Hazel's POV
The moment I heard his words, a coldness spread through my chest. It crept into my limbs, like thousands of tiny ants biting their way through my bones.
My body trembled as I turned around. Ignoring the burning stares behind me, I stood in front of the half-open bedroom door and began taking off my clothes, one piece at a time.
“Ew! So ugly! Just like a dead rat!” Finn shouted.
Colette’s disgusted voice followed immediately. “Everything she takes off is filthy. Gross. Don’t let it dirty the floor. Hurry and sweep that trash out.”
Obedient as ever, Colin grabbed the broom he had never touched before and swept my two bras across the floor as though they were garbage.
Seeing me still standing there, Agnes’s sharp gaze landed on me. “Aren’t you leaving? What are you dawdling for? Don’t tell me you’re waiting to pick up whatever Colin sweeps out. Try it, I’ll call the police and have you arrested, you old thief.”
I shot her one fierce look, picked up my blue cloth bundle, and started toward the door.
But Colin stopped me, saying, “Wait. I haven’t checked that bundle yet.”
Then he snatched it from my arms and shook everything out onto the floor. Something glass hit the ground with a crisp shatter.
Hearing that, I dropped to my knees, reaching for the small two-inch photo frame I touched every day.
“Sweetheart, check that frame. Maybe she’s hiding something inside,” Colette said lazily.
With her command, Colin grabbed the frame right out of my hands.
With a sharp snap, the only photo I had left of my husband split clean in two.
“You beast! That was your father’s last picture. How dare you?!” I screamed.
But Colin ignored my anger and threw the broken frame onto the floor. “He’s dead. What’s there to treasure? For all I know, you’re hiding stolen things behind it.”
Hearing him insult my dead husband, rage exploded inside me, and I raised my hand to slap him.
But he managed to step back, shouting, “You thief! You dare hit me? If you weren’t my mom, I would’ve had you thrown in jail already!”
He kept ranting, his breath hot with anger. “Early in the morning and you start drama. Now I’m going to be late for work. What else do you want? Old as you are, you still can’t fix your nasty habits. Always causing trouble. If I hadn’t pitied you, you’d still be starving in that broken-down mountain village.”
But the truth was far from what he claimed.
He had needed money to buy a home in the city, to start his life. And for his future, I gritted my teeth and sold the three-story house his father and I worked our whole lives to build.
When Finn was born, Agnes didn’t want to take care of him. She talked big about paying for a nanny, but after two months she gave up. So, I volunteered to be their free, full-time caretaker.
If I hadn’t given him money and worked myself like an ox, would he be living this comfortably today?
But now he saw himself as the one who “saved” me.
The more I thought, the angrier I became. My raised hand finally came down hard.
But after that, a sharp pain shot through my back, and I cried out.
Colin glared at me with fury. “You miserable old hag, you actually hit me? You’ve completely lost your mind. Go, then! And don’t come crawling back later! Even if you kneel and beg me, I won’t let you step into my house again.”
When he finished, he spat a thick glob of phlegm onto me, and Finn peed warm urine all over me.
Seeing my humiliation, the whole family looked satisfied as they slammed the door shut.
Through the wood of the door, I heard Agnes’s fake, syrupy voice saying, “Colin, wasn’t that a bit much? You young people should be more patient. Maybe you should coax her. It was just one egg. Just let it go.”
Colin snapped back angrily, “Don’t bother with her. If she had even half your kindness, she wouldn’t embarrass us like this. Just wait, she’ll come crawling back before the day’s over.”
