"What are you doing?" Mary shouted, her voice cold and furious. "Why are you grabbing me like that? Are you insane?"
Laura froze.
For a moment, she simply stared at Mary, her mind going blank.
'She… doesn't recognize me?'
"So this is how you talk to your mother?" Laura hissed, her voice dripping with accusation.
Mary's eyes widened instantly.
"…Mother?" she whispered, her voice faltering.
Now that she looked closely, the familiarity became undeniable.
The sharp lines of the face, the eyes she had once feared, the voice she could never forget… it was her.
A complicated expression crossed Mary's face, her lips parting slightly before she spoke, her tone distant and devoid of warmth.
"What are you doing here?"
Laura's irritation surged again, but she suppressed it quickly.
'If not for her current status… I wouldn't even bother with this ungrateful girl,' she thought bitterly.
