During my days in the hospital, Sonia never stopped sending me intimate photos of her and Alvin, along with pictures from her prenatal checkups.
I saved every one of them and forwarded them to my lawyer.
The worse Sonia behaved, the stronger my claim to my rightful share of the assets when the divorce came through.
I handled the discharge paperwork alone and left the hospital.
When I got back to the villa, though, I saw several workers gathered in the back courtyard.
A bad feeling pressed in on me, and I hurried over.
One of the workers was swinging at the wall.
"Stop!"
I rushed forward.
"Well, look who's home."
Sonia stepped out of the memorial shrine, the little tablet I had carved with my own hands turning over and over in her fingers.
She glanced at me, then tossed the wooden tablet to the ground and stamped on it.
"A baby that died before it was ever born, and you keep its tablet in the house? Bad luck, don't you think?"
She laughed and ran a hand over the swell of her belly. "My baby still needs to be born safe and sound. All this is nothing but a curse on the house."
The blood shot straight to my head.
Six years ago, the knife I took for Alvin didn't just cost me my womb. It cost me my first child.
Afterward, I built a small shrine for that child in the back courtyard, set up a tablet, and paid my respects every single day.
Even when we divorced three years ago, Alvin never touched this shrine.
He had once said he would remember this child forever.
"Alvin agreed to it."
Sonia seemed to read my mind, and her smile grew brighter. "He said keeping these things in the house was too unlucky. Isn't that right, sister?"
Alvin's old promise, his old guilt—now they were a joke.
I lunged forward to stop them.
Several bodyguards in black stepped out and blocked me.
Sonia walked up to me and slapped me hard across the face.
"You think playing the gentle, dutiful wife will win Alvin's heart back?"
"Dream on. If it weren't for you, I'd already be the rightful Mrs. Henson, and my child would be the only heir. Since you insist on coming back, I will never let you off!"
She grabbed a fistful of my hair.
"Take a good look at how your child gets leveled."
The worker's hammer came down on the gray brick, again and again.
The small urn underneath came into view.
My heart seemed to stop.
"Let go of me!"
I struggled with everything I had, my nails raking across Sonia's arm.
She screamed and let go.
I threw myself down, kneeling in the broken brick, and clutched the urn tight against my chest.
"What are you doing!"
Alvin's voice came from behind me.
I turned and saw him stride into the back courtyard.
Sonia clutched her arm, eyes rimmed red, and flung herself into his arms. "Alvin, I only wanted to give the urn back to her, but she wouldn't take it. She cursed at me, said I wasn't allowed to touch her child, and she pushed me…"
Alvin wrapped an arm around Sonia, his gaze landing on me, cold as ice.
"Smash it."
"No!"
I held the urn fast against me. "Alvin, your child is in here!"
His eyes didn't so much as flicker.
"I told you. Stay away from Sonia."
"Even if this is my child, you have no right to use it as an excuse to hurt Sonia."
"Sonia is pregnant. She can't be upset. And yet the moment you come back, you stir up a scene like this."
He turned his head and looked at Sonia, his voice softening. "Are you hurting anywhere?"
Sonia bit her lip and shook her head, her eyes red.
Alvin's words were like a knife, driving into my heart, stroke after stroke.
Even his own flesh-and-blood child—for Sonia, he wouldn't waver.
A bodyguard wrenched the urn from me and slammed it to the ground.
The wood splintered, and the ashes inside scattered across the dirt.
I threw myself down, scrabbling to gather the ash back into my arms.
But a gust of wind came, and it scattered.
No matter how I clawed at it, I couldn't hold it, and the tears wouldn't stop falling.
Sonia watched me, smug, and turned to Alvin. "Since sister can't bear to part with her own child, why not have her eat the ashes, bit by bit? Then the child will be inside her forever. How nice."
Alvin stood beside her, brows drawing together slightly, as if even he found the idea too much.
But the moment Sonia mentioned again that her belly was hurting, Alvin gave his consent.
I couldn't believe it. "Alvin, you've lost your mind!"
I fought with everything I had, but the bodyguards pried my mouth open and forced it in.
Sonia laughed brightly and cooed at Alvin, "I'm scared something will happen to the baby. Let the doctor come check on me, okay?"
Alvin nodded, looked at me in silence, then signaled the bodyguards to release me and walked off with Sonia.
After everyone was gone, I knelt on the ground, retching and retching, then reached for the tablet that had been thrown aside, held it to me, and wept aloud.
