Chapter 4
A small cake had appeared in the living
room.
Apparently, Colin had come home last night after all, thoughtfully preparing breakfast and buying stomach medicine for me.
“You haven’t been eating breakfast lately, have you? Your stomach’s acting up.”
“I’m dying, Colin. Can’t you see that?”
My face must have looked pale, yet he barely noticed, brushing off my words as mere anger.
“Hannah, I didn’t come here to fight.”
“Jessica’s due any day now–can’t you hold
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out just a little longer?”
Here he was, turning the tables and blaming me as if I were truly at fault. He was a man I had loved for years, yet in his eyes, all I’d do was being unreasonable.
I was not even bothering to waste my breath on him anymore. “If you have a moment, just sign the divorce papers. This is your last chance.”
Jessica proudly introduced Colin as her husband all around the neighborhood, flaunting her swollen belly as they walked together openly. My mother–in–law treated her like a treasure, as if I were the one intruding in their lives, a mistress in the shadows.
Colin nearly begged me on his knees to wait until Jessica had the baby, promising that
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once the child was born, everything would return to the way it once was.
The nerve of him. If it weren’t for my fear of upsetting Grandma, I would have exposed everything, letting the whole world know about them.
But I hadn’t anticipated Grandma coming to visit me and hearing the rumors that painted me as the mistress. The shock was too much for her; she passed away, heartbroken.
I was the last to know.
At the church, all that was left of Grandma was an urn of ashes. They hadn’t even allowed me a final goodbye to her.
Colin tried to take me aside. “You haven’t been well lately. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to overexert yourself.
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But I knew the truth. Grandma had been planning to leave me the Smith family’s old estate before she died. They hadn’t given me a chance to see her because they feared I’d take it away.
I pulled my hand from his grasp, and only then, when I saw Jessica also dressed in mourning beside my mother–in–law, did I understand Colin’s true intent. He’d kept me away so I wouldn’t see Jessica.
What a pathetic, cowardly man!
A salty, metallic taste of blood filled my mouth, but I swallowed it down. I walked up to Grandma’s grave, kowtowed to her, and gazed at the photo she had prepared herself. I remembered the day she learned she was sick; she stroked my head gently and said:
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“Grandma’s getting old. It’s just a matter of time. When I’m gone, don’t cry. Send me off with a smile.”
But I couldn’t keep that promise. My vision blurred with tears I could no longer hold back.
Jessica’s wailing grated against my ears.
I walked up to her and slapped her across the face.
“Smack!”
The annoying sobbing stopped for a brief second.
“You hit me?” Jessica’s arrogant face twisted with fury as she turned to my mother–in–law and Colin for support. “Mom, Colin, how can you let her hit me? I’m pregnant!”
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When Colin did nothing, Jessica’s anger turned to wailing. “I’m here out of kindness, watching over Grandma’s spirit, and you’re all treating me like this! I might as well die and join her!”
My mother–in–law shielded Jessica like she was a precious treasure, glaring at me. “Jessica, don’t get upset while you’re carrying a child. If anyone deserves to die, it’s her. It’s her fault for not being able to have children, leaving Grandma without a grandchild to send her off.”
Relatives urged me to leave, saying, “Hannah, Grandma loved you most, so how can you cause trouble at her funeral? Go home.”
Each vile face stabbed me like a dagger, filling me with disgust. My whole body felt
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unwell, every step unsteady as if I were walking on uneven ground.
Seeing Jessica’s victorious smirk, I don’t know where the strength came from–1 lunged at her, grabbing her by the hair.
“If you want to die, then let’s die together!!”
In that moment, I truly wanted to kill her. I knew I didn’t have much time left anyway after all.
Jessica began screaming, panicking, as those hypocritical relatives rushed to pull me off her. Colin was the first to reach me, yanking my hands away and shoving me back.
I stumbled, hitting the edge of the casket, and a metallic taste filled my mouth. I couldn’t hold it back any longer; blood
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spurted from my lips, staining the white chrysanthemums.
In the fading blur of my vision, I saw Colin’s panicked face as he ran toward me.
