CHAPTER 6

A week of no good communication with Liam because of his tight schedule, and here he is... just freaking out to stop me from having coffee.

"No, Kirsten! Don't drink that!" Liam ran up to me to grab the coffee that Mother Minda just brought me here in the garden area.

"Are you also forbidding me to drink coffee?" I asked calmly. I don't want to fight with him now... I'm not ready to get my body hurt.

He violently grabbed the coffee cup and threw it on the grass. At the same time, I saw behind Liam that his two bodyguards were holding Mother Minda.

Liam was about to turn his back to me when I stopped him. "What's going on? Where are you taking Mother Minda?!"

"In the place where she belongs." To my surprise, he brought his face to me with a bad expression. "There is no problem with you, Kris. The doctor's diagnosis of your womb’s inability to get pregnant was not true."

"H-How? H-How did you say that? You're a doctor, Liam! Doctors can't make mistakes in diagnosing--"

"That old woman confessed to me!" And his finger was pointing in Mother Minda's direction. "I caught her in action. She put some medicine in the coffee you were drinking. And I forced her to tell the truth."

Almost all parts of my body are shaking badly, and I still have the courage to speak. "W-What?"

"She puts abortion pills in your coffee, Kris. Do you remember when you took a positive pregnancy test?"

I nodded. Of course, I remember that. It was one of the happiest days in my life when I found out I was pregnant.

"She mixed the abortion pills you took that day, so you bled so badly. And that's also why the doctor said that the child's attachment to your womb was not strong. It was really not the idea that you can’t carry a child..."

"Because that witch manipulates us."

I was just looking at that old woman who I treasured the most for the past years and served as my mother while living in this house. She's the one I always vented my anger on every time Liam would beat me like a ramshackle piece of toy.

"Mom..." I made my walk towards her direction with my eyes shedding tears for being betrayed by her. "I won't believe in him. You know how I hate him, hmm?" I only whispered just to make sure Liam won't have heard. "I won't believe you really did it unless you confessed. I know you can't do that--"

"Forgive me, dear," and Mother Minda's answer broke my broken heart. "You will also understand my reason why I did that--"

"Then, what's your reason?! Why don't you tell me now?" I felt Liam getting closer to me and he slightly pulled me away from Mother Minda. "I trusted you! I even considered you my mother because of how lighthearted I am towards you and how kind you are to me. Is that all just showing off?! You pretend to be nice to me but you're also one of those demons living in  this hell?!"

"How could you do that?! Are you still human? Don't you even feel guilty for what you do? You know that Liam and I want to have children. We have suffered for a long time for a lie that I am the one with the problem so far we have no children!"

"Kris, come in. Get some rest--"

"I hope you carry your sin to hell! You just killed my son, oh! You made me look like a useless wife to Liam because I couldn't give him a son!"

"And now... you're planning to kill my son again now that you know something happened to us? You're an old beast! I can't forgive you no matter what reason you have for doing this to us!"

"Bring her inside."

"No, Liam! I'm not done with that--" My line was cut short by an injection calming myself down. My body suddenly went weak because one of Liam's bodyguards injected me with some pill... and afterwards, everything went black.

*****

The worst effect of the medicine that was injected into me, I might say. It was late at night when I woke up from my deep sleep. And if it wasn't because of Sarah's loud and continuous sobs, I wouldn't wake up. I went downstairs to see the reason why she's crying, and...

"Mom!" I ran over to Sarah and helped her stand up from her kneeling in a basin full of legumes. "What do you think you're doing, mom? Why are you making my daughter kneel on the legume?"

"Not your business anymore."

She turned her back on me when this time, I couldn't control myself to raise my voice at her.

"She's my daughter. Of course she's part of my business!"

"She's not your flesh... nor my son's. I don't have a grandchild as stupid as that girl." Without wasting her time to face me, she replied and afterwards, she went to the second floor.

Even if I want to let myself cry because of her insult to Sarah, I know I shouldn't. I have to be strong for my daughter.

"I'm sorry, mommy..." Sarah pleaded with her tears streaming down her cheeks. "I did my best to get a perfect score in my exam today. I reviewed all night and tried to memorize all the terms I put in the notes."

"But... I still haven't perfected it. I still have two items that haven't been corrected. I'm sorry, mommy!" She cried and came to me and hugged me.

I never dreamed of raising my own child to be grade conscious. I don't want to pressure her in her studies and always instill in her brain that she is not allowed to get an imperfect score and grades of at least 95. Although Sarah is not my real daughter, I love her very much and I am proud of her as her mother. She didn't have to finish her school as the valedictorian of her batch just so I could be proud of her.

There is nothing wrong with her. Nothing is missing. The only thing wrong in her life was when she ended up in our family... in Liam's family who had very high expectations for her. That's why my daughter is having a hard time coping up with her grandma's huge expectations... that even if I disobey her to stay up at night with her school, she still continues.

"Get rest, baby. Get some sleep, okay?"

"But I have to study, mommy. I have an exam tomorrow. I have to make up for Grandma and also have good news to tell Daddy."

She struggled to get up from the bed and then she proceeded to her study table, she opened her notes and started reading. Although she's not feeling well because she's still moaning about the painful knee she just knelt on the legume, she still forced herself to study. And as her mother, it's annoying that I can't do anything to free Sarah from this kind of life. She's too young to suffer this kind of life. She should've enjoyed her youth, she didn't burn her eyebrows too early.

When I finally got out of the room, I was planning to talk with my mother-in-law, only to find that my stomach suddenly felt sick. I was feeling like vomiting. I ran into the bathroom here on the first floor and threw up.

"This kind of feeling was familiar..."

Even though I was nervous, I immediately went to my room and took my PT from there. I immediately entered the bathroom and then tested myself if my heart was beating right at this moment. I waited a few seconds and when I was sure I was ready to look at the pregnancy test... I took a look at it.

And I saw two lines.

"I..." I had tears in my mouth. "I'm p-pregnant..."

This is my second time having butterflies in my stomach for receiving good news from heaven. I just hope this time... nothing bad happens. I can't afford to lose a child in my womb for the second time... for Pete's sake.