I had no idea how I could raise such an ungrateful child.
For all those years I took care of her, I never once spared my efforts.
When she told me she missed home and struggled to sleep, I stayed with her, night after night.
When she said she was bullied at school, I stood up for her.
When she said her uncle seemed to dislike her, so I encouraged Dwayne to spend more time with her.
To my surprise, the kind of "disliking" she spoke of was actually romantic affection.
I passed out in anger and I almost lost my baby.
When I was hospitalized, Sienna kept sending me provocative messages, a video of the two of them together, Dwayne's sweet words of vows of eternal love and even the divorce papers Dwayne had already prepared.
After seeing that thick stack of videotapes, I vomited for three days and three nights.
I just couldn't do anything about it.
Imagined the woman in front of me posing in lingerie was the timid little girl I first met back then, I almost cried my eyes out.
Besides, Dwayne never visited me once.
When I returned home from the hospital, I saw him directing people to move my belongings.
In front of a huge wedding photo, he held Sienna's hand tightly.
"Navier, you'll never understand, you never will."
"Sienna is the girl I raised with my own hands, my confidante and soulmate."
"She's different from you. She's thoughtful, insightful and someone I can discuss life with!"
He had disdainful gaze swept across my branded clothes and spit out coldly, "Vulgar."
Those words shattered the last vestige of my composure.
I had no idea how Sienna, who didn’t even finish high school, could talk to him about life.
I only had idea, that back then, in order to be with Dwayne, I gave almost everything.
I almost broke ties with the Ridleys, my family, for him. I drank myself into a stomach hemorrhage countless times at the dinner table for him.
But just when I thought my suffering was over, they dealt me a fatal blow.
I remembered the traces they left all over the house, remembered what she said when she left.
"What do you have that money and ability to do?"
"From now on, this is my home."
"Your man, everything you earned through hard work, is mine now."
Soon, my anger reached its peak.
I set the villa on fire in a fit of anger. The fire wasn't big and was quickly extinguished, but Dwayne filed a lawsuit against me for arson.
He gave me two choices, divorce or go to jail.
I also gave him two choices, die, or face utter disgrace.
He was a law professor who had been upright for half of his life. The last thing he couldn't let go of most was his scholarly integrity.
I could accept him leaving me over personal issues between us, but I couldn’t accept him spending my hard-earned money to have a fling with his mistress.
And then he turned around and despised me for being vulgar and materialistic.
The argument got so intense that both our parents came and calmed us down.
When both our parents asked me why I was arguing, with tears streaming down their faces, I couldn't even answer.
How could I bring it up?
The girl I raised on my own turned out to be a bitch. And my husband, whom I had loved for many years, wanted to divorce me for this bitch.
I couldn't utter a single word.
Just thinking about it made me feel nauseous.
It was my mother, Eleanor Ridley, who caught a glimpse of the intimacy between Dwayne and Sienna.
