When he first mentioned Sophia, my mother and I thought he had just made a new friend who was helping him out. We never imagined he would be so cold-hearted towards our mother for the sake of someone else.

"James! Mom was already in critical condition! You're inhuman. You let Sophia's presence cause Mom's death!"

My heart shattered as I looked at Mom covered by a white sheet. I wished I could have gone with her.

"No matter how much you hate me, you can't lie about her death! Are you even human? How can you be so cruel?"

I'm the cruel one? It's James who's truly heartless!

"James, stop calling and come help me blow out the candles!" The voice on the other end was filled with festive cheer.

My heart felt like it was being squeezed dry. My rage flared as I screamed, "James, Mom's dead, and you're out celebrating someone else's birthday? You're worse than a traitor!"

"You're just trying to guilt-trip me! Dream on! Why don't you join her and die too?"

He hung up, ignoring my furious cries.

Overwhelmed by a sense of deep injustice, I cried beside my mother, feeling that her life of hardship was so unfair.

Mom, you could never have imagined how ruthless your son could be!

Seeing the funeral home workers carry my mother away, the harsh reality of losing her forever finally sank in. I trailed behind, my heart breaking as I watched her frail, yellowed body being loaded into that cold metal box.

I'd never see my beloved mother again. I rushed to the iron doors, pounding on them, tears streaming down my face. The staff tried to calm me, urging me to take it easy, but how could I?

Across the street, a flower shop was blasting cheerful Mother's Day ads, and it hit me like a ton of bricks that today was Mother's Day. While others were picking out flowers for their moms, I was here, overseeing my mother's cremation.

In a desperate attempt to stir some conscience in James, I pulled out my phone, only to see his latest photo. He was grinning widely, his arms around that overweight woman, Sophia, with a big cake in front of them. The caption read, "Birthday on Mother's Day-- Happy Birthday, Mom! You will always be my mom!"

So he was celebrating Sophia's birthday! My nails dug into my palms as I stared at the happy James. On a day that was supposed to be about my mother and me, she had been taken from us because of him, and he was treating someone else as his mother! And celebrating her birthday while our own mother would never see another one!

An icy emptiness settled in my chest. I remembered how James had decided to become a doctor after Dad's sudden death. We had knelt together at Dad's grave, tears in our eyes, vowing that we'd never let Mom and me suffer from illness.

In the early days, James was always checking on Mom and me, genuinely concerned for our health. But once he joined a major hospital, the temptations and allure of fame clouded his judgment. He stopped coming home, claiming to be busy with further studies, but I found out he was just socializing.

When Sophia, his so-called "Second Mom," came along, promising to fund his clinical research, he cut all ties with us, chasing after a better life. That determined James seemed like a distant memory.

Holding Mom's urn, I sobbed uncontrollably.