Switched at Birth: I Was Replaced, But I Refuse to Play the Victim

I am the true heiress who was intentionally switched at birth.

When my biological parents finally found me...

I had already joined the neighborhood senior citizens' Zumba squad.

They looked at my bright, floral-embroidered velour tracksuit.

And their faces twisted in absolute disgust.

You're Chloe? These clothes...

Seeing the bedazzled floral tracksuit I was wearing, the elegantly dressed woman faltered.

Ignoring the fleeting look of disgust in her eyes, I dropped the twenty-pound bag of rice and the gallon jug of cooking oil from my shoulder, then pulled a giant Stanley tumbler out of my tote bag.

After taking a slow sip of my iced tea, I looked at the group standing in front of me and asked, "So, you're my biological parents?"

Richard frowned but nodded. "Yes. We are your biological parents."

"And her?" I pointed at the frail, delicate-looking girl standing behind them.

The girl's eyes instantly welled up with tears.

The two young men standing beside herone older, one youngerinstinctively stepped forward to shield her.

"Don't you dare bully Serena!" The younger one couldn't hold back and yelled what was on his mind.

I stared at the girl's face, which shared a fifty-to-sixty percent resemblance to mine.

Then I looked at the Sterling family's protective attitude toward her. Instantly, I found this whole family incredibly amusing.

I leaned back against my dilapidated sofa, watching them with the detached amusement of someone watching a soap opera.

Perhaps realizing his brother's outburst was inappropriate, the older guy stepped up to explain:

"We know you've suffered a lot all these years, but that was all that woman's fault. Serena is completely innocent..."

Before he could finish his sentence, the door to my cramped apartment was pushed wide open.

A massive group of aunties and granniesall wearing the exact same floral velour tracksuit as meswarmed inside. They instantly surrounded my biological parents, talking over each other to defend me:

"So you're our little Chloe's real parents!"

"What took you so long? Do you have any idea what Chloe has been through all these years?"

"Let me tell you, that adopted mother of hers is a monster! You know those heavy wooden baseball bats? That woman would pick one up and beat her without a second thought!"

"Exactly! Starving her was an everyday thing, but in the dead of winter, she purposely shredded Chloe's winter coat so the poor girl had to walk to school in a ripped T-shirt. And during the state scholarship exams, she locked Chloe in her room so she couldn't go!"

"I always said there was no way a real mother could be that evil. Turns out, she really wasn't!"

"You need to have the cops arrest that woman! And you better investigate that fake daughter of yours, too. She probably knew her mom switched the babies on purpose..."

"Wait, who's crying?"

Auntie Martha, who was leading the pack, suddenly paused.

The group of aunties looked around to find the source of the sobbing, their eyes finally landing on the girl in the pristine white dress.

"Sister, I'm... I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to steal your life, I..."

The girl lowered her head, crying so hard her shoulders shook.

"Is this her?" Auntie Martha's eyes widened, putting a finger to her lips in a hushed motion.

I nodded. "Yep. That's Brenda Miller's biological daughter, Serena Sterling."

"Chloe, Brenda Miller is Brenda Miller. The things she did have absolutely nothing to do with Serena."

My biological older brother, Grayson Sterling, spoke up.

The rest of the Sterling family nodded, completely agreeing with him.

But these were women who survived the cutthroat gossip circles of the neighborhood. With a single exchanged glance, the aunties saw right through the dynamics.

Before the Sterlings could say another word, Auntie Bettya woman who refused to even coddle her own grandsonswent on the offensive.

"Oh, please, you can't spin it like that!"

"Whether the girl is innocent or not is one thing. But by standing there crying like a victim, what is Chloe supposed to do? Is she supposed to turn around and comfort her?"

Auntie Betty marched over and rolled up my sleeves, revealing the jagged scars on the backs of my hands.

"Look at this! Her own mother burned her with a red-hot clothing iron!"

"Now look at this girl. Draped in designer brands, raised with soft skin and delicate hands."

"If you expect Chloe to apologize to her and comfort her, do you honestly think that's fair?"

Auntie Betty then turned her sights on Serena.

"Listen, little girl. Maybe we can't blame you for what your mother did, but do you have any idea what kind of hell Chloe lived through for the past sixteen years because of her? Have some decency! Stop crying and playing the victim. Don't you realize you're just twisting the knife in Chloe's heart?"

With that, Auntie Betty wiped a tear with her sleeve and pulled me into a tight hug.

"You poor, sweet child. You always keep everything bottled up. Before, you had no one to love you, but now your real parents are here! Surely they won't play favorites and side with an outsider over you, right? These are your real parents! If you have grievances, you speak up!"

"Chloe's parents, am I right?"

The entire squad of aunties turned their piercing gazes onto the Sterling parents.

Richard and Catherine Sterling smiled awkwardly. "Yes, of course. If you feel wronged, tell Mom and Dad."

Choked by Auntie Betty's words, Serena couldn't say a thing. All she could do was stare at the Sterlings with red, watery eyes, biting her lip.

Before I got into the Sterlings' luxury SUV, Auntie Betty shoved a shopping bag into my arms, claiming it was the dance squad's new uniform.

But inside was a brand-new, trendy athletic outfit.

I knew the aunties were worried I wouldn't have decent clothes for my new school, so they all chipped in to buy this for me.

I quietly thanked them, handed over the discounted eggs I had fought for at the supermarket, and securely locked my new bag of rice and cooking oil in the cabinet.

Standing nearby, Grayson reminded me that there was no need to lock things up; I would never be coming back to this dump.

