The Fake Daughter Cured My Depression and My Will to Survive

In the third year since I was diagnosed with severe depression, my parents still don't dare to leave me alone.

Three years ago, my adopted sister stole my photos to date someone online, but the man on the other end turned out to be a stalker.

He mistook me for her.

After it happened, my parents threw my sister out of the house.

My mother nailed every window in the house shut, and for three years she never let me near them.

My father quit his job to stay with me full-time, and he even locked away every knife in the kitchen.

Until three years later, when my sister came back holding a licensed counseling certification.

She knelt at the door and cried, saying that everything that happened back then was her fault.

She'd spent those years studying psychology as hard as she could, all so she could come back and cure me, and apologize to me in person.

In the end, my parents let her in.

My sister said that keeping the windows sealed for three years would only make me more and more depressed.

So my mother pulled the nails out of the windows and pushed them all wide open.

My father took the kitchen knives he'd locked away for three years and put them back in the kitchen.

"You have to learn to push those bad thoughts down yourself."

Until the last exposure therapy session.

My sister brought back the man from three years ago.

I pounded on the door, begging them to let me out.

Through the door, I heard my sister say quietly:

"Just get through this one more time, and everything will be fine."

My parents sighed.

"That's right."

"Once this is over, everyone will finally be free."

With tears in my eyes, I slowly let go of the door.

Looking at the open window, I gave up struggling entirely.

Section 1

The door finally opened, and the man put his clothes back on, taking his time.

Before he left, he glanced back at me and smiled with malice.

"Back then you kicked up such a fuss you got me sentenced to ten years, but in the end your parents signed a letter of forgiveness, and I got out anyway."

"Looks like they treated you too well three years ago. After all this time, you still thought of me and wanted me to come back."

He pinched my waist, already bruised purple, and narrowed his eyes with satisfaction.

"I told my buddies the whole situation, and they were dying of envy."

With that, he laughed loudly and shoved the door open to leave.

The next second, my parents rushed in almost immediately.

The first thing my mother saw was me sitting on the edge of the bed.

My clothes were in disarray, and every patch of bare skin was covered in wounds.

But I didn't cry, and I didn't make a scene.

I just stared blankly at the window she had reopened with her own hands.

The color drained from my mother's face in an instant.

She hurried over to me, her voice trembling.

"Gertie?"

"Why are you why are you so quiet?"

I didn't answer.

But my sister suddenly clapped her hands behind me.

"It worked!"

She looked at our parents, her face full of delight.

"This proves the exposure therapy is working!"

"My sister can face the trauma from back then calmly now; she's accepted what happened!"

"She's recovered!"

My mother froze for two seconds.

The fear that had just filled her eyes slowly dissolved, replaced by a wild, relieved joy.

"Really?"

She let out a huge breath.

"Thank goodness. These three years, you've dragged us down so"

She cut herself off mid-sentence, as if she'd suddenly realized something, and shut her mouth.

The room went silent for a moment.

But my father acted as if he hadn't heard, and patted my shoulder with relief.

"It's good that you've come through it."

"Since you can face the past calmly now, and it really was your sister who cured you, let's leave the old business here."

He glanced at my sister, whose eyes were red.

"She hurt you back then, but now she's saved you again, so that makes you even."

"From now on, no one is to bring up what happened three years ago again."

"And don't you keep dwelling on it, making her live with guilt for the rest of her life."

I kept my eyes down and said nothing.

My sister's eyes reddened all at once.

She bit her lip and looked at me carefully.

"Sis, you still haven't forgiven me, have you?"

"If seeing me makes you suffer, then I'll leave today."

"I'll never come back, and I'll never appear in front of you again."

She turned to go as she spoke.

My mother panicked at once and grabbed hold of her.

"What are you talking about!"

My father immediately looked at me too, his brows drawing together.

"Gertie, back then we were afraid that seeing her would make you remember that incident, so we drove her out for three whole years."

"She had a home she couldn't return to. She's toughed it out alone all this timethat's suffering enough."

"Now that you're better, what is there that can't be put behind us?"

My mother gripped my sister's hand tightly and pressed me:

"Hurry up and tell your sister you don't blame her anymore."

Something was slowly crushing my chest, piece by piece.

I suddenly remembered three years ago.

When they threw my adopted sister out of the house, my mother held me and cried all night.

She said:

"I only kept her to give you a companion. I never imagined I'd raised an ungrateful snake who would hurt my own precious baby."

"Gertie, I will never forgive her as long as I live."

My father locked all the kitchen knives in the cabinet, and he said too:

"I want you to live well. I swear I will never let you be hurt again as long as I live."

So it turned out a lifetime was only three years.

I slowly raised my head.

My sister waited for my answer with red eyes.

