"How's Sab doing?"
"She's fine now, the fever's gone."
"Alright then, I'm heading to work."
"Wait, I'll come with you."
The woman grabbed her bag off the wall. After glancing once more at the tightly closed door, her voice suddenly rose.
"They've got roast chicken at the grocery store today. I'll pick one up for Sab to help her recover. You know how much she loves it."
After waiting for a moment, still, there was no response from the room.
The woman let out a smirk and left the room with the man.
Inside the room, Sabrina Lynch lay on the bed, her face a mask of complete hopelessness.
The conversation outside had been loud enough to wake the dead—she wasn't deaf, so of course, she'd heard it.
The reason she didn't say anything was simple. She was too annoyed to bother with that fake woman right now.
Sabrina still couldn't believe what had happened. She had just stepped out to celebrate New Year's and somehow got caught up in a chain of car accidents. And now? She woke up in a tiny room barely ten square meters large.
Sure, she was alive, but the memories in her head confirmed the worst that she had somehow travelled through time.
Yes, she had gone from being a wealthy, glamorous woman living it up in modern day to a pitiful girl from the 1970s, neglected by her own family.
The body she now inhabited was nineteen years old, the same age as her, with the same name, face, and even a tragically similar life story.
Both had lost their mothers recently, and their lousy fathers couldn't keep it in their pants, quickly finding other women.
But when she thought about it more carefully, there was one small difference between her former life and this one.
Her father back in modern times? Sure, he was a sleaze, but at least he was upfront about it.
Even though he had plenty of girlfriends, if any of them ever thought they could lock him down with a wedding and a kid, they were in for a rude awakening.
As he liked to say, "I may not have loved your mother enough, but you? You're my only child, and when it comes to loving my child, no one outdoes me."
But the father she had now, John Lynch? His wife had been dead for less than a year, and he was already parading another woman into the house.
And that stepmother? She seemed so kind and generous on the surface, but in reality, she was as if a snake, all sugar-coated words hiding venom underneath.
She had mastered the art of playing the victim, sweet-talking anyone she met, saying one thing to their face and another behind their back.
On the day she married into the Lynch family, she immediately brought her two children along, had their family register transferred, and even had their last names changed to Lynch.
By the second year of their marriage, she gave birth to a big, chubby boy, securing her place in the family for good.
John was over the moon, and his new wife, Larson Quinn, firmly planted her roots in the Lynch household, thanks to her son. Their cozy little family was all smiles, while Sabrina, the legitimate daughter, found herself increasingly sidelined.
The spacious single room she once had? Divided into three.
And her father? Well, he was no longer just hers but belonged to everyone now.
Sabrina could understand that her father had a tough time losing his wife at his age, but every time she saw them laughing together, she couldn't help but feel a little left out.
This internal conflict made her original self grow up feeling utterly stifled.
If not for the accident yesterday, maybe she wouldn't have been happy, but at least she wouldn't have lost her life.
The accident happened because the original Sabrina had taken time off from work due to a bad flu. She'd come home early, burning with fever, and had drifted off to sleep when she overheard a conversation between her father and stepmother.
What she heard shocked her to the core.
Her stepmother was crying, trying to convince John to marry her off to Mr. Norton, some director from the meat processing plant.
The guy was over thirty, divorced, and already had three kids!
Logically, the original Sabrina had a respectable job and was still young and attractive. There was no reason she should be married off to a twice-divorced man with a bunch of kids.
But her job was exactly the issue.
This job had been left to her by her mother, who had tragically died in a fire at the machinery factory where she worked. The factory had felt so guilty that, besides giving out a generous compensation package, they had promised the job to her daughter, with the condition that no one else could take it.
In the early 1970s, initiatives aimed at rural development encouraged young people to seek work in less populated areas, which is why the original Sabrina started working right after graduating high school. With her secure job at the factory and a steady monthly salary of 28 dollar, she had became part of the admired working class.
But what about the son and daughter that Larson brought with her? They didn’t have jobs and were slated to participate in a rural development program, as per the policy.
Of course, Larson wouldn't let that happen to her kids. She doted on them and couldn't bear the thought of them suffering in the countryside. But good jobs like Sabrina's were impossible to find.
Somehow, John had pulled strings and gotten both children fake medical diagnoses, claiming they were too sick to leave the city.
Sure enough, they got to stay, but the fake illnesses blocked their chances of getting any real jobs later on.
As the government started cracking down on people avoiding the rural development program, Larson got desperate. That's when she set her sights on Sabrina's job.
Sure, Mr. Norton was old, but he was still a director at the meat plant, one of the most profitable places in the city.
If one could snag a position there, even a small one, it was like hitting the jackpot.
So what if he had a temper? What man didn't?
And so what if he was divorced with kids? If it wasn't for that, he probably wouldn't even be interested in someone like Sabrina.
Plus, Mr. Norton was offering a lot. He'd already promised a huge dowry and even said he'd arrange a job for Larson's son at the plant. He was also open to giving Sabrina's factory job to the Lynch family.
After all, he wanted a wife who could take care of his kids, keep his elderly mother happy, and hopefully give him a few more sons.
Who had time to work with all that responsibility?
Besides, Mr. Norton didn't need Sabrina's 28 dollar paycheck.
Both sides got what they wanted, so the marriage proposal quickly moved forward.
Larson had it all worked out. She'd give Sabrina's factory job to her daughter, send her son to work at the meat plant, and once Sabrina got married, her room would go to her youngest son.
Their family of five would live in perfect harmony.
It didn't take much for Sabrina to understand what was happening.
They were planning to sacrifice her happiness to secure their own.
Of course, Larson didn't care about her feelings.
After all, she wasn't her biological mother.
But what really broke Sabrina's heart was that her worthless father hadn't spoken a single word in her defense the entire time.
Just then, Larson dropped another bombshell.
