A sudden, uneasy feeling settled in my chest.
Before I could say anything, the doorbell rang sharply.
There she was—the woman from the photo—standing at the door, holding their two children.
The brother and sister immediately spotted Ethan and ran toward him, calling out, “Dad! Dad!” Their childish voices melted his heart instantly.
He quickly slipped off his apron, took Chloe into his arms, and held Caleb’s hand.
Vanessa smiled softly. “Grandpa and grandma were really sad when they heard you were leaving.”
“What should I do? Should I buy them some gifts and send them over next time?”
Ethan chuckled, “No need, they’re pretty reasonable.”
The way they talked and interacted—there was no mistaking it—they looked like a happy family, a couple deeply in love.
Meanwhile, I sat on the balcony, numb and distant, feeling like an outsider in what should have been my home.
I could never have imagined Ethan would openly bring them here and introduce them to me.
“Claire, this is Vanessa, the woman I told you about. And these are Caleb and Chloe.”
He nodded toward the children, encouraging them to call me “mom.”
His intention was clear: he wanted me to get used to this, to slowly accept them as part of our lives.
But the boy’s face twisted in defiance. “I don’t want to! She’s not my mom. She’s the big bad lady who stole my dad!”
After saying that, he kicked me.
The blow didn’t hurt, but it crushed me inside and left me deeply embarrassed.
Chloe burst into tears. “Dad, don’t you love us anymore?”
For the first time, I saw a flicker of helplessness in Ethan’s eyes.
He crouched down and tried to explain gently to the children, “No, that’s not true. Dad loves you both very much.”
“Then why do you want us to call her mom? I don’t want to!” the boy shouted.
It seemed all of Ethan’s tenderness went to these two kids.
Unable to bear their sobbing, they suddenly yelled at me, “Can’t you see we don’t like you? Get out! You’re not welcome here!”
At first, I thought I had misheard.
This is my home too. How could the man in front of me want me to leave?
Was he really going to choose two kids who weren’t even mine over me?
As Ethan approached them, the children looked at me with even more hostility, as if I were the intruder who destroyed their family.
They shouted they’d kick me out and never let me back in.
I stared at Ethan, stunned. Was he serious?
He frowned deeply and said coldly, “Why are you still standing there? Get out.”
I saw it clearly now—he really wanted me gone.
But when I glanced at Vanessa beside him, her smug smile told me everything.
A fierce fire of unwillingness surged through my chest.
Ten years of sacrifice and hard work—nothing compared to the two children brought in by this other woman.
Was my life really this tragic?
The words I wanted to scream caught in my throat.
I nodded helplessly. “Okay, I’ll go.”
There was no point in arguing any further. It was better to just leave.
As I stood up, the boy kicked me again.
He then placed his hands on his hips and laughed triumphantly.
His sister cheered, “Yeah! We beat the bad woman! We won! Mom and Dad will never be separated again!”
Ethan ignored me completely, not even sparing me a glance.
He gently stroked the children’s heads and smiled. “Yes, the bad woman lost. Justice prevails.”
When I reached the door, I heard Ethan and Vanessa’s voices in the hallway.
“Hurry up and clean up. I made some soup for you and the kids. Try it and tell me how it tastes.”
“As long as you cook it yourself, it’s the most delicious meal in the world.”
“Haha, from now on, you’re my exclusive food taster. I’ll cook anything you want.”
