Chapter 2

2: 2

Katherine only said, lightly,

"Mom, be more careful next time."

One sip of porridge I'd bought with my own money, and suddenly it was an unforgivable crime.

I pressed my hand against the edge of the table. My voice came out tight.

"Sebastian, do you think I should pay this hundred thousand too?"

Sebastian wouldn't meet my eyes.

"Mom, it's not about the money."

"Katherine hasn't had one decent night's sleep in three years, all because she's been taking care of the baby. You need to be considerate of her."

I almost laughed out loud.

For three years, the one who slept beside Job every night was me.

The one who climbed out of bed to take his temperature when he coughed in the dark was me.

After Katherine moved into the master bedroom, she put in earplugs and slept straight through till morning.

Now and then she'd post some parenting tip, and the relatives and friends would praise her for being such a devoted, meticulous mother.

While I was so worn out I stood in the bathroom leaning on the wall to catch my breath, and I wasn't even worthy of one taste of porridge.

Seeing that I said nothing, Sebastian pressed me, impatient.

"Mom, don't put us in a hard spot."

"Just pay it, and this whole thing is over."

I looked up at him.

"And if I don't pay?"

Katherine pulled out that book, Elderly Childcare Rules, and flipped to the last page.

"Refusal to comply with a penalty doubles the fine."

"You don't pay, it's two hundred thousand."

Before I could say a word, Leila laughed.

"You'd better think this through, Sylvia."

"Own up now, and it's only a hundred thousand."

"Keep being stubborn, and that little retirement fund of yours is all gone."

Watching her stand there so righteous about it, I suddenly remembered her birthday two months ago.

Katherine ordered a three-tier cake and booked six tables at a hotel.

The twenty-eight-thousand banquet bill, I settled it.

Leila got a gold bracelet and praised her daughter's devotion in front of everyone.

No one knew that bracelet had gone on my card too.

When my own birthday came around, Katherine said the baby couldn't stand the smell of candles, and I didn't even get a bowl of noodles.

I'd known long ago that they played favorites.

It was just that every time I thought about leaving, Job would wrap his arms around my leg and cry.

So I always told myself: for the child's sake, hold on a little longer.

But the longer you hold on, the more people decide you're easy to push around.

Katherine rapped her knuckles on the table.

"Mom, stop dragging it out."

"Job's still running a fever. We don't have time to sit here wasting it with you."

I held out my hand.

"Let me see what the penalty is based on."

Katherine paused, then tossed the rulebook down in front of me.

Rule 27: Eating the baby's food without permission, fine of fifty thousand.

Rule 41: Touching the baby's food with your mouth or your own utensils, fine of fifty thousand.

Rule 52: Final right of interpretation belongs to the baby's parents.

So they'd even kept the right of interpretation for themselves.

I closed the rulebook.

"Fine."

"This hundred thousand, I'll take it."

Leila lifted her chin.

"Wouldn't this have been easier from the start?"

"You had to go and upset the whole family over it."

Katherine pulled up her payment code again.

"Transfer it."

I didn't pick up my phone.

"If it's a formal penalty, there should be a written penalty notice."

"Spell out which rule I broke, and why I'm being fined."

"All three of you have to sign it."

Sebastian frowned.

"We're family. What's the point of making it so official?"

I looked at him, calm.

"Weren't you the one who said rules are rules?"

"Without any proof, how am I supposed to know where this hundred thousand goes?"

Katherine's face darkened, but she still went and got paper and a pen.

"You want it written, I'll write it."

She copied down the two so-called "charges," then added one more line at the bottom.

"Sylvia Henson accepts this penalty of her own free will and may not request any reduction or refund."