Chapter 4

After I got the call from the hospital, I rushed back to Rivertown.

The moment I walked into the doctor's office, his tone was less than friendly.

"I already made it very clear to you last time. Your mother's health is fragile, and she's severely malnourished."

"It hasn't even been that long. How has her anemia gotten this much worse?"

His words left me unable to lift my head, drained to the bone in body and mind.

The second I pushed open the door to her room, I couldn't hold my emotions back anymore.

"Why on earth do you have to keep making so much trouble for me? Do you have any idea how important this project is to me?"

"If I'd landed this project, my promotion at the end of the year would've been a sure thing! My salary would've at least doubled!"

"But now, because of your nonsense, I've had to hand over a project I've spent half a year on to someone else!"

"Mom! Can't you give me a little peace of mind?"

Faced with my anger and my questions, my sixty-year-old mother looked like a child who'd done something wrong.

"Your uncle heard from somewhere that I'd gone into the senior care home. After you left on your business trip, he called me."

"You know they're still living in that same two-bedroom, one-living-room place they bought five years ago. Now that your niece has grown up, there's no room for everyone in that house."

"So your uncle wants to move into the senior care home..."

I was so furious I could have coughed up blood.

The whole reason I'd arranged the senior care home for my mother was so Uncle Gerald's family couldn't leech off her.

And now I never imagined his family would fight over the senior care home spot too.

Seeing my face darken, my mother hurried to explain.

"I just gave my spot to your uncle. Don't worry, your aunt didn't go, so I won't have to spend any extra money."

"Your niece is still young and needs your aunt to take her back and forth, so right now your aunt and your niece are sharing a room."

"Your cousin has had it hard. Now that your uncle's gone into the senior care home, Kevin's family can breathe a little easier..."

The more I listened, the more absurd it sounded.

"He's had it hard? He's a grown man in his thirties. How many days has he ever honestly held down a job?"

"He bought that house with money he borrowed from me. You've been subsidizing their family for years, tens of thousands a year at the very least, on top of what your uncle and aunt give them."

"Look at Kevin's social media. It's nothing but drinking and traveling, day in and day out. How can you only see everyone else's hardships and never see your own daughter's?"

My mother kept twisting the blanket in both hands, her eyes going red.

"I just want, I just want... they're still your uncle and your cousin, after all."

"They say a mother's brother is the closest of kin. You're a woman on your own, and this way you'll have someone to lean on when the time comes."

I knew a few words wouldn't be enough to change my mother's mind.

After thinking it over for a while, I gave her an ultimatum.

"Listen carefully to what I'm about to say."

"If they truly care about you, then no matter what happens down the road, I won't stop you from continuing to support their family."

"But if they really are heartless, ungrateful people, then from now on you stop helping them, all right?"

My mother still hesitated.

But after staring at me for a long moment, she finally nodded.

Once I had that yes from my mother, I let out a heavy breath and dialed Uncle Gerald's number right away.

"Uncle, my mom's in the hospital. Leukemia. It's very serious."

"You and Aunt Brenda should come over."