Of course. Please find the adapted story below:
“This is my flat,” Emily insisted, her patience wearing thin as her mother’s voice echoed through the line.
“You were given that flat as a gift, remember?” her mother pleaded, a mix of desperation and accusation in her tone, typical of her.
“Mum, I’m happy to help, but…” Emily hesitated, searching for the right words. “Chloe’s been living with me for eight months. Eight! Remember how Aunt Valerie said it’d be ‘just for a couple of weeks until she finds a job’?”
“Well, you know how tough times are…”
“She’s not even looking!” Emily felt her frustration rising. “She spent yesterday doing those hair masks and watching shows all day. Then…”
“But Emily, she’s expecting…”
“She found that out just a month ago! What stopped her before?”
There was a heavy pause, and Emily could almost feel her mother’s disapproving sigh. That sigh she knew so well, the one that said, “How could you be so heartless, daughter? I didn’t raise you like this.”
“Mum, you do remember you and Dad bought out Aunt Valerie’s share for me, right?”
“Technically,” her mother’s voice turned brisk, “the flat is ours. We just let you live there.”
Emily closed her eyes. Here we go again.
“I thought it was a graduation gift.”
“Of course, a gift! But you understand that in a family you ought to…”
“Do what? Put up with Chloe eating my food, using my makeup, and bringing her boyfriend over when I’m not home? By the way, he’s the one she’s pregnant by.”
“Emily!” her mother’s voice had a steely edge. “Aunt Valerie has done so much for us! Who was there for us when your dad was ill? Who helped us get by while I was working two jobs?”
Emily sighed, tired of the same old tale of indebtedness to Aunt Valerie, a debt seemingly never to be repaid.
“I’m grateful, I truly am. But that doesn’t mean I have to…”
“Aunt Valerie called yesterday,” her mother interrupted again. “She cried, saying you’re being mean to Chloe, picking at everything.”
Emily snorted.
“Mean? Chloe took my new sweater without asking and spilled juice all over it! Then all she said was, ‘Oh, you won’t mind, we’re family,’ and didn’t even apologize!”
“For heaven’s sake, Emily, it’s just a sweater…”
“It’s not about the sweater!” Emily’s voice choked a bit. “It’s about respect, personal boundaries. About feeling like a guest in my own home.”
Another pause stretched over the line. Then her mother’s voice came back, softer, yet firm.
“You know, your grandmother would be so upset hearing you talk like this. For her, family was…”
“Please, stop,” Emily interrupted. “Don’t bring up Grandma every time you want to guilt-trip me.”
“But it’s true! This flat is part of Grandma’s legacy. She wanted…”
“Wanted what? For me to live with Chloe permanently? To endure her demands? To…”
Her phone beeped—an incoming call from Aunt Valerie. Naturally.
“Mum, Aunt Valerie’s calling. Probably wants to tell me how awful a sister I am.”
“Take the call, Emily. Talk it over with her.”
“Fine,” Emily sighed. “I’ll call you back later.”
Steeling herself, Emily switched calls, preparing for more reproaches.
“Hello, Aunt Val.”
“Emily!” Aunt Valerie’s voice was overly cheerful. “How are you, darling?”
Emily cringed at being called “darling.” Aunt Valerie only did so when she wanted something.
“Fine,” she replied tersely.
“Chloe says you two are having… misunderstandings?”
Emily rolled her eyes. Misunderstandings. Right.
“Aunt Val, when you and Mum suggested Chloe stay with me, it was for a few weeks, a month at most.”
“Oh, don’t be so precise about it!” Aunt Valerie laughed, though irritably. “Family doesn’t keep score.”
“Oh, and what does family do?” Emily felt her anger bubbling. “Invites themselves over? Takes things without permission? Brings friends around when I’m not there?”
“Emily, dear… Chloe’s just open-hearted, not used to…”
“She’s not used to taking responsibility. Mum and Dad bought out your share of the flat so I could live here. It was a gift to me.”
“Well, not exactly,” Aunt Valerie’s voice cooled. “It’s Grandma’s flat. A family inheritance. Your mum and I just arranged…”
“Arranged to sell your share to my parents,” Emily said firmly. “And they paid for it. Full market price.”
“Money, money!” Aunt Valerie’s tone turned shrill. “Is that all you care about? Have you thought about Chloe being pregnant? Where’s she going to go? On the street?”
“She has a boyfriend. The father of the child, incidentally.”
“He’s irresponsible, no place of his own! Left the moment he heard about the baby.”
“Wonder why,” Emily thought but said aloud, “Aunt Val, you have a three-bedroom house. You and Uncle Nick are there alone. Why can’t Chloe stay with you?”
Pause. Emily could almost feel Aunt Valerie choosing her words.
“We… It’s just not convenient. Uncle Nick works from home; he needs peace. Besides, you and Chloe always got along so well. Like sisters, growing up. When she gives birth, it’ll be a wonderful experience for you to look after a baby.”