My parents watched me nervously too.

As if, as long as I didn't speak, this family could never truly be whole again.

I looked at them for a long time.

In the end, I numbly tugged at the corner of my mouth.

"Fine. I forgive you."

Olympia burst into tears.

Mom immediately pulled her into her arms.

"I knew it!"

"You're sisters after allthere's no rift you two can't get past."

Dad finally smiled too.

"That's more like it."

"From now on, our family starts over."

A family.

I lowered my head, looking at the bruises on my wrists that hadn't faded yet, and said nothing.

Mom had already happily pulled open the wardrobe.

"By the way, today happens to be your sister's birthday."

"We were worried you weren't doing well, so we didn't dare tell you."

She picked out a dress and handed it to me, her tone as light as if nothing had just happened.

"Now it's all fine."

"Hurry and get yourself ready."

"Tonight we'll all go celebrate your sister's birthday together."

My whole body went rigid.

The color drained from my face in an instant.

Three years ago, the thing that ruined my life was also a birthday party.

Back then, I had only just been found and brought home by my parents.

After being separated from them for so many years, I'd finally returned to my birth parents, gotten into the university I most wanted to attend, won a top scholarship, and had a top-student boyfriend everyone envied.

I thought my life was only just beginning.

But on the night of my sister's birthday, she secretly invited the man she'd been dating online for several months to a hotel.

And the whole time she'd been dating him online, she had used my photos.

The moment that man showed up, he was certain I was the person he'd been talking to for months.

He dragged me into the room by force.

When everyone found me, all they saw was the wreckage of the room and me, utterly disheveled.

Olympia stood in the crowd, her face ghastly pale, but she never dared to tell the truth.

So everyone assumed I'd been fooling around with a strange man behind my boyfriend's back.

My boyfriend broke up with me in front of everyone and went abroad not long after.

The rumors at school spread everywhere.

People who used to envy me started pointing fingers, and even my teachers looked at me differently.

I couldn't bring myself to go back to school, and in the end I had no choice but to withdraw.

It wasn't until things had completely blown up that my sister finally broke down and knelt in front of me.

"Sis, I'm sorry."

"I was so insecure that I used your photo for online dating. I only wanted to meet the person I loved on the happiest day of my life, so I invited him to my birthday party."

"I really didn't know he was a stalker, and I certainly didn't know he'd mistake me for someone else..."

She cried and apologized to me over and over.

But I just looked at her.

That one "I didn't know" of hers

had destroyed my university, my love, my reputation, and the life I was supposed to have.

Her apology couldn't buy any of it back.

That night, I completely fell apart.

Mom got up in the middle of the night and saw me sitting in the kitchen holding a knife. She was so frightened she broke down crying on the spot.

The next day, Dad drove Olympia out of the house.

They struck her from the family register right in front of me.

Mom held me and promised, over and over.

"Gertie, from now on she has nothing to do with this family."

Dad said, his eyes red too:

"You'll never see her again. You'll never have to be afraid again."

But now.

Three years later, today.

Now Mom stood in front of me holding a dress, urging me to go to Olympia's birthday party.

Seeing me trembling uncontrollably, the smile on Mom's face finally faltered.

She reached out to steady me.

"Maybe we should just skip it today..."

"No."

But Olympia immediately cut her off.

She looked earnestly at our parents.

"Sis is scared right now because the memories from three years ago haven't truly faded yet."

"The more she avoids it, the worse it gets. She has to go back into a similar environmentthat's part of exposure therapy too."

Dad was silent for a moment, then nodded.

"Right."

"We've come this far. We can't quit halfway."

Before I could get a word out, they took me by both arms, one on each side, and brought me to the banquet hall.

The moment the doors pushed open, a cheer burst out from inside.

"The birthday girl is finally here!"

"Happy birthday!"

"Quick, quick, the guest of honor is here!"

Everyone laughed and clapped, calling out my sister's name.

But as I stood in the doorway and saw the faces of the people inside clearly, all the blood in my body went cold.

This was nothing like what my parents had told methat only a few relatives and close friends had been invited.

The room was full of people who'd gone to the same school as me three years ago.

Classmates who used to be in my class.

There were even people who had seen with their own eyes as I was led out of that room.

My breath caught, and I instinctively backed away.

Just then, the crowd suddenly parted.

A man walked out from the very back.

I stood frozen in place.

Daniel Harding, my first love.

The man who, three years agoafter everyone believed I'd betrayed himwalked away from me without looking back.

Three years apart, and he'd grown up a great deal.

So familiar I recognized him at a glance, and yet so unfamiliar it was as if I'd never known him at all.

Before I could even react, Olympia had already lifted her skirt and flung herself into his arms like a butterfly.

