Amanda Smith heard this and couldn't help but feel somewhat speechless.
So... was that it?
The place that used to feel like home in her heart had now become somewhere she did not want to return to.
The older she got, the more she realized that the people in that family were rejecting her. No matter how cautiously she moved, how carefully she tried to please, she could not gain their affection.
Mr. Johnson was advanced in years, and the power he wielded had already shifted to his son's hands, and Mr. Johnson had always been indulgent towards Samuel, not as strict as Mr. Johnson had been. In recent years, with Mr. Johnson bedridden with illness and various age-related diseases following one after the other, he no longer had the strength to protect her.
In that devouring family, she could only rely on herself.
Too taxing, hence her reluctance to return.
Upon such reflection, Amanda felt a tinge of sadness.