Herman's eyes rimmed red as he turned away, the picture of wounded dignity.
Leona and Amy grabbed him immediately.
Even Silas threw himself into Herman's arms.
"Uncle Herman, please don't go! I love you, Uncle Herman! You can have all my durian, I don't even want it!"
A touching farewell scene for the ages. I didn't bother watching his performance.
I just turned to Leona. "Sign the papers. He stays, I go."
Herman was adopted by my mother-in-law.
She'd always wanted a son, but an illness when she was young had damaged her body.
After giving birth to Leona, she was never able to have another child.
Herman wasn't their biological son, but they'd spoiled him rotten since the day they brought him home.
I grew up in an orphanage. It made me a people-pleaser, desperate to be accepted by this family.
So from the first day I married in, I didn't just handle everyone's meals, laundry, and daily needs.
I also worked, grinding away to put food on the table.
Even when I was so exhausted I collapsed, I never dared take a day off.
After Silas was born, I threw myself in even harder, trying to give the whole family a better life.
During the day, my in-laws were the ones looking after him.
I didn't know what they taught him. All I knew was that as he got older, he seemed to hate me more and more while growing closer to his Uncle Herman.
It wasn't like I hadn't tried to repair things between us. But he always pushed me away.
All my efforts to make them happy only made them treat me worse.
I was done. I was done bending over backward for people who would never bend for me.
If they wanted to believe this was about a durian, fine. Let them.
Herman watched all of this unfold and let his lips curl into a satisfied smirk.
What was he smiling about? Did he think he'd won? That he'd finally driven me out?
I pressed my lips together, turned, and walked into the bedroom. I came back carrying a medicine box and shoved it into Herman's hands.
Inside were all the medications my in-laws took daily for their chronic conditions.
"Dad has diabetes and high blood pressure. Mom has rheumatic arthritis and cervical spondylosis. There are a lot of different medications in here. The dosages and schedules are all written on the labels. They can't read the fine print, so make sure you sort them out and give them their pills every day."
Herman's eyes went wide. His face screamed inconvenience.
I pretended not to notice and handed Leona a class schedule.
"This has every class Silas takes. The school has a reduced-load policy, so you need to pack the right textbooks for him each morning. His tutoring sessions are listed on there too. Make sure he gets to every one on time."
Leona stared at the schedule, crammed edge to edge with entries, and her brow furrowed involuntarily.
I turned to Amy and pointed at the sticky note on the refrigerator.
"That lists the dietary restrictions for everyone in this house. Silas is allergic to high-protein foods. Beans, shrimp, anything like that. Absolutely off-limits."
"Dad's blood sugar and cholesterol are both high. No greasy food. Period."
"Leona has a stomach condition. She needs her own separate bowl of millet porridge every morning for breakfast."
Amy's face crumpled like she'd bitten into something sour.
I pressed again. "Sign it, Leona."
Leona gritted her teeth and lowered her pen toward the paper.
Amy lunged forward. "Don't sign that!"
Stanley kept his expression rigid, saying nothing.
Herman hung his head, putting on his best look of quiet heartbreak.
Silas saw all of it. He balled his small fists and charged at me like a little tiger.
"Bad daddy! You bullied Uncle Herman over a stupid durian! I'm gonna beat you up!"
"Just go! I want you gone! I don't even want you to be my daddy anymore!"
His fists landed on me, one after another.
They didn't hurt. But every single one tore a hole through my heart.