Daniel slid his arm around her waist as if it were the most natural thing.

A chorus of teasing erupted around them at once.

"Three years together, and he's finally willing to bring his girl out to meet us!"

"His girl? After today you'll have to call her Mrs. Harding, won't you?"

"Daniel's already got the ring readyeveryone knows he's going to propose today!"

Three years together.

My mind went off with a roar.

An unbelievable thought surfaced in my mind, and the pain made me shake and convulse uncontrollably.

Nestled in Daniel's arms, Olympia heard what everyone was saying and first smiled shyly, then her eyes reddened.

"Today is the happiest day of my life."

"So there's someone very important to me I want to witness it with her own eyes."

When she finished, she turned to look at me.

My face went deathly pale in an instant.

"No..."

But she had already crossed over quickly and seized my wrist.

I shrank back with all my might, my legs so weak I couldn't stay standing, until I nearly curled up on the floor.

But Olympia still held on to me tightly.

"Sis, don't be afraid."

"Everyone here is someone you knew before."

She hauled me up off the floor by force and dragged me step by step into the crowd.

"It's time you faced them again."

The banquet hall, so lively a moment ago, suddenly fell silent.

Everyone finally saw my face clearly.

The next second.

Those smiles froze, little by little, on every single face.

Contempt, disgust, and whispers no one bothered to hide.

"How does she still have the nerve to show up here?"

"After the scene she caused three years agothe depression, the suicide attempt, all to win Daniel backshe wouldn't still be trying to cling to him, would she?"

A chill ran through me, the voices around me growing fainter and fainter, while it felt like a hand had clamped tight around my chest.

My sister came up to me, her eyes red.

"Sis, I know about your past with Daniel."

"But today, I really do want your blessing."

She choked up.

"Only if you bless us with your own words will I believe you've truly let go of the past, that you've truly recovered!"

I opened my mouth.

But my throat felt sealed shut, and I couldn't get out a single word.

Then Daniel suddenly sneered.

"Forget it."

His eyes fixed on me, filled with undisguised disgust.

"A blessing from someone like herI'd find it filthy."

My head snapped up.

Daniel stared at me and spoke, word by word.

"Actually, I should thank you."

"If that hadn't happened three years ago, I never would have seen you for what you really are, and I never would have met someone truly worth loving."

He paused, as if he wouldn't be satisfied until he'd watched the words sting me with his own eyes.

"It was you letting me off the hook that gave me the chance to meet my true love."

A wave of cheering broke out around us.

And there, under everyone's eyes, Daniel dropped to one knee.

The moment the ring box opened, my whole body went rigid.

That ring

Three years ago, hunched over a table in the library, I had drawn it in my notebook, stroke by stroke, over and over.

A vine-like band, with a tiny round diamond set in the center.

Back then Daniel had snatched my notebook away and said, grinning,

"When we graduate, I'll have it made just like this, and I'll put it on you myself."

Now he really had made it.

But he was sliding it onto my sister's ring finger with his own hands.

My sister threw herself into his arms in tears, and the whole room applauded.

Then she suddenly turned, ran over to me, and held up her hand to show me the ring.

"Sis, look."

"Daniel says this design is really meaningful."

She threw her arms around me.

"Thank you for giving us your blessing."

My body was as stiff as a block of wood.

The next second, she leaned close to my ear, her voice so soft that only I could hear it.

"Oh, by the way."

"Mom and Dad told you I was thrown out and had to rough it for three years, right?"

She let out a soft little laugh.

"Actually, they sent me abroad the second month. Tuition, a house, living expensesI got all of it."

"These three years have been wonderful for me."

My pupils shrank all at once.

Then, unhurried, my sister added,

"And that man."

"You think Mom and Dad could've gotten him out that fast on their own?"

"It was Daniel who helped."

"He was afraid you'd use what happened three years ago to keep hanging on to us. So he saidlet you face it head-on, once and for all, so you'd get better sooner and stop clinging to us."

The last thread in my mind snapped clean through.

I shoved her away, hard.

My sister staggered back two steps and suddenly fell to the ground.

She clutched her lower belly, her face deathly pale.

"It hurts"

"Daniel, my stomach hurts so much our baby"

Daniel's expression changed in an instant.

He rushed over and swept her into his arms, and when he looked up at me again, there was nothing left in his eyes but fury.

"Are you insane?!"

"Didn't you know she's pregnant?!"

I stood frozen where I was.

Mom completely panicked too. She charged over and swung her hand across my face.

My head snapped to the side from the blow.

"Your sister already apologized to youwhy won't you let her go?!"

"You won't be happy until you've driven her to her death, is that it?!"

The whole place erupted into chaos.

"That's just vicious."

