Chapter 3

He not only planned to adopt Wendy's child but also forbade me from having my own. Furious, I kicked Jonathan out.

"Get out! I don't want to see you!" I shut the door on both of them.

Jonathan banged on the door. "Jocelyn, you can hit me or scold me, but the child is innocent."

"She is the child of my savior. How could I abandon her? You should understand my feelings. Can't you just bear with it for my sake?"

"I can't. Unless I'm dead, I will never agree!"

After Wendy was dead, Wendy's daughter still stood between us. This wasn't a matter of bearing with it. It was a lifetime of endurance. I felt utterly exhausted, as if Wendy had never died and her ghost continued to haunt us.

Jonathan disappeared without a trace. Everything seemed calm, as if nothing had happened.

Three days later, there was a frantic pounding on the door, startling me. Through the peephole, I saw Jonathan's mother.

Bernice had always looked down on me for being powerless and penniless. She left with Jonathan on our wedding day and had never come to see me until now.

"Jocelyn, you know I don't like you."

"The only reason I let you marry Jonathan was because you have one virtue, kindness."

"Wendy was my son's savior. As Jonathan's wife, you must accept Letitia."

Another mention of the savior. I've heard this word and endured it for five years.

Now I’d reached a breaking point. "That’s impossible!"

My eyes were bloodshot. "Not Wendy's child."

Bernice remained unperturbed. "Jocelyn, you have a younger brother, and your father is gone. With your mother's meager earnings, when will she ever save enough to buy a house in the city for your brother?"

"Our family's matters are none of your concern. I will never agree to this. Please leave."

"Are you saying you don't want a house in the city center?" Bernice sat on the sofa, glancing at her nails.

"Jocelyn, how can you be so rude? How can you talk to your mother-in-law like that?"

My face stiffened as my mother barged in from outside.

"I want a house in the city center!"

My mother squeezed my hand and pleaded, "It's just a child, right? The Bart family has plenty of resources. Raising a kid certainly isn’t a problem."

"Besides, it's the child of Jonathan’s savior. Are you really that vindictive?"

Vindictive?

"Do you know how I've lived these past five years?" I struggled to hold back my tears.

Daphne, my mother, was relentless. Hearing a house in the city made her eyes light up. "Do you know how hard it was for me to raise you and your brother alone? Can't you think about us? Don’t be so selfish!"

"For your brother's sake, can't you endure a bit longer?"

My face turned pale as I gritted my teeth and said, "You said the same thing on my wedding day."

When Bernice left, all those people with status and influence followed her out except those who stayed to watch the drama unfold.

How did I feel being forced to complete the ceremony alone?

A flash of guilt crossed Daphne's face. "Jocelyn, just this once more. Help me one last time. I really can't afford your brother's wedding expenses anymore."

"If you disagree and think that your brother and I are burdens, then we'll just go die." She pretended to jump off the building.

She threatened to kill herself, making me feel suffocated.

For five years, Jonathan had asked me to endure, and now my mother forced me to endure.

It was like an endless nightmare.

"Mom," I said weakly, deflated, "I will transfer money into your account every month from now on. Let's not meet again. I won't make any more sacrifices for you. We're done."

Daphne Chaplin was first happy then stunned.

She didn't believe that over such a small matter, I would truly sever ties with her.