Stella Lockwood had always felt that her parents' rebellious, unlicensed marriage was a time her mother couldn't bear to look back on. Stella's very existence, she believed, was an indelible stain. That was why her mother had never liked her, instead showering all her affection on her younger sister, Rhea Vaughn, and treating Stella with nothing but coldness.
In Stella Lockwood's eyes, her mother was an exceptionally strict woman, just like her grandmother. Her grandmother, who always wore a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, would scrutinize her with a harsh gaze, always managing to find some small fault to scold her for. No matter what Stella did, it was wrong. No matter how she tried to please them, all she got in return were icy glares.
She was quite afraid of them. She once believed that a mother's love must be warm, that she would be treated gently. But reality taught her a different lesson: 'A mother's love isn't love at all; it's a form of invisible abuse.'
