Chapter 2

The moment I sent the message, Liam’s voice sounded from outside the door.

“Mom, what’s wrong?”

“Your wonderful wife! I asked her to wash Rain’s clothes, and she slammed the door in my face.”

Eleanor kicked the door in a fit of rage.

“I’ll have Harper wash them later, just leave her alone for now. Rain says she’s in a lot of pain, Mom, you should go check on her.”

Without waiting for her to finish, Liam pulled Eleanor away.

Just last night, he’d told me to come home early.

And what did it matter if I did?

It would still be the same: “Just leave her alone!”

I leaned on the door, stood up, and forced myself to take a shower.

After resting for a while, I started packing my things.

Opening the closet, my clothes were pitifully few.

A few were bought by Liam before we got married; the rest I’d bought myself.

After we married, he never bought me a single outfit.

Because the year we married, Rain came back from overseas.

In truth, everything had been evident for a long time.

I was just too slow, too oblivious to notice.

With my things packed, I lay down for a nap.

Waking up thirsty, I slowly got up, my body still aching and weak, and walked out.

The moment I stepped out, Rain’s saccharine voice floated into my ears.

“Brother, I’m so sorry. I’ve caused you so much trouble.”

“What nonsense are you talking about? This is all my fault. I didn’t take proper precautions.” Liam said, his voice laced with tenderness.

Drawn by their voices, I inexplicably walked towards the room at the end of the hallway.

The door was ajar. Liam sat on the edge of the bed, holding a cup of water, while Rain leaned against his chest.

“Careful, it’s hot.”

Liam put one arm around Rain’s shoulder, the other carefully raising the cup to her lips.

“It’s brown sugar water. Drink it, and the pain will go away.”

Brown sugar water. It must be so sweet.

My grip tightened unconsciously on the empty cup in my hand.

“Harper?”

Rain noticed me.

I turned to leave, but Liam came over and pulled me in.

“You’re just in time. I need to make a call back. Can you feed Rain? She’s very weak right now.”

Liam took the empty cup from my hand without explanation and pressed the cup of brown sugar water into my grasp.

So weak she couldn’t even drink water herself.

I glanced at Rain, my gaze suddenly snagged by the pillow beside her.

The pillow still had a faint indentation, clearly having been slept on.

And beneath the pillow, a watch strap was peeking out.

It was Liam’s watch.

They had slept together again last night, after I lost our baby.

An invisible hand gripped my heart, squeezing it, tearing at it. I couldn’t breathe.

“Harper, give it to me. I can drink it myself. Brother is just being overly cautious.”

Rain reached out and took the cup from my hand.

That watch was a burning ember in my eyes.

I wanted to leave, but before I could move, Rain suddenly let out a gasp.

“Ah…!”

I quickly looked at her. The cup of brown sugar water, which she’d just been holding, had tipped over onto the bed.

Rain was soaked from head to chest, and a large patch of the duvet was wet.

“Harper, why did you throw water on me?”

Rain, her long hair dripping, wailed accusations.

Liam rushed to the bedside with incredible speed.

“What—what are you doing?!”

He shoved me aside, sat on the bed, and pulled Rain into his embrace, then glared at me.

His eyes looked like they wanted to kill me.

I stumbled back two steps, catching myself on the bedside table.

“I…”

Just as I tried to explain, he cut me off.

“You don’t need to say anything. I know. You’re just taking your anger out on Rain. Go get a clean duvet for her right now, and then wash this one. If she catches a cold, I won’t let you off the hook.”

Liam’s face was furious. He yanked off the wet duvet and threw it at my feet.

“It’s okay, Brother, don’t blame Harper. It’s all my fault. *cough, cough*…”

Rain clutched Liam’s shirt. Before she could even finish a sentence, she started coughing.

In a single second, she’d ‘caught a cold.’

I bit my lip and slowly straightened up.

How ridiculous.

I’d actually been foolish enough to fantasize about explaining myself just now.

What explanation could ever stand against a few of Rain’s tears?

“If you’re afraid of her catching a cold, you can sleep with her. You don’t need the duvet.”

I was about to leave when I saw Eleanor walk in.

“Liam, call the hospital. Cancel the project.”

The unwashed laundry basket still fuming in her mind, Eleanor’s face was filled with anger the moment she saw me.

“The first day you married into this family, I told you, the Lennox family doesn’t need your meager earnings. I told you to quit your job and focus on being a good wife and mother. But you refused. Now you haven’t produced a child, and your temper has grown. Today, I’ll show you that without the Lennox family, you are nothing.”

If the collaboration project was canceled, I wouldn’t be able to stay at the hospital.

But that wasn’t what mattered. What mattered was that this project would benefit millions of patients. I couldn’t drag those patients down with me.

My hands, hanging at my sides, clenched into fists.

My nails dug deep into my palms. After a long silence, I finally swallowed my resentment and anger.

“I’m sorry, Mom. I was wrong. I’ll wash this, and all the previous clothes too.”

I resigned myself, grabbing the duvet from the floor and beginning to strip its cover.

“Always needing to be knocked down a peg to know your place in this family. You truly are spineless, aren’t you?”

Eleanor’s low curses reached me from nearby.

I didn’t look up. I hugged the duvet cover and walked out.

I had no family background, and my mother-in-law had always disliked me.

I used to think that as long as Liam loved me, none of it mattered.

Now, thinking back, I realized how naive I’d been.

My mother-in-law treated me poorly because she knew her son didn’t care about me at all.

In the laundry room, the moment my hands plunged into the icy water, the cold transformed into sharp blades, scraping at my entire body.

I gritted my teeth and persisted.

After the duvet cover, I washed the clothes.

Just as I was washing the blood-stained underwear, Liam walked in.

“Didn’t I explain what happened that day clearly enough? Why are you still upset?”

His first words were an accusation.

I didn’t say anything or look at him, just mechanically scrubbed the clothes with my frozen hands.

“I’d had too much to drink, my head wasn’t clear, and she happened to be there taking care of me…”

The suds in the basin were tinged with a faint red, just like the delicate rose in the bottom right corner of his journal.