I tilted my head, glancing at the Sterling parents and the younger brother huddled behind Grayson, whispering comforting words to Serena. I just smiled at him and didn't say a word.

Grayson looked back, then couldn't help but say:

"Chloe, Serena didn't mean it. She really feels guilty toward you. She's cried about it at home so many times..."

"Ah, yes. Sure, sure."

I brushed him off, grabbed the new clothes the aunties gave me, slung my backpack over my shoulder, and slid straight into the car.

In the car, I looked at my phone while the Sterlings looked at me.

Auntie Martha sent me $500 on Venmo: [This is a little something from the aunties. Do not refuse it!]

Auntie Betty messaged the group chat: [Chloe, honey, if you don't feel comfortable over there, you just come right back home.]

The other aunties chimed in with their agreement.

Everyone in our neighborhood was working-class. Even though the aunties were retired, they lived on meager pensions of less than a thousand dollars a month. Women like Auntie Betty still worked at the farmer's market just to make ends meet.

Every dollar they spent on me over the years was saved by literally taking food out of their own mouths.

Sending me such a huge amount of money now meant they had noticed my biological parents' blatant favoritism and were terrified I would suffer in the Sterling house.

"Chloe, honey... your outfit."

Catherine Sterling frowned at my bedazzled tracksuit, finally unable to hold her tongue. "From now on, you are a daughter of the Sterling family. Your attire and manners need to be appropriate."

"And at your age, you should be making friends with people your own age. Broaden your horizons, expand your social circles, instead of hanging around those... elderly women every day."

"In this regard, you can learn a lot from Serena. It'll also help the two of you bond as sisters."

Catherine spoke with utmost sincerity, and Serena, of course, played along perfectly.

She reached out to grab my hand, her attitude so artificially affectionate it gave me goosebumps.

"Don't worry, Mom. I'll make sure to teach my sister everything."

"Sister, when we get home, I'll pick out a few nice outfits for you from my closet. As for what you're wearing, let's just have the housekeeper throw it away."

"Yeah," Mason, sitting next to Serena, chimed in. "I don't even know what that garbage is on your back. It's hideous. If you dress like that from now on, don't tell anyone you're a Sterling. It's humiliating."

I paused, stopped typing a reply to my beloved aunties, and looked at the group with a bright smile.

"But do you know why I'm always wearing these grandma tracksuits?"

"Because her motherBrenda Millershredded all my clothes so I couldn't go to school. And that wasn't all. When the neighbors couldn't stand watching me freeze and gave me their old hand-me-downs, she burned and cut those up, too."

"Later, those aunties you look down on came up with a plan. They recruited me into their dance crew as a helper. They told Brenda these tracksuits were the team's official property. If she destroyed them, she'd have to pay the crew back in cash. Only then was I able to wear these tracksuits and leave the house like a normal person."

"Oh, right. Do you know why your mother tried to stop me from going to school?"

I stared dead into Serena's eyes.

"It's because during the middle school math decathlon, she realized you and I were testing at the same regional center. She suddenly realized that if I kept succeeding in school, the truth might be exposed."

"And speaking of... Auntie Martha and the others were too polite to say it earlier. Do you know what Brenda Miller did on the day of my final high school scholarship exams?"

"She locked me in a room and let a creepy old drifter inside. She said she sold me to him for three hundred bucks, telling him he could take my virginity..."

"Stop it!" Catherine's face went deathly pale. She clutched her chest, looking as if she couldn't bear to hear another word.

The rest of the Sterlings looked sick to their stomachs, completely at a loss for words.

"Heh." I chuckled softly, as if oblivious to their expressions. "So you see, you really should be thanking my aunties. If they hadn't smashed the door down, dragged me out of there, and personally driven me to the testing center, I would either be dead right now, or chained in a drifter's basement, probably already a mother of three."

The entire car went dead silent.

I curled my lips into a smile, leaned back against the leather seat, and closed my eyes to rest.

Perhaps my words were a little too hardcore. As soon as we arrived at the Sterling estate, my biological parents used "urgent work" as an excuse and fled the scene.

Unable to withstand my gaze, Serena and Mason quickly scurried away, too.

Leaving only my eldest brother, Grayson, to take me to my prepared rooma converted guest bedroom on the first floor.

I glanced up the stairs where Serena and Mason had vanished, and simply smiled at Grayson.

Grayson instantly looked embarrassed. He quickly explained, "This is just temporary. I'll have the empty suite on the second floor renovated for you, and then you can move upstairs."

Seeing that I just kept smiling without a word, his expression darkened.

"Chloe, we know you suffered a lot, but all of that is in the past. Mom, Dad, and I will make it up to you. Why must you aggressively cling to the past and embarrass everyone like this?"

"Embarrass?"

I asked as I slowly paced around the room.

"Did you not see Mom and Dad's faces just now?" he said, his tone full of reprimand. "And not just them, but Serena. How do you expect her to live in this house after hearing the horrifying things you said?"

I spotted a heavy, cylindrical wooden sculpture on the desk. My eyes lit up. I grabbed it and swung it hard right into Grayson's back.

Hit out of nowhere, Grayson stumbled forward, clutching his back and glaring at me in fury. "Are you insane?!"

I weighed the wooden baton in my hand and smiled. "Does it hurt?"

"What do you think?!" Grayson looked at me like I was a psychopath. "Chloe Miller, apologize right now!"

"But I hit you seconds ago, so it's already in the past. Besides, this strike is barely a tickle compared to what I've endured. Why must you aggressively cling to the past and embarrass me, brother?"

I repeated his exact tone and words back to him.

Grayson choked on his rage.

I just waved my hand at him and shut the door in his face. "Bye, brother."