Chapter 3

I panicked.

Lily had just had a bath; her body was still damp, making her highly susceptible to catching a cold.

With the wind blowing, she coughed several times.

I yelled,

“What are you doing opening the window? Close it now!”

Brenda pursed her lips and said, smiling sweetly,

“Didn’t you say you wanted to follow scientific recovery methods? I specifically learned that bedrooms need ventilation!”

I was fuming.

“Ventilation means opening the window just a crack during the warm daytime hours. Who opens a window wide open in the dead of a cold night for ventilation?”

She was clearly doing it on purpose to provoke me.

As soon as I said that, she lowered her head, eyes red-rimmed, and walked out, as if I had subjected her to immense injustice.

I quickly braved the cold wind and closed the window.

The moment I got back into bed, Derek burst in.

“Chloe Miller, can you please stop being so dramatic? I stewed pig trotters soup for your milk supply, and you said it was old-fashioned and unscientific.”

“My mom, at her age, specifically went to learn scientific methods for pregnant women, and she ventilated your room, yet you yell at her.”

“Can’t you show some manners and be more sensible?”

“My mom is fifty years old! She’s trying to help you, and she’s doing it wrong?”

Looking at his angry, dark-red face, I suddenly felt like I was looking at a complete stranger.

My body felt colder than when the wind had swept through earlier.

I tightened my shawl and said coldly,

“Derek, don’t let your mom trouble herself with me anymore. Tell her to leave tomorrow.”

He clenched his jaw.

“Fine! You said it, don’t you dare regret it!”

With that, he slammed the door and left.

Lily was startled by the door slamming and burst into tears.

I could hear Derek comforting Brenda in the living room. No one came to check on Lily.

I endured the pain from my C-section incision, picked up Lily, and gently soothed her.

Her small head brushed against my chest, and I felt a jolt, a sharp pain radiating up and down my body. I shivered uncontrollably.

For the first time, I felt like I’d be better off a widow. Tears silently streamed down my face.

In five days of recovery, I shed more tears than I had in my entire twenty-five years combined.

Partly due to unstable hormones, but mostly because my heart had died.

All night long, not a single person came in to care for Lily.

I stayed awake the entire night, completely drained of energy.

Early this morning, Lily started crying again.

Derek said he was going to buy diapers, and Brenda said she was getting groceries. They both left.

My head was spinning, and I didn't have the energy to argue. I just told myself the argument from yesterday was over.

It would just be like this, I had to get through this recovery period, right?

I never imagined they were using an excuse to leave, afraid I would stop them.

And I certainly never expected them to board a plane for a vacation to clear their heads.

No wonder I couldn't reach them on their phones; they were on a flight.

This made me laugh, a bitter, hollow laugh.

Did such a man deserve to be a husband, a father?

How foolish was I to still treat him like a human being?

I tossed my phone aside, pondering what to do next.

I couldn't come up with anything.

So I simply cleared my mind and stared at the stark white ceiling.

After a long moment, I told myself: Chloe Miller, this cannot go on.

Perhaps because half a day had passed, and I hadn't replied to a single message, Derek felt a bit frustrated and sent two more.

“Chloe Miller, I just want you to experience how hard it is to take care of a child, and how much my mom sacrifices. Don’t be ungrateful, not knowing how good you have it.”

“Mom is very upset, I’ll go comfort her again. You caused this mess, and I have to clean it up. Why can’t you be more like Vanessa… Never mind, we’re about to board a boat for a sea excursion. You video call Mom tonight and apologize to her.”

I barely heard what he said after that.

But he mentioned "Vanessa" and paused, and I heard that clearly.

Hah! He was still thinking about her.

I used to wonder why the less his mom liked him, the harder he tried to please her; and why, even after Vanessa dumped him, he still couldn't forget her.

I thought it was because he lacked love as a child.

Now I understood. Wasn’t that just pathetic?