"He proposes today, and she has to cause a scene like this."

The voices pressed in on me from every direction.

Before Daniel rushed out with my sister in his arms, he suddenly looked back at me.

In that one look was a cruelty that was shocking to see.

But I couldn't see anything clearly anymore, the ringing in my ears growing louder and louder.

The figures in front of me twisted, one after another.

A birthday party three years ago, a birthday party three years later.

Daniel's departing back, the ring on my sister's hand.

My body suddenly went out of control, and warmth slid down between my legs.

The clamor of the room went abruptly silent. Everyone sucked in a breath and covered their noses in disgust.

Standing there in front of everyone, my body seized up and lost control until I wet myself, unable to hold on to even the last shred of dignity.

Everything went completely black, and I collapsed hard to the floor.

When I woke up again, I was in the hospital.

Outside the door, my parents' voices carried in clearly.

Mom sighed.

"That night three years ago, I saw Gertie sitting in the kitchen with a knife, and it scared the life out of me."

"She hated Livvy so much back thenhow could we dare keep Livvy at home? All we could do was send Livvy abroad to study first."

I opened my eyes and stared at the ceiling.

So the whole cutting-ties thing had just been an act put on for me.

Mom went on:

"I thought after three years Gertie would be better. Who knew she'd still try to hurt Livvy yesterday, in front of all those people?"

"Livvy's about to marry Daniel, and she's pregnant, so of course she has to stay with us."

Dad was silent for a moment.

"Then the only thing left is to send Gertie away."

"But she'd be all alone. I can't be easy about that."

Mom hesitated.

But Dad said:

"Then let her marry that man. That way someone will look after her for the rest of her life."

My fingertips went ice-cold in an instant.

"Back then he was fooled tooLivvy used Gertie's photos, so he thought Gertie was his girlfriend all along. That's why things blew up the way they did."

"When you get down to it, you can't put all the blame on him."

And Mom actually murmured her agreement.

It was as if every ounce of strength had been drained out of me, my fingertips digging hard into my palms.

That evening, the nurse said someone had come to see me.

Daniel walked into the room, his expression cold.

"I hear your uncle and aunt are planning to marry you off to that guy. My advice is, be good and agree to it! Get married, and soon!"

He looked at me and said, word by word:

"That way you'll settle down from now on, stay away from Livvy, and stop clinging to us."

I said nothing the whole time, but my silence seemed to enrage him.

"Gertrude, how long are you going to keep making trouble?"

"Livvy's about to be my wife, and she's carrying my child."

"Are you going to go on with your depression and your suicide threats, and only stop once you've ruined everyone's happiness?!"

Before he left, he threw out one cold line.

"No matter how much trouble you cause, I'm still going to marry her."

"Gertrude, I'm begging youif you don't want to live, then go die. Just let us go, okay?!"

I watched his retreating back and said softly:

"All right."

He seemed to hear it, but his steps didn't slow.

When my parents came again that evening, I had already changed my clothes and combed my hair.

I was sitting at the edge of the bed, glowing, all smiles.

My mother took my hand, surprised and delighted.

"Gertie, are you... are you really all better?"

I nodded gently. "I'm better."

Right then, my sister came in with that man.

He was holding flowers, and my sister was smiling, her face full of expectation.

"Sis, he wants to propose to you."

"Daniel and I have set our wedding date too. Why don't we get married on the same day?"

My parents watched me nervously.

Mom was about to talk me out of it, but I was already smiling as I spoke.

"Sure."

Everyone froze.

I said it again.

"I'll marry him."

Mom's eyes reddened at once.

"That's wonderful."

"From now on, our whole family can start over."

On the wedding day, the two hotels were only a street apart.

My sister stood beside Daniel in her wedding gown, my parents beside her, every face full of smiles.

And looking at them, I found my heart didn't hurt at all anymore.

When it was my turn to leave, my father placed my hand in that man's.

Behind him trailed a group of leering groomsmen.

My mother adjusted my veil, and at last a flicker of reluctance passed through her eyes.

"Gertie, have a good life from now on."

But I suddenly turned back and took one last look at them.

"Dad, Mom, goodbye."

For some reason, Daniel's chest went suddenly tight.

He watched as that group led me away, and more than once he couldn't help turning to look, instinctively wanting to ask my sister:

"That man... is he really dependable?"

But the next second, he tugged the corner of his mouth in a self-mocking twist.

Why should he care what I did? Whether Gertrude had a good life or not, she'd brought it on herself.

The wedding went on, and the officiant had them exchange rings.

Daniel had just picked up the ring that had once been part of my dreams

when a huge crash came from across the way.

Screams broke out downstairs.

"Something's happened!"

"The bride at the hotel across the street jumped!"