Filed to story: The Daughter in the Shadows (Yunice) Book by Una Norris
Especially Elsie, who cried out in shock, “What?”
She immediately challenged it: “The rumors about Yunice and Paul were already everywhere seven or eight years ago. People described them in vivid detail-there were even witnesses! How could she possibly still be a virgin?”
Lily, after a few seconds of shock, also jumped in, “Exactly. Wyatt, you must’ve known when you married her that she wasn’t pure. Now you’re making this up just to save face… that’s not right.”
She looked troubled. “Owen really is the one being wronged here. You can’t use his situation to whitewash yours. The two things are totally unrelated…”
Yunice asked, “Why are they unrelated?”
Lily replied confidently, “Because Owen was set up. You were willing.”
Yunice fired back, “You saw with your own eyes that Owen didn’t agree to it?”
Lily got worked up. “How could anyone see something like that with their own eyes? I’m not a pervert!”
Yunice said calmly, “So you didn’t see it happen, but you’re sure he was set up. And you didn’t see what happened to me either, but you’re certain I was willing? That’s pretty hypocritical.”
At that, Lily shot a nervous glance at Carl. Not willing to back down, she argued, “That’s because Owen made a fuss about it. He insisted he was framed. But you-back then, you didn’t even complain. You looked like you were enjoying it…”
That lie finally pushed Yunice over the edge.
“I didn’t complain?” she snapped. “The day those rumors started, I went straight to the hospital to get all the evidence-my alibi, my physical exam, even collected the slanderer’s statements. I did everything I could. But I was a minor. You were my legal guardians! You knew I wanted to press charges, and instead of helping, you destroyed my evidence, cursed me, humiliated me, and dumped all the blame on me. You said I embarrassed the family and forced me to stay in front of my father’s grave for three days to reflect on myself. You’re telling me none of that happened?”
Owen couldn’t even lift his head.
Elsie, however, chimed in, “Yunice, don’t make things up just to make yourself look better. None of that ever happened. How are we supposed to admit to something that doesn’t exist? If Mr. Wyatt truly loved you, he wouldn’t care about your past. So why are you lying to yourself?”
A brilliant deflection.
It had been seven or eight years. Only the three of them had known the truth. If they claimed nothing had happened, what weight did Yunice’s words hold on their own?
Oscar glanced at Owen, who kept his head bowed in silence, seemingly agreeing with Lily and Elsie.
Of course…
Owen was too cowardly and selfish to let Mr. Carl completely lose faith in him. Better Yunice take the fall.
What no one expected was that instead of being angry, Yunice let out a laugh. “Not every truth in this world has to remain buried. Sometimes, there are exceptions.”
The room didn’t understand what she meant. Right now, she seemed to have the weakest position-no real evidence.
Then Yunice turned toward the television in the Crawford living room. She switched it on and tapped her phone a few times to connect.
Suddenly, a video began to play.
“Get out of my way! I’m going to the police! I’ll take this to court!”
The familiar voice made the Saunders family instinctively stand up, their faces frozen in shock as they stared at the screen.
“This is…”
A surveillance recording from the Saunders home-seven years ago.
Everything Yunice had just described replayed before their eyes.
On the screen, Yunice was seen trying to leave. A younger, more impulsive Owen grabbed her and shoved her to the floor. “I-said you’re not going anywhere!”
Yunice landed at Lily and Elsie’s feet, documents scattering everywhere. But the two of them just stood there, aloof and cold, like they were watching a stranger.
Elsie said, “Yunice, what’s done is done. You and Paul were engaged-what’s the big deal? Even if it happened, it’s not like it’s shameful. Why are you making a scene? You’re just giving people more reason to laugh at us. They’ll say the Saunders family acts all noble while behaving like this.”
Then Owen’s voice came, cruel and venomous: “That’s the polite way to say it. The ugly truth? She’s just a whore trying to play the saint. Can’t keep her legs closed, and now she wants to cry foul? You have no shame, but the Saunders family does!”
In the surveillance footage, Yunice climbed back up from the floor, her voice firm. “I don’t need your help, and I won’t bring shame to the Saunders family. I’ll apply for legal aid as a minor.”
