks a month, you good-for-nothing! My daughter makes 400,000 a year as a top designer!"

She didn’t stop there. She dragged my mom into it, like she always did. "Emily, I can’t believe you raised such a rude, useless daughter. How embarrassing."

My mom, usually quiet, finally snapped. "Karen, you can say whatever you want about me, but Brynn didn’t do anything wrong. You’d better watch your mouth."

Aunt Karen just laughed, a cold, mocking sound. "Why should I care what I say to a nobody like her? It’s the truth, isn’t it? Your family’s useless. You couldn’t even have a son, that’s useless. Your daughter can’t make money, that’s useless too. What part of that is wrong?"

She crossed her arms smugly, clearly relishing the moment. "I’m different. I raised a daughter who’s a top designer, and I gave birth to a son who’ll carry on the family name. I’ve got nothing to worry about for the rest of my life."

That was the breaking point for my dad. He finally snapped.

But before he could say anything else, my usually quiet second aunt and uncle jumped in, trying to mediate. "It’s Christmas, don’t fight. It ruins the mood. Kids will be kids. Don’t take it to heart. You know how Karen is, she just speaks her mind."

Same old song and dance.

Every time Aunt Karen went after my parents, Aunt Sarah’s family always took her side, leaving us to silently take the abuse.

That’s when I realized, maybe I was partly responsible for my parents always being mistreated like this.

I wasn’t in any rush anymore. I shrugged and said, "Keep the phone if you want. I’m done working."

I shut my computer off. It was Christmas, after all, why waste time on this thankless task that was only causing me grief? Might as well relax, play cards, and eat some snacks.

Aunt Karen didn’t expect me to back down like that. It was like I deflated her completely. She stood there for a moment, looking a little lost, before she scoffed and straightened up. "You think I want your stupid phone? My daughter’s got plenty of money, she can buy me whatever phone I want, anytime. I only took it to teach you some manners on behalf of your parents!"

She turned my phone back on, practically shoving it in my face. "Look at this, this is the $150,000 year-end bonus my daughter gave me. What about you? How much do you have?"

With a triumphant smile, she started tapping through my phone, pulling up my WeChat wallet. "Let’s see how much money you have in here. Bet you don’t even have $300."

Just then, a message popped up from Rachel:

"Sis, what’s going on? Why’s our boss saying in the group chat that you guys have made a decision, but my proposal wasn’t even considered?"

Aunt Karen froze, her smile slipping for a second as she stared at the screen, clearly thrown off guard.