Only I Had to Be Independent

"After graduating from college, Claire Walker returns home to find her parents have arranged a receptionist job for her—while planning a European vacation with their adopted daughter, Mia. Ten years earlier, Walker Home Furnishings nearly went bankrupt. Believing Mia's late father had saved the company with his life savings, the Walkers adopted her. Claire's mother kept insisting that the family's money could disappear and she must learn independence. Claire paid her way through college with scholarships and part-time jobs, did the housework, and handed over her earnings for Mia to spend. The company recovered, her brother received a job and housing, and Mia enjoyed tuition, travel, and career support. Only Claire remained without financial support. Claire has secured a job with an overseas tech company as an industrial software engineer in Munich, Germany. While awaiting graduation documents and preparing to leave, she still hopes her family will take her seriously. Yet conflicts over work, luggage, graduation, and her departure reveal what their demands for independence really mean: she must stop needing them. A congratulatory call from her grandmother reveals that her family collected $400,000 for her tuition over four years and spent it on Mia. Claire confronts them and demands her money back for the first time. After she starts her job abroad, the truth about the money that supposedly saved the business emerges. Her family's remorse comes only after she has gone. She is later rescued from danger."