11 CHAPTER 11

She unpacked her suitcase, arranged the clothes in the wardrobe, and put aside the suitcase somewhere where it wouldn't be easily pushed around.

After that, she went to the kitchen where she frowned upon seeing that there wasn't much food. She had not brought anything as she wanted to buy everything in Taco, so before her parents' return, she was going to go and do some shopping.

Diamond left the house again, and as she had greatly changed, several neighbors failed to recognize her. And as she was also in a hurry, she decided to not greet them at the moment as they could only slow her down.

She still had time to converse with them when she was done. Diamond took less than an hour to arrive at a familiar wholesaler TRANS. This distributor was all over Athary and was one of the big distributors in the country, so it wasn't shocking to find it everywhere one goes.

She found a trolley and strolled inside for some shopping. Diamond was no longer stingy and since this was the first time that she was buying so much food for her family, she decided to go all out.

She knew for a fact that she wouldn't be able to visit her family all the time, so buying a lot at once was good. She was going to leave some money as well, but she didn't want the money to be spent on food only, but on other things as well.

In the end, Diamond filled two trolleys with items ranging from food to toiletries. As she didn't have a car, she hired a truck to send her home. She had to wait for a while outside while she talked on Ioniq chat with her friends.

Despite being poor before, she still had some friends. It's just that everyone was busy, so they talked much on the phone and barely saw each other physically.

When the truck came, she received help from some men, and the groceries were quickly loaded on the truck and she gave away a huge tip for their help.

On the way back home, the truck driver struck up a polite conversation with her which she indulged. After all, it wasn't everyone who would think of wooing someone simply because a girl had a pretty face.

When the neighbor saw a lot of food being loaded out of the truck and taken into Perry's house. The older woman was now curious and wondering who the visitor might be.

In the end, Diamond had to reveal herself, shocking her neighbor straight to the core. The older woman looked at her with five parts jealousy and five parts envy, although she didn't understand her reason for being like that.

What she didn't know was that her arrival soon quickly spread throughout the street, and it was both bad and good news.

The first person to arrive was Ruby, a senior high school student, and when she came home, it was around five. Seeing the door open, she didn't think much and simply thought that it was her mother who had come back early.

But when she saw a mountain of groceries in the sitting room, she was struck by shock, 'since when did mother start buying so impulsively like this?' she wondered.

There were so many things that required money at the moment, so they were being frugal. She was writing exams and the money that she used for registration. Some of it was borrowed, and they were still repaying it back.

Although her elder sister sent money home all the time, sometimes it wasn't enough even if she added money to her parents. Worrying Diamond was one of the taboos in the Perry's house.

Ruby, at first, was envious of her elder sister before, the way her parents loved her. She always felt as if she wasn't their child, but after growing up, she understood and just accepted it.

Her parents loved them the same and her sister wasn't a bully of an elder sister. She still shared things with her and helped her whenever she could. Although her sister wasn't the brightest or the most beautiful person, she was hard-working.

With all the pampering and spoiling she received as a child, Ruby never expected something good from Diamond, but she was proven wrong. So, seeing all this food, she was worried.

Was it time for her to get a part-time job and help pay off some debts?

Wanting to instill some reason in her mother's head, Ruby walked further into the house. Only to come face to face with someone she had missed so terribly that what she did upon seeing the other was crumble down and cry.

Diamond could only hug her little sister and coax her as she cried, "It's okay now darling, aren't I here?"

"Why did it take you so long to come back? Don't you know that we all missed you? Why ….. umphhh…. You are heartless!"

Diamond knew that explaining herself would absolve her from the crime she committed of abandoning her family and not coming to see them often.

After all, what she had was just rash and not some deadly disease that was so scary for her to meet her family. And it wasn't as if she was going to die any moment.

"Umm, big sister is very sorry. I promise that I won't do something like this in the future."

It took a while before Ruby finally calmed down, and when she did; she became joyful and started bombarding Diamond with several questions.

Diamond was very patient when answering Ruby and this resulted in them not packing the food again.

Belinda and Richard arrived at the same time, and on their way home, they couldn't help but hear people talking about Diamond. They didn't dare call home, as they were afraid that this was all a ruse.

They missed their daughter so much, but since she didn't want to return home, all they could do was pray and wait until she was ready to come back.

So, hearing news about her as soon as they stepped into the neighborhood, they quickly rushed home. With anxious hands, they opened the door, and there in front of them were their two beloved girls laughing and talking merrily with each other.

Diamond spent another thirty minutes of breaking down, seeing her haggard parents. She couldn't contain herself and let all her past grievances out while embracing her parents.

Even Ruby, who had cried before, also got affected and cried as well.

After a touching moment of reunion, Diamond sat with everyone as they all looked at her, waiting for her to explain herself.

Diamond always sent a maximum of A$1,000 every time, as her salary was A$3,000 monthly. She hadn't sent any money for two months, but this still didn't explain why there were groceries worth more than A$10,000 in their house.

Diamond had thought of several lies to tell her parents, so she wasn't shaken much and simply began to tell a lie that she spurned from day one.