“What nonsense are you saying! How could you be so cruel as to get rid of this child? How could you end our baby’s life without even telling me?”
It wasn’t surprising that he was shocked; he had seen how much I had looked forward to this child.
When my pregnancy was unstable, I endured those thick progesterone shots that left my belly bruised and sore. To help my baby grow stronger, I forced myself to drink bowl after bowl of bitter medicine, even when it made me want to vomit.
Though I was a doctor who believed in science, not gods or ghosts, I still placed a statue of God in my room and prayed sincerely every day, because I truly wanted this child.
In another world, I had been an orphan, always longing for someone connected to me by blood.
But I also knew that if this child came into the world unloved, like I once was, it would only bring more pain.
Atlas naturally thought that when I said the baby was gone, I meant I had ended the pregnancy myself.
His eyes widened in disbelief as he grabbed my hands, completely forgetting why he had come. He pulled me along, insisting that we go to the hospital to confirm it.
Just then, a cry came from behind. Heidi’s voice trembled with hurt.
“Atlas, isn’t today our wedding day? Why are you holding her hand? Why is she wearing a wedding dress?”
“Sister, did you ask me to come here just to see Atlas betray me? I hate you both!”
She turned and ran into the street, crying. My brother shouted, and my mother slapped me hard across the face.
“Why did you call Heidi here! You won’t be satisfied until you drive her insane, will you? If anything happens to Heidi because of you today, I’ll cut off our mother-daughter bond! Atlas, stop her!”
Atlas threw my hand away roughly, and I fell backward. My wedding dress tore against the gravel, scraping my knees until thin lines of blood appeared.
Sitting on the ground, I gave a bitter smile as I watched them all run after Heidi. That kind of scene, I had seen far too many times before.
When I first came back to this family, there was a short time when things were truly happy.
Back then, Mom smiled as she cooked for me, and my brother would take me out for ice cream after school. My younger brother would pull me along to play his favorite computer games.
But everything changed the moment I started dating my neighbor, Atlas. That was when Heidi began to lose control.
She cried and screamed, saying I scared her and that I wanted to send her back to our foster parents’ home.
With tears running down her face, she pointed at me and shouted, “Sister said, why should she have to live that kind of life? Why should she be beaten and scolded while I live comfortably in her place? She’s not happy about it, she wants me to suffer too!”
At first, Mom, my brother, and the younger one still tried to comfort her.
Mom would say softly, “That’s impossible. Sienna would never say something like that.”
My brother would defend me, “She’s a good girl; she’d never say that.”
Our younger one would quietly add, “Sister Heidi, you must have misunderstood Sister Sienna.”
But as time went on, Mom and my younger brother started to take Heidi’s side. When she cried and threw tantrums, their eyes grew cold as they looked at me.
“Will you ever stop? Do you have to bully Heidi? Are you only happy when she’s scared?”
“If I’d known, I would never have brought you back. You’ve destroyed this family.”
Back then, my brother still stood up for me. He said I chose to help girls who suffered from domestic violence.
“A kind girl like Sienna could never say something like that.”
“Mom, don’t be so unfair!”