“Like sisters.” Emily chuckled darkly. Chloe always got away with everything. Sweet, spontaneous Chloe, who “just doesn’t think of the consequences.” While Emily was “the responsible one,” “mature beyond her years,” expected to yield, understand, forgive.
“Aunt Val, I can’t do this anymore. I’m talking to Chloe tonight. She needs to find another place to live.”
“What?!” Aunt Valerie’s voice climbed to a piercing pitch. “You can’t! She’s expecting! It’s too stressful! Do you want her to lose the baby?!”
Emily struggled to keep her temper. This was the ultimate weapon. When guilt-tripping through “family values” failed, playing the “endangering the child” card was the go-to move.
“I’m not throwing her out on the street immediately. I’m giving her time to…”
“I’m calling your mother!” Aunt Valerie interrupted. “This is… it’s appalling! After all we’ve done for you.”
The call ended abruptly. Emily set the phone down slowly, hands trembling slightly.
The front door opened. Heels clacked down the hall.
“Em!” Chloe’s voice was sickly sweet. “Are you home? Guess what? I bumped into Kate, you remember her from school? She’s married now, to some rich IT guy. The ring she showed off, it was blinding!”
Chloe breezed into the kitchen, tanned, with fresh nails and designer jeans. Nothing about her screamed “a pregnant woman in distress.”
“Hey, I was just thinking…” Chloe flopped onto the chair opposite Emily. “Shouldn’t we move the sofa? It’d look better by the window. Plus, when the baby arrives, we need to set up a nursery corner…”
Emily watched her, feeling something snap within. The last thread of patience.
“Chloe, we need to talk.”
“Oh, not now, please?” Chloe waved a hand. “I have a splitting headache. These pregnancy hormones, you know? I’d rather just lie down.”
She stood, heading for the kitchen exit.
“Chloe,” Emily raised her voice. “You need to move out.”
Chloe stopped dead in the doorway. Slowly, she turned back.
“What?”
“You need to move out,” Emily repeated, a strange calmness washing over her. “I’m giving you a month to find somewhere.”
Chloe stared at her as if Emily had just spoken in Mandarin.
“You’re joking, right?” she finally managed. “This is some kind of joke?”
“No. I’m absolutely serious.”
Chloe’s face twisted.
“You… you can’t! This is Grandma’s flat! I have as much right here as you do!”
“No, Chloe. My parents bought Aunt Valerie’s share. Legally, it’s theirs.”
“Like I care about legalities!” Chloe shouted. “We’re family! Don’t you understand? I’m pregnant! I’ve nowhere else to go!”
“You have your parents. You have the baby’s father. You have friends, for heaven’s sake.”
“I’m calling Mum!” Chloe snatched out her phone. “She’ll set you straight!”
“Don’t bother,” Emily shook her head. “Already spoke to her. And Mum too.”
“And?”
“And nothing. My decision stands.”
Chloe glowered at her with undisguised anger.
“So that’s it? Throw your pregnant cousin out on the street? Well, Mum and Aunt Irene will sort you out. You’ll regret this.”
She stormed out of the kitchen, slamming the door behind her moments later.
Emily sat there, gazing out the window. Oddly, instead of guilt, she felt a profound sense of relief. And an exhaustion—an endless fatigue from this charade of “family values,” which seemed one-sided.
Her phone buzzed with a message from her mum: “Aunt Valerie is hysterical. What have you done?”
Emily ignored it, opening a browser instead and searching: “London flat rentals.”
Three months later, Emily was seated in a café on Regent Street, watching the London drizzle outside. Across from her sat her boyfriend, Tom, whom she’d met back home but who had moved to London six months earlier.
“Any regrets?” he asked, stirring his coffee.
Emily shook her head.
“No. Just regret not doing it sooner.”
Her phone buzzed with a call from her dad.
“Hey, Dad.”
“Hi, love,” her father’s voice held a rare note of ceremony. “Got some news.”
“What’s up?”
“We’ve sold the flat.”
Emily froze.
“Grandma’s? But what about…”
“Chloe moved back with her parents,” her dad chuckled. “After you left, she tried to stay, but… Anyway, your mum and I decided enough is enough. Sold the flat. We’re sending the money your way.”
“What?” Emily couldn’t quite believe her ears. “To me?”
“To you,” he said, smiling evident in his voice. “It was a gift for you, remember? Graduation. We just got… tangled up a bit. Gave in to pressure. We’re sorry.”
Emily felt tears sting her eyes.
“Dad, I don’t know what to say…”
“No need. Just be happy. And… we’re proud of you. Proud you stood your ground, even when we didn’t support you.”
After their call ended, Emily sat silently, staring at the rain.
“What’s going on?” Tom covered her hand with his.
“I think… I think I just grew up,” Emily replied quietly. “For real.”
Outside, the rain continued to fall, washing away past traces and offering a fresh start for a new life—one where she decides who to let into her home and her heart.
