CHAPTER 25: IN HER DREAM.

That night, I couldn’t sleep. I was both excited and nervous about the auction. It was the early hours of the morning I finally found sleep, and when I did, I had a dream.

I found myself in a nursing home back when I was twelve years old. My grandma was laying on the bed, pale. She had been sick for the past few days and never spoke a word. I sat on her bedside, just crying. I didn’t know what to do.

"Anna..." I quickly wiped my tears upon hearing her weak voice and drew closer to her.

"Granny, I am here. How are you feeling?" Of course she wasn’t fine. I could see it in her eyes. They had lost their sparks and were out of focus. But she still tried hard to look at me.

"Anna, you’re a strong and good girl. In the future, I want you to take good care of yourself." More tears filled my eyes and a hard lump formed in my throat.

"Don’t worry Granny, I will take care of myself."

A gratifying smile appeared on her lips, but disappeared as quickly as it came, then replaced by a frown. She was in too much pain, and I wished I could put an end to it.

She took a deep breath, as though she was trying to suppress the pain, then reached out and took a delicate jewelry box from under the pillow and handed it to me.

"My dear, this is a gift I give to you."

Taking the box from her, I carefully opened it and was shocked by the light that almost blinded me.

Inside the box was a beautiful diamond necklace. The finely cut diamond was well-polished. Each cut surface reflected the beautiful light, shining like stars.

"Wow, it’s so beautiful," I said, awestruck.

"The necklace is called the Starlit Haven. It is passed down to the generation of heiresses. I am giving you this because you have the soul of a true heiress. I had hoped that I could keep it a little longer till you grow older and understand what I meant. But I don’t think I have that much time left." Now the tears flowed freely down my cheek. I was still a little girl and had no idea what she was talking about, but I understood the part where she said she didn’t have much time, and it broke my heart into millions of pieces. How was I supposed to survive without her?

"Granny, you will be fine... just relax, okay?"

"You are a good girl, Anna. It’s sad that I can’t take care of you anymore. I hope that some day you will get married to someone who really loves you and treats you right. Even though I can’t see you, I will be very happy."

"No, Granny... please don’t say that..." I cried, uncontrollably.

"I have already contacted your father, he will come pick you up soon. You will have to be strong and get along with your family."

I strongly shook my head. "No, no new family. My only family is you Granny, please don’t leave me..."

She smiled bitterly.

"Silly, kid. Your father is also your family."

"I don’t need a father... I only need my Granny..."

That was the last thing I said before everything went blank. Then it appeared again. After my grandma died, my father, George, handled the funeral. He tried to make the funeral as extravagant as possible. But that wasn’t my problem. I had lost the only person who ever treated me like a human, and I mourned everyday.

Even at that, my father never liked me. He only took me in because of the promise he made to Granny to look after me once she died.

The day he took me to his home, it was a cold, rainy day. Beforehand, I had thought that I would only have to live with my father’s dislike for me, but I was wrong. His wife, Irene hated me to the very core.

When she saw me, her face turned ugly and gloomy like the weather.

"She’s the daughter of your mistress. I can’t take care of her."

Her words made me tremble. The only thing that kept me grounded was the jewelry box I held closer to my chest.

"Irene, she’s a child," my father spoke calmly.

"I don’t care what she is. We already have three dogs in the house, and I can’t raise another one. Take her to wherever you got her from," she fired and turned to leave, but suddenly stopped when she saw the box in my hands.

"And what are you holding?" She forcefully took it away and opened it. Seeing the necklace, her face turned even scarier.

"You are not only a dog, but also a thief? Where did you get this from?"

"Granny... gave it to me..." I whispered in fear.

She laughed sinisterly.

"And you think I will believe that? Well, you won’t be needing it anymore." Saying that, she threw it directly into the pool.

"No, no! Why would you do that? It’s mine, it’s the only thing I had left of Grandma."

What I didn’t expect was the hard slap that came after that. "You don’t talk to me that way, you little wrench."

My whole face burned, and I tasted blood in my mouth. I raised my hand to rub my face, but touched something else instead.

That was when I suddenly woke up and saw that I was in the room. It was a dream. But it felt so real that I could feel the pain and wetness on my face. A gentle breeze blew in, and I turned to look at the window. It was already morning, the sky had turned bright and sunny.

I took a deep, slow breath to suppress the terrible emotions in my heart. It was so unfortunate. Even though I was grown now, I still couldn’t take care of myself and depended on others to survive. But I wouldn’t let them take my necklace away. I wouldn’t let my Granny down completely.

Shortly, a knock echoed in the room, and Ms. Rita came to announce breakfast.