Chapter 28
Just after hanging up the phone, Reese tiptoed in holding a glass of milk.E
“It was your fault for interrupting my piano lesson today. Drink this, and I’ll forgive you.”
Reese turned and handed the glass to Julia.
Julia hesitated, puzzled. She hadn’t planned to drink it, but in the end, this was the child she had carried for ten months. Her heart softened. She drank it.
That night, in a hazy, half–conscious daze, Julia seemed to hear Cameron again, his breathing thick with desire, accompanied by familiar, rhythmic sounds.
This waist… so damn slender… Teacher Anne, you’re beautiful…”
The next day, she opened her eyes to a pounding headache and a wave of dizziness.
She reached for her phone. It was already afternoon.
All these years of marriage and raising a child, she had hardly ever slept in. And now, she had slept so long it felt unreal Just then, her phone rang. She tapped the answer button.I
“You’re awake?” came Cameron’s voice. “You were tired last night, so I let you sleep in. Didn’t want to wake you.”
“Help prep a few dishes for dinner tonight. Reese and I will eat at home. Teacher Anne is coming too.“%
Julia rubbed her temples. “I thought there wasn’t a piano lesson today. Why is she coming?”
There was background noise on his end, followed by Anne’s cheerful voice, “President Cruise, Reese wants to play hide–and–seek with us.”
Cameron sounded impatient. “Just do as you’re told. Reese wants her to come and play. We’ll talk when I get home.”
Before Julia could respond, the call ended. She slowly got up, walked to the mirror, and stared at her swollen, unfamiliar reflection.
She couldn’t pull herself out of the fog.
Let’s just treat it as one last memory before leaving. Julia let out a soft sigh.
The front door opened. Cameron and Anne stepped in, holding Reese’s hand.
The three of them walked in, chatting and laughing.
That scene looked exactly like a real family of three.}
The table was already set, the dishes still steaming with fragrant heat.!!
“Wow! Smells amazing!“, Reese exclaimed, exaggeratedly sniffing the air before eagerly digging in X
Anne sat quietly, her eyes brimming with tears, her utensils untouched.B
Cameron glanced up and frowned. “Julia, Teacher Anne needs to maintain her figure. She can’t eat greasy or spicy food. Didn’t I tell you to make something lighter? Why did you put so much chili? Are you trying to kill her?“!!
Both Cameron and Reese loved spicy food, which was precisely why Julia had prepared the meal that way.
The moment Reese heard that Anne couldn’t eat spicy food, her face fell. She turned and screamed at Julia.
*Teacher Anne doesn’t eat spicy food! Why did you make everything spicy, you bad woman!“X
She banged her utensils on the table and ordered, “Teacher Anne loves seafood! Go make seafood for her now!“”
Julia let out a bitter laugh. The daughter, who had nearly died giving birth to her, remembered what her teacher couldn’t eat, yet forgot that her mother was allergic to seafood.
The corners of Anne’s mouth lifted ever so slightly, a faint trace of false apology flickering across her face.
“I’m really sorry for the trouble, Mrs. Cruise…”
But before she could finish, Reese shouted, “Teacher Anne, I won’t let that fat witch bully you! She stays home all day doing nothing, and now she can’t even cook properly. What else is she good for?”
Julia had once been a dancer who avoided spicy food to stay fit. But over the years, she forced herself to eat it, just to please that father–daughter pair. Even when the spice caused her stomach to burn, she kept smiling. And yet, they never once remembered that she couldn’t handle it.
Her hands trembled with rage. She slammed her utensils down.
“Why should I remake it? I’m done with this kind of life!”
The words had barely left her mouth when Cameron cut in sharply.
“Julia, be reasonable. How can you act more childish than a kid?”
Backed by her father, Reese shrieked and swept her little hands across the table, sending all the dishes crashing to the floor. Hot chili oil splashed onto Julia’s body, searing her skin with a sharp burn.
12:00 AM PP
“Your food is disgusting! You won’t even let Teacher Anne eat, bad woman!”
*Just seeing you makes me sick, fat witch! That’s why I put sleeping pills in your milk, so Teacher Anne could go to school. and pretend to be my mom. All my classmates said she’s pretty and gentle. She looks like my real mom, not you! You’re just a fat, ugly maid who should stay home!”
Reese’s shrill voice pierced the room, her little face twisted with open disgust.”
Julia stood there, frozen as if struck by lightning.
What?
No wonder she’d slept half the day with a splitting headache.8
She turned to Cameron, eyes wide in disbelief. “What did Reese just say?”
A flicker of surprise crossed his face before he quickly composed himself.
“There was a parent–child event at the kindergarten today. If you’d shown up looking like this… the other kids would’ve laughed at her. She has her pride, too. You’re her mother, you should understand.”
He paused, then added flatly. “But yeah, giving you sleeping pills was wrong. I’ve already scolded her for it.”
Julia felt suffocated. Cameron was actually condoning their daughter’s behavior.
She let out a cold laugh. “This is how you raise her? What’s wrong with how I look? I only became like this because I gave birth to her!”
2
All reason snapped. She grabbed the remaining bowls and dishes and hurled them to the floor.
The sharp shatter of porcelain echoed through the dining room.
Cameron’s expression turned cold. “Julia, what the hell are you doing? Reese is just a child. Can’t you be more tolerant? And there’s a guest here. Stop making a scene!”
“Making a scene?” Julia laughed, her voice trembling with rage. “Fine, I’m leaving!”
She couldn’t bear one more minute in that suffocating room. Stumbling out of the dining area, she kept walking.
Even after reaching the garden behind the estate, the pain in her chest wouldn’t ease. The nausea lingered like a knot that refused to loosen.
She collapsed onto the pavilion bench, gasping for air, trying to calm herself.
Footsteps sounded behind her.
“Mrs. Cruise?*
