Chapter 93 “You Are the One Who Doesn't understand gratitude and reciprocation.”
Susanna saw her foster mother Grace acting shamelessly and immediately lowered her voice. "Let's talk outside."
Susanna's foster mother insisted, "Not going out. Whatever it is, it should be said in front of your colleagues. Why are you so ungrateful? When you were on the brink of death in the orphanage, it was us who adopted you and raised you to this day. And now you want to cut ties with us, not even recognizing your own family. Do you really not understand gratitude and reciprocation?"
Grace fully displayed her shrewish skills, placing all the blame for being unfilial on Susanna.
Susanna's foster father, Andrew, played the role of an honest and decent man, explaining to the colleagues nearby. "We had no choice. Susanna has cost us a lot of savings from childhood to now. And now when our family needs money, she hides away and avoids us. We have no choice but..."
Susanna looked coldly at the shameless Grace and Andrew. "I didn't spend a penny of yours on my education."
Grace immediately began to wail. "Susanna, if you didn't spend our money, whose money did you spend? You won more than a million dollars, earned so much money from work, yet you haven't given us a single penny."
At this moment, Dick emerged from the adjacent office, furrowing his brows. "What's going on?"
Grace quickly tried to please him. "You are Susanna's boss, right? Her salary here must be high, right? We are her parents, so it's only right for the studio to directly give us her salary as her parents."
Susanna laughed in exasperation, never having seen such shameless people before; they always pushed her boundaries.
Dick then spoke, "Are you Susanna's foster parents?"
"Yes, we are. We raised Susanna with great difficulty, but now she is cold and ungrateful, wanting to cut ties with us. Now our family needs money to survive, as her boss, you should give us Susanna's salary."
Dick sarcastically remarked. "Give you Susanna's salary? On what grounds, especially with your shameless behavior?"
Grace and Andrew were taken aback, probably not expecting him to respond like that.
Dick continued. "As far as I know, Susanna was raised by her aunt, Mrs. Madison, who funded her education. You, so-called foster parents, treated her like a servant once you had your own children. If it weren't for Madison's kindness, Susanna would have had a much more miserable life. How dare you have the audacity to ask for money now?"
Grace and Andrew's expressions immediately turned awkward.
Grace dropped the pretense and said bluntly, "I don't care. Susanna was raised in our home, so there is no doubt for her to give us some money. Even if we have to go to court, we're not afraid."
Andrew shamelessly added. "If you don't give us Susanna's salary, we'll come here every day and cause trouble in your studio. We'll eat and stay here until we get her salary and then leave!"
Grace sat directly on the floor. "That's right, this place seems quite nice, spacious, and bright, even with air conditioning. At least it's much better than our conditions in the countryside."
Dick probably didn't expect them to be so shameless.
Susanna had witnessed their shameless tactics before and was accustomed to such behavior.
She turned to Dick and said, "I'm sorry for causing you trouble again. I resign from today onwards."
As long as she resigned, Grace and Andrew wouldn't be able to make troubles in the studio.
Dick frowned. "Susanna, think it over."
Grace chimed in. "Susanna, you finally found a job, why resign? Our whole family relies on you. You can't resign; you have to work hard."
Susanna looked at them. "Don't dream about it. I'd rather be jobless and sleep on the streets than give you a penny."
Andrew, with a bad temper, threatened. "Susanna, what are you saying? Do you want me to slap you?"
As he moved to strike, Dick intervened, coldly saying, "How dare you try laying a hand on her?"
At this moment, male colleagues from the office began to stand up, the atmosphere quickly became tense.
A few female colleagues spoke up, "Let us enlighten you on some legal knowledge. Your past mistreatment of Susanna is already illegal. If she reports it now, you'll be detained."
"Yeah, you're shameless and still dare to ask for money. Disgusting!"
Seeing the situation turn against them, Andrew cursed and took several steps back.
Grace, hands on hips, shouted, "Susanna, just wait and see. If you don't give the money, I'll come back."
After they left, Susanna looked feelingly at her colleagues who had come to her aid. "Thank you all for helping. I'll treat you all to coffee later."
Dick spoke, "It's not a big deal; your foster parents don't seem like good people. What's your plan now? They seem persistent and won't give up easily."
Susanna forced a smile. "That's why I said I'll resign."
"No, resigning is not an option. If you're short on money, I can lend you some." Dick replied.
"No need, it's not about the money; I just don't want to give it to them. Once you start, they'll see me as an ATM in the future." Susanna explained, she understood their ways well and knew how to deal with them.
Dick sighed. "In that case, you can pretend to resign. Once your foster parents give up causing trouble, you can come back to work."
"Thank you."
Susanna felt a bit embarrassed about the situation, considering that Dick had made many exceptions for her, and now Grace and Andrew were causing trouble at the studio. She felt a bit guilty.
"Don't mention it; we're friends. If you ever face difficulties, feel free to reach out to me anytime, no need to be formal." After Dick's words, the colleagues began to cheer.
Susanna smiled wryly and bought everyone a cup of coffee after returning to her seat.
Soon, she received an unexpected call. "Hello, who is this?"
"Susanna, did your foster parents come looking for you just now?"
"Did you tell them I work here?"
Susanna had always been curious how Grace and Andrew found her here, and it turned out to be Elaine who informed them.
Elaine warned, "Susanna, if you don't want any more trouble, call Aaron immediately and ask him to restore my credit card."
"Elaine, if you had apologized properly to me earlier, maybe I would have actually spoken to Aaron about restoring your credit card limit." Susanna replied calmly.
Elaine screamed over the phone, "Susanna, you want me to apologize? What kind of daydream are you having?"
"I should be asking you that. Dreaming that I would speak up for you? What a joke." Susanna retorted. Then she hung up the phone and blocked the number.
She avoided going to the studio for a day, choosing to study at the school library instead.
Dick called her. "Susanna, when your foster parents came looking for you, I informed them of your dismissal, saying you still had unfinished work to compensate for. They were scared off. They probably won't come back."
Susanna smiled; it was indeed a good solution.
She peacefully resumed her studies, and as the sun was setting, she received an unexpected call.
Why did Aaron call her?
