Chapter 2

I, however, sat leisurely on a chair outside, watching Mom being taken away by the police officer for questioning.

Mom, unaccustomed to police scrutiny, immediately folded and confessed the truth. Her official statement claimed that the baby was my cousin and was only entrusted to me for temporary care because his parents were unavailable for a couple of days.

"If it was merely a temporary guardianship arrangement, why abandon him so secretly at the entrance before leaving?"

"I left a note with the baby!"

"Where is the note?"

Mom was momentarily stunned into silence. "I wrote that note myself, and I left it right on the baby! I'm sure Damian must have seen it!"

Hearing her claims, the police officer came out to question me, all the while the distrust of her claims continued inside.

"Why didn't you just walk in and entrust the baby to him, then? You're his mother, aren't you?"

"I…" Mom trailed off.

I was certain she wouldn't dare tell the truth. After all, she and my uncle, Jared Brown, had meticulously planned the entire scenario. They were aiming for me to, out of sympathy, assume responsibility for the baby.

Mom clearly meant to abandon the baby right outside my place. She could only stutter and mumble when cornered, utterly failing to produce a believable reason for her actions.

I was sitting outside, and the second I heard the mention of a note, I furrowed my brow in confusion. "What kind of note is she talking about? I've seen nothing of the sort!"

"Your mother said that she left a note with the baby, providing you with instructions."

"I genuinely never saw any note!"

In that instant, my neighbors stepped forward once more, nodding to affirm that I was indeed telling the truth.

"That's right! Damian raised the alarm the moment he saw the baby, and none of us saw any note!"

"Yeah! What difference does it make even if there was one? How can we trust that she isn't trying to deceive everyone?"

"If a person is capable of abandoning a baby so heartlessly, lying will surely come easily to them."

I agreed wholeheartedly on the inside, adamantly maintaining that I never saw the note.

I also had no intention of recognizing her as my mother, so I explained to the police officer, "My grandfather took care of me since I was young and have had absolutely no contact with her, even though she's my biological mother.

"I truly don't know why she would place the baby at my doorstep. Is it possible that she didn't want this baby and was trying the same trick to force me to raise him?"

It was only after hearing that that the police officer hesitated momentarily, clearly only just realizing the complex nature of the relationship I shared with my mother.

In the meantime, the crowd of neighbors maintained a steady stream of supportive testimony.

"Exactly! It was Mr. Lister Senior who found Damian on the doorstep as a baby back then!"

"Oh, the shame! That woman deserves whatever fate is coming to her!"

"If it hadn't been for the pure goodness of Mr. Lister Senior, who took Damian in and raised him, Damian would have likely perished from the cold right there on the street!"

"How dare she show up and claim to be Damian's mother now that Damian is all grown up!"

"It's clear that she isn't interested in being Damian's mother! I bet she's just trying to saddle her own son with raising someone else's baby!"

"If Mr. Lister Senior were still alive, he would have kicked that woman out without a second thought!"

"How wicked! That woman is clearly exploiting Damian's kindness!"

"Damian is kind all thanks to Mr. Lister Senior's upbringings! That woman has nothing to do with it!"

"She gave birth to him, refused to raise him, and then, after others have done the hard work, she suddenly feels regretful and wants to reunite with him, huh?"

"How on earth did she think she could get away with something like that?"

I adopted a helpless look, feigning the appearance of someone being victimized.

In that instant, the police officer grasped Mom's intention. It was completely different from what she had said in the interrogation room, where she had spun a tale of a deep and loving mother-son bond, as if the abandonment were only a misunderstanding caused by a lack of communication between us.

I scoffed inwardly, thinking that she could no longer use me to shirk the consequences.

In the presence of numerous witnesses, that nonexistent note was no longer important. It was clear that she had intentionally abandoned the baby right at my doorstep.

If the baby wasn't hers, it was baffling how she felt entitled to simply take the baby and then abandon him so conspicuously.