After dinner, Aurelia stood up and walked outside. She soon came back from the car holding three pretty gift boxes.

She handed one toward me, her voice soft and polite.

“This is for you, Lyra. Thank you for these years of tiring work, thank you for looking after Aiden so well.”

I lowered my eyes and did not lift my hand to take it.

Aiden’s neat brows pulled together right away and the air around us seemed to stop for a moment.

“Aurelia is kindly giving you a gift, Lyra. Don’t act like you don’t appreciate it.”

“That’s right, Mom, how can you be so thoughtless?”

The father and son’s yelling pressed down on me and I felt a tight ache in my chest, almost making it hard to breathe.

I raised my eyes toward Aurelia.

She kept smiling, her smile soft and calm, but a bit of open self-satisfaction showed in her eyes.

I stayed quiet for a moment, then at last reached out and took the gift box.

As I sat back down at the table, I watched Aiden eagerly opening the gift Aurelia had given him, his eyes bright, even showing a bit of shyness.

This side of Aiden was frighteningly strange to me.

In seven years of marriage, he never showed this kind of look in front of me.

With me, he was always annoyed, distant and quick to be rude and blame.

I always knew that marrying him had been a step upward for me.

After dinner, a polite guest should have left long ago, but Aurelia stayed, cheerfully continuing her talk with Aiden about their funny moments studying abroad.

Isaiah sat near them, listening closely.

I looked at the clock on the wall, pressed my lips together and stayed quiet.

“I’m getting thirsty after talking for so long,” Aurelia said with a smile. “Aiden, is there anything to drink?”

“Lyra, go get a glass of water,” Aiden said lightly, his tone as casual as if he were talking to a helper.

“Me too! I want hot chocolate!” Isaiah yelled right away.

I answered by habit, “It’s too late, you can’t drink anything too sweet. Isaiah, a glass of milk is fine.”

Isaiah instantly got upset, lowering his head and sulking as he played with his building blocks.

“If he wants to drink, let him drink. Why are you so nosy?” Aiden’s tone turned clearly colder. “The child is still young, shouldn’t he enjoy more fun?”

He rarely stepped into my raising of Isaiah.

But today, seeing the child’s upset look, he seemed to suddenly think that all these years, I had been treating Isaiah badly.

“Let me say one more thing, Lyra,” he looked at me, his tone annoyed, “Your way of teaching your child is wrong. Holding back even a glass of juice will surely make him push back in the future.”

“The day he starts to hate you as his mother, it will be too late for you to regret.” Aurelia let out a soft sigh. Every word she spoke felt like an unseen but very sharp cut, hitting me again and again.

Looking at Isaiah’s slowly reddening eyes, I didn’t know what else to say.

Standing across from me were three people.

And I, clearly, had turned into the one pushed aside.

In the end, I gave in.

I turned and walked into the kitchen, poured Aurelia a glass of hot water and made a cup of hot chocolate as Isaiah had asked for.

But when I handed the water to Aurelia, the hand she used to take the cup suddenly let go.

The next second, the burning hot water splashed all over her legs.

“Ah!”

Aurelia cried out in pain.

It was freshly boiled water. I handed it to her without pause, never thinking she would let go at that moment.

But in Aiden’s eyes, there was only one meaning.

It was I who, on purpose, spilled the boiling water on Aurelia.

“Are you alright? Where are you burned? Let me see!”

Aiden suddenly jumped up, rushing over in a panic.

He moved too fast; he didn’t even look at me, pushing me aside with force.

I stumbled backward, my lower back hitting hard against the sharp edge of the shelf. The severe pain made my eyes fill with tears and I almost fell.

“Aunt Aurelia, are you alright?”

Isaiah, forgetting his earlier complaints, leaned in, his eyes red, carefully checking her legs.

Then, he lifted his head and looked at me with a scared look.

At that moment, the tight string in my heart for so long finally broke. From the moment Aurelia stepped into this house, my nerves had been tied tight; I had barely kept myself steady.

But when I saw my son look at me with that look, I couldn’t keep going anymore.

Six years of time and care.

A bond of blood that should not break.

In the end, it still couldn’t win over someone he had known only a short while.

Maybe Isaiah was not only like Aiden in how he acted.

Even the person he chose to care for was the same.

The sharp pain in my lower back was a clear reminder.

Aiden did not care about me, did not think about me and had never loved me.

“I’m fine, ouch…” Aurelia said, her voice shaking as she tried to hold back the pain.

“Don’t push yourself, come on, I’ll take you to the hospital.” Aiden made the choice right away.

“Dad, don’t leave me here alone, I’m scared…” Isaiah grabbed his shirt, his voice shaking with tears.

In that moment, my ears buzzed and the room seemed to go quiet.

Scared? Was he scared of me?

