Chapter 2

I took Arlene to the hospital.

The doctor frowned deeply while treating her wound.

"How did it get this bad? Children's bones and flesh are extremely delicate—it'll be hard to avoid scarring."

The doctor used tweezers to pick the shards of glass out of Arlene's palm.

The shards were mixed with bloody bits of flesh. Unable to bear watching, I turned my head away as my eyes reddened.

Arlene had cried herself out. Her palm was numbed with anesthetic, and now she was only whimpering softly.

On the way to the hospital, she had kept saying, "As long as I behave, Mommy, Grandpa, and Grandma won't be angry anymore."

It wasn't until the wound was fully treated that Arlene's furrowed little face finally relaxed.

I led her out of the emergency room. Just around the corner, we ran into Glen, who had brought Clarence in for a checkup.

There was an awkward look on Glen's face as he timidly greeted me, "Hey, Adam."

When we were kids, he and I had been very close—so much so that even after he was sent abroad, I always kept an eye on how he was doing in life.

But even now, I still didn't want to face what had happened between him and Tabitha.

I ignored him. But as I turned to leave, Glen stood in my way with Clarence in tow.

When he noticed Arlene's bandaged hand, he said, "Adam, I'm sorry. Clarence didn't mean to hurt Arlene."

The mere sound of Glen's voice made me sick.

"Get lost!"

Glen clung tightly to my sleeve.

"Adam, I know you still can't bring yourself to accept it. I'll do whatever you want—I just want us to be a happy family again."

My stomach kept churning. Where the heck did he get the nerve to say, "I just want us to be a happy family again"?

Glen's ruckus was drawing a growing crowd of curious bystanders.

Tabitha pushed through the crowd. When she saw me, her patience ran out completely.

She stepped forward and asked through gritted teeth, "Adam, how long are you going to keep dragging this out? Everyone's watching—don't embarrass yourself."

I let out an exasperated laugh and drew Arlene behind him.

"You're the one who should be embarrassed. After all, I'm not the one who cheated and had an illegitimate child."

Even though I wasn't speaking very loudly, everyone could hear it nonetheless.

The bystanders pointed and whispered at Tabitha and Glen, clearly eating up the drama.

Both of their faces went pale.

Dad, who had rushed over upon hearing the commotion, slapped me across the face the moment he heard those words.

I stumbled back a few steps, and Arlene let out a scream.

Dad pointed at my face and cursed me out, "It seems raising you was all for nothing. Clarence is my precious grandson. I'd like to see who dares to bully him!"

Mom also looked furious and flustered. "I've been nothing but good to you, Adam. How could you bully a child? It's not as if we're going to disown Arlene just because Clarence is back."

I spat out a mouthful of blood, half my face bright red. In all my years of being alive, this was the first time I had ever been hit.

Growing up, Mom and Dad had always been very strict with Glen. I had always thought they didn't like him. Only now did I understand that Glen was the apple of their eye all along.

Resentment and rage spread from my chest through my entire body.

I raised my head and asked, "Did I say something wrong? If Clarence isn't an illegitimate child, then what is he? Mom, how dare you still speak to me like that when you helped them keep it from me all this time?"

Mom's eyes instantly flew wide open. She clutched her chest with one hand and, with the other, pointed a trembling finger at me. Her lips quivered, but she couldn't string together a single complete sentence.

Suddenly, she closed her eyes and blacked out.

In an instant, the scene descended into chaos.

Glen frantically called for a doctor, and they rushed Mom to the emergency room.

Tabitha looked at me with reddened eyes. "Adam, are you satisfied now? She's your mother, for crying out loud. What if she gets so upset that she falls ill? Can't you just let this family have some peace?"

Dad roared at me, "If anything happens to your mother, I'm disowning you!"