“No, you can’t go!” said Owen.
She stood tall and headed for the door.
Owen, completely enraged, lunged forward and tore up her documents, stomping on them like a madman. “How dare you make such a huge scene! Go ahead and report then! Why are you being so disobedient now! Can’t you just give me a break!”
Watching the younger version of Yunice be shoved again in the video made Wyatt clench his fists.
Yunice reached out and gently placed her palm on the back of his hand.
Wyatt turned to look at her, and seeing the soft expression on her face, the fire in his eyes slowly faded.
During the whole video playback, Yunice hadn’t paid attention to anyone else. She had been watching Wyatt the entire time. She noticed the change in his expression and couldn’t help but think-he really seemed to care about her.
If he didn’t, he wouldn’t be this angry over something that happened so many years ago.
It had been seven years. Even Yunice herself barely felt anything anymore when she replayed those memories.
But the Saunders family didn’t even make it through the entire video. Their faces had already changed. Lily and Elsie stood pale and speechless. Owen stammered, “How did you…”
Yunice held Wyatt’s hand, turned her head toward Owen, and said, “How did I get this video, right?”
The Saunders family had never installed security cameras. When Elsie was first brought to live with them, she had said she was terrified of surveillance-it felt like someone was always watching her. She’d claimed she couldn’t sleep if cameras were in the house, so the Saunders family removed them all.
That’s why they were so shocked Yunice had any footage at all.
Yunice explained, “I installed a pinhole camera myself. I told you over and over that Paul was harassing me, but you brushed it off every time. ‘Men are like that,’ you’d say. ‘Don’t overthink it. Stop being difficult. He’s your fianc?, what harm could he mean?’ That’s how you dismissed me. I realized I couldn’t count on any of you. That’s why I set up the camera. It was meant to protect me from Paul. I never expected it to become evidence one day.”
Owen muttered, “You were only sixteen or seventeen back then… I underestimated you.”
Yunice responded, “If you think that was calculating, maybe ask yourself why fourteen- or fifteen-year-old Elsie insisted we remove every camera in the house. A girl from a remote village who had probably never even seen a security system-how could she be so afraid of being watched? It was because with cameras around, she couldn’t frame me anymore. She couldn’t pull anything behind the scenes.”
Elsie’s eyes filled with tears. “I didn’t…”
Yunice cut her off. “The first couple of years after you came to live with us, your things kept mysteriously showing up in my room. Everyone assumed I stole from you. When you got diagnosed with a gynecological infection, you claimed it was because I secretly wore your clothes. What, are your things so precious I’d actually want them? You’ve been framing me for years with the most pathetic and low-grade tricks. And yes, they were easy to see through-but it’s hard to wake someone who pretends to sleep. Lily and Owen always favored you. Even when I brought them proof to defend myself, they turned it against me and chose to believe you instead.”
Owen snapped, “Why would we favor her over you? Don’t you think maybe the problem is you?”
Smack!
Carl hurled his teacup straight at Owen’s head.
Owen froze, leaves from the tea clinging to his hair, a thin stream of blood trailing from his forehead down his handsome face.
Carl marched forward and grabbed Owen by the collar. “Why do you think I hit you and not her? Ever thought about that?”
Owen had never been treated like this. Furious and humiliated, he forgot all about Carl’s identity and yelled, “Because you’re biased!”
“Yes!” Carl barked back. “You are biased. You have double standards. And that is the problem!”
Owen argued, “That video doesn’t prove everything!”
Carl shot back, “But it proves your failure. You were her older brother, the one in charge of the Saunders household. When your sister came to you for help, instead of seeking the truth, you let your pride get in the way and ignored her cries. You can twist it however you want, but you were in the wrong!”
Finally, Oscar spoke.
“Owen, even now, you still won’t admit it? Didn’t we already go see Paul together? Didn’t Paul tell us to our faces that he made it all up? That he never laid a hand on Yunice? For seven years, because of your carelessness and neglect, Yunice was mocked and slandered nonstop. She’s been carrying that weight for seven years. And now you want her to keep carrying it?”