The story of Ivy Callista Vermelon actually goes back all the way to the early 1980s, when Evelynn Vermelon met Thomas Ma Xiao Tiao at a popular discotheque while on holiday with friends in Taipei, Taiwan. It was love at first sight. After a beautiful wedding and honeymoon in Nea Kios, Greece, they had their first child, who they named Marcus, in 1986. It was the ideal lifestyle for the two, and they could not be happier.

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But here's where things take a turn for the worse. Although he loved his family, Thomas was just a lowly pencil-pusher at a steel manufacturing company, and as the main breadwinner of the family, he struggled to make ends meet. On top of that, his family now had two other mouths to feed. Richard and Boris were born in 1990 and 1994 respectively, which also meant that Evelynn had to quit her job as a secretary to take care of her three sons. This meant less income for the family.

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Things looked hopeful though, as Thomas slowly climbed the corporate ladder. The family was finally ready for another member, and Thomas, having grown up strictly on traditional Confucian values, wanted another boy. However, this was not to be. Rushing to the hospital after a particularly long meeting one autumn in 1999, he was disappointed to find out that Evelynn had given birth to a girl, whom she had named after a 'disgusting weed'.

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In 2005, disaster struck. Marcus, having just gotten his driver's license a few days prior, was killed in a car crash which was caused by a faulty traffic light. Now CEO Thomas was dismayed, but still had hope, as he still had two other sons who he could pass the company on to. Boris died of leukemia in 2007 and Richard of testicular cancer in 2010.

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After Richard's death, Thomas began to spend more time away from his wife and daughter. He would often come back home around 4 in the morning smelling of drink, and leave an hour later 'for work'. Sometimes, he would not return to the house for weeks on end, and with the money he brought back home every month shrinking bit by bit, Evelynn had to work two jobs just to support the family.

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In 2015, the Chinese stock market, which Thomas had heavily invested in, crashed, forcing him to sell off his company. Thomas took to gambling as a result, and, although he had a few lucky streaks here and there, became bankrupt before he even knew what was happening. At home, he began to physically and verbally abuse his wife and daughter. One night, in a fit of drunken rage, he beat Evelynn unconscious and would have killed her if not for his being held back by Ivy.

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Thomas eventually fell asleep on the floor, snoring like a really big pig (Ivy was super clear on this point, so I thought that I'd include it in). She knew that she had to get away somehow or he would do the same thing to her. Packing nothing but a few clothes and an old family photograph, the now 15-years-and-364.25-days-old Ivy fled the house, into the great big scary world beyond.