But I clearly did nothing.

I did not spill that water on purpose.

Aurelia let it go herself.

“Lyra, you really are something, scaring the kid like this.”

Aiden coldly said these words.

As he helped Aurelia past me, he simply pulled Isaiah along.

“Isaiah, let’s go.”

I reached out on instinct and held him, my throat tight, my lips shaking a little, wanting to speak.

“It wasn’t me…”

But before I could finish, Aiden interrupted me impatiently.

“I saw it with my own eyes, Lyra, what are you trying to deny?”

He stared at me, his eyes cold and full of disgust.

“Seven years, I thought you had changed a little, but you’re still the same, your head full of dirty tricks.”

“Lyra, you make me sick.”

The door slammed shut and the room went quiet at once.

That quiet was so heavy it almost took my breath. I walked into the storage room, picked up a broom and carefully cleaned the broken glass on the floor, piece by piece. Then I switched to a mop and slowly wiped the spilled water.

During the whole time, my movements were hard but calm.

It was like I was finishing a task I had done many times before.

Only my body moved; my heart had already turned numb.

Aiden and Isaiah didn’t come back until late at night.

I remembered the next morning’s plans very clearly.

Aiden had to attend the company’s usual meeting with the shareholders.

Isaiah had to go to kindergarten.

I always remembered these things better than anyone else.

All along, reminding them of times, looking after their daily needs, nothing was ever handled by them.

Like an assistant, like a nanny.

After waiting a long time, I finally called Aiden’s number.

I wanted to remind him that my father-in-law would join the shareholders’ meeting the next day and to ask him to dress the right way.

I also wanted to remind him that the nights were getting colder and to make sure Isaiah didn’t get sick.

But the call was cut off after only two rings.

“Hello, the number you dialed is temporarily unavailable.” The cold voice startled me.

I called again.

It rang for a few seconds, but still no answer.

I called a third time, but there wasn’t even a waiting ring.

“Hello, the number you dialed is currently unavailable.”

I suddenly smiled.

But the smile didn’t reach my eyes.

I had thought that before leaving, I could at least say goodbye with some pride.

After seven years of marriage, I had tried my best to keep this marriage, this home.

Now, it was time to let go.

That night, Aiden and Isaiah never came back.

The next morning, I was woken by loud knocking at the door.

I thought Aiden had forgotten his keys.

But standing outside was my father-in-law, Rocco Turner.

“What time is it? You look like you just got up.”

His tone was unhappy as he walked into the house.

“Where’s Aiden? Didn’t I tell him ahead of time that he had to attend today’s meeting? I couldn’t reach him on the phone either. What happened?”

Rocco’s voice was loud and clear, his criticism ringing in the living room.

I pushed my messy hair aside; my throat felt tight and my voice was a bit rough.

“Aiden isn’t home.”

“Where did he run off to again? Where’s Isaiah?”

He looked at me, his brows pulling in even tighter.

“Shouldn’t you be taking the kids to kindergarten at this time?”

His look was filled with dislike.

Back then, when Aiden and I got married, it was Rocco who agreed.

What he cared about was always the face of the Turner Family. As for me, in his eyes, I was only someone who barely fit that name.

I had always known how Rocco looked at me.

I still spoke, trying to explain, “Aiden and Isaiah went to the hospital last night…”

Before I could finish, Rocco coldly asked, “Are they feeling sick? Why aren’t you at the hospital with them? What are you doing at home?”

My throat tightened, dry to the point of pain and my head pounded; I must have had a fever.

But right now, I couldn’t worry about any of that.

“No,” I said softly, “Aiden’s friend got burned last night and he took Isaiah to the hospital. He didn’t come back all night.”

Rocco’s look eased a little after hearing that.

“Which hospital? Take me there.”

I didn’t really know which one it was, but I had a rough idea.

There was a hospital close to our neighborhood where Aiden had a good friend, Kylee Johnson, who worked.

I went with Rocco to Kylee’s office. When we knocked and stepped in, we saw Isaiah fast asleep on a small bed, only a thin jacket loosely covering him.

Kylee’s look turned dark the moment she saw me.

But as soon as she saw Rocco, her face quickly brightened with a smile.

“Rocco, what brings you here?”

“Where’s Aiden?” Rocco asked, frowning, his tone cold.

“He’s in the room with a friend. I’ll take you over.”

As she walked past me, Kylee shot me a hard look, her eyes full of blame, as if I was the one who brought Rocco.

But I had no time to care about her mood.

Right then, my chest was in a mess.

I wanted to take Isaiah home, wash him, change his clothes and make him a hot breakfast.

But the lack of trust, even fear, in his eyes last night was still clearly stuck in my mind.

Never mind.

Even if I tried my hardest, my child might not want it.