4: 4
4
From that day on, Mila acted like the lady of the house.
The smallest thing not to her liking, and she ran straight to Clement to complain.
Every time, Clement took her side without asking a single question.
"Do try to be more careful. Stop making everyone worry about you."
"There are so many people living here. Can you at least keep things clean?"
Every time, my mother only lowered her head and apologized, murmuring, "I'll be more careful next time."
She never once defended herself.
Every hurt, she swallowed it down alone and in silence.
On my birthday, I came back from grocery shopping with her.
Mila rushed at us, her eyes red.
"Where's my bracelet? My grandmother left it to me before she died. Please, give it back."
We had no idea what she was talking about.
"What bracelet?"
Clement's face darkened as he turned to my mother.
"Were you in Mila's room today?"
My mother nodded without thinking. "I went in to clean."
Mila threw herself sobbing into Clement's arms.
"She stole it. She's had it in for me from the start. Sticking up for her daughter."
My mother's face flushed red in an instant.
"I didn't. Why would I ever take your things?"
"Then let us search. Search your room, search you, all of you."
My mother stood in the doorway, her lips trembling, her eyes rimmed with red.
She had lived over sixty years and never once been humiliated like this.
"I didn't steal anything."
I stepped in front of her. "Enough. My mother isn't that kind of person."
"Of course you'd take her side. The two of you are ganging up on me!"
She stormed into my mother's room and tore through everything.
Clement dumped out my mother's bag, and a jade bracelet fell out.
His voice was ice-cold. "What more is there to say? Caught red-handed."
My mother's mouth opened and closed as she stared, lost, at the scene.
"I didn't. I don't know how it got into my bag."
She turned to me, her eyes full of tears.
"Sarah, believe me. I didn't take her things…"
Watching the smug little smile at the corner of Mila's mouth, I shook all over with rage.
"This is a setup."
"Enough!"
Clement's eyes were full of disappointment and disgust as he kicked my mother's things out the door.
"We don't keep thieves in this house. Get out!"
The rage twisted a sharp cramp through my belly. I pushed through the pain.
"Clement, we can check the security footage. One look and we'll know exactly who took it."
Mila's sobbing caught for a second, and a flicker of panic crossed her eyes.
"You people are unbelievable. Fine, I'll go. I'll go, all right?"
And with that she ran out, heedless of anything.
Clement snatched up his car keys.
"If anything happens to Mila, I'm not done with you."
I grabbed his arm and held on tight.
"Clement, my stomach hurts…"
Clement wrenched his arm free.
"Quit the act. Just looking at you putting it on makes me sick."
The force of it sent me crashing into the corner of the table.
The pain hit and I slid to the floor, clutching my belly.
Something warm ran down my thigh.
My mother flung herself down beside me, her hands shaking.
"Sarah, Sarah…"
She rushed to the door and blocked Clement, begging with everything she had.
"Clement, take her to the hospital, please, I'm begging you, the baby matters most!"
Clement looked down at her, cold, from above.
"Cut the act. A miscarriage, just like that? Do you think I'm three years old?"
"Mila's out there alone. What if something happens to her?"
My mother sank to her knees and shuffled two steps forward on them until she was at his feet.
"Clement, I'm begging you, save Sarah first."
"You want me to kowtow and apologize, fine. Throw me in jail, fine. Just save Sarah first…"
I tried to pull her back, but I had no strength left at all.
Clement looked down at my mother kneeling on the floor, his face blank.
"I used to think it wasn't easy, you raising Sarah on your own. I actually admired you for it."
"But now I get it. Some people's misfortune is something they bring on themselves."
"If something really does happen to the baby, it's because you two never earned any better."
He stepped around my mother in disgust and strode out.
I remembered when he first found out about the pregnancy, how Clement jumped up in front of everyone.
"I'm going to be a father!"
That night he lay with his head against my belly and talked for two hours, planning out the baby's name, the preschool, the college…
And now he didn't care at all.
Watching his back as he walked away without looking back, my heart went to ash.
Clement, there really is no future for us.
