After he finished speaking, Daniel took Jennifer and Rihanna upstairs without even looking at me.
My head felt heavy from the rain, so after a shower, I went straight to bed.
I wasn’t sure how long I had slept, but my throat felt like it had been cut with a knife.
"Daniel..." I called out several times, but all I could hear was the sound of someone telling a story from the next room.
"Daniel, Rihanna is so much like you," Jennifer said with a happy smile. "Even when she's upset, she copies you and tries to comfort me."
"Of course," Daniel replied proudly. "I raised her. It’s good that she’s thoughtful, so she can look after you even when I’m not there."
Even through the wall, I could imagine the smile on Jennifer’s face
Daniel gently patted Rihanna’s back. "Alright, get some sleep. I'll tell you and your daughter a bedtime story."
After some rustling, Daniel’s soft voice came through. “In a distant land, there lived a king and queen…”
Staring at the plain white ceiling, I couldn’t help but smile bitterly.
Daniel and I had been married for three years, but he and Jennifer felt like the real couple, sharing sweet dreams with their three-year-old.
I tried to sit up in bed to reach my water glass, but knocked over a photo frame on the table.
The glass shattered and the photo of Daniel and me got scratched.
I got out of bed to pick it up, but the room was too dark and I stepped on the broken glass.
Fighting through the pain, I limped to the light switch, cleaned up the mess and poured myself a glass of water.
The whole time, I could still hear Daniel’s gentle storytelling from the next room.
After bandaging myself and getting back into bed, a memory suddenly came to me: how long ago, I had only been caught in a light rain, yet Daniel had canceled all his meetings to stay with me for a week, afraid I might catch a fever.
Back then, he had said, “Natalie, don’t worry, I’m here with you because you’re sick, I feel even worse than you do.”
But now, after I walked through the heavy rain to come home, he gave the bowl of ginger soup to Jennifer.
As soon as I closed my eyes, tears slid silently down my cheeks.
The next morning, loud laughter from downstairs woke me up.
I opened the bedroom door and saw Jennifer chatting cheerfully with Daniel’s mother.
Before I could say a word, Jennifer noticed me. She gave me a smug look, then said sweetly to my mother-in-law, "Auntie, don’t overthink it. Daniel is only letting us stay here for a few days because of Rihanna’s heart. Once her surgery is done, we’ll leave. Otherwise, Natalie might get upset."
My mother-in-law held Rihanna in her arms and said coldly, "Why should she be upset? They've been married for three years and still have no children. Our little Rihanna is the best. Call me Grandma."
Rihanna looked up at her and said sweetly, "Grandma."
"Ah!" My mother-in-law's face lit up with joy. She patted Jennifer’s hand. "Jennifer, one daughter isn’t enough. Once you have a son, I’ll make Daniel marry you!"
Jennifer's face turned red right away.
For a moment, I felt incredibly sick.
Just as I turned to open the bedroom door, I heard my mother-in-law snap, "Stop right there!"
The next second, two servants suddenly appeared and grabbed my wrists, not letting me move.
"It's been a while and you’ve gotten ruder! You don’t even come down to serve me tea? You two, bring her down here."
Right after she spoke, they grabbed my arms and dragged me down from the second floor.
I fought back, but they were too strong.
Seeing me being humiliated, my mother-in-law said proudly, "Go make me a cup of tea with 99-degree water."
I stood still, pretending not to hear.
Seeing this, Jennifer spoke up gently, “Auntie, let me handle it. I’m used to doing this kind of heavy work.”
My mother-in-law took Jennifer’s hand and said, "You're the future daughter-in-law of the Chalamet Family. How could you do such chores? Let her do it."
I watched them act out their little scenes. Jennifer tried to walk away, but my stare made her freeze. She looked annoyed.
"What do we need her for? She can’t have kids and now she won’t even serve tea. You two, lock her up. I don’t want to see her around!"
The two men gripped my shoulders, ready to take me away.
Just then, Daniel came out of the study, frowning. "Mom, that’s enough!"
