They told each other how pitiful Dory was and how cruel Aimeen was to her.
Both of the neighbors sounded very self-righteous about themselves.
They didn't realize that Dory had woken up on the bed behind them.
She saw the two of them when she woke up.
After feeling a bit dizzy, Dory was about to call out to them, but then she heard their conversation.
"I find this so strange! Any parent would be worried if their child had been hurt like this. What kind of mother would treat their own child like this? Shouldn't a good child, like Dory, be loved and taken care of?"
"You're not the only one who thinks that way! A lot of people in our community think so too. So many of us are mothers and feel the same way!"
"Yes, there are mothers who beat their children and some who beat them really hard! But that's because their children are very naughty and disobedient! Dory is such a well-behaved child. She doesn't deserve this."
Dory grew very sad when she heard them talking about her.
She had always assumed that Aimeen scolded her all the time because she wasn't good enough.
That she wasn't obedient enough.
She wasn't as well-behaved as the other children.
But now, having heard those two talking, it seemed that wasn't the case at all.
She had been wrong.
She wasn't a bad daughter at all.
Then why did her mother punish her so much?
Dory couldn't understand.
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