Chapter 3

What the old woman did shocked everyone!

Martin immediately tried to stop his mother.

“Mama, don’t do this! Have pity on Elizabeth!” he cried.

“Pity, you say?!” Mery snapped harshly. “This woman is useless! She’s truly stupid and uneducated. I told you not to marry her, but you insisted. Look at her now—she can’t even take care of one child. My grandchild died because of her!”

Mery burst into loud sobs, pulling Elizabeth’s hair even harder.

But Elizabeth remained silent, frozen like stone. Her eyes were empty, fixed only on the small body of her lifeless son.

“My real daughter-in-law should have been Julia! She is a great woman—smart, intelligent, educated, with a good career. Not like you, a parasite! You can’t even care for a child!” Mery kept raging as she struck Elizabeth.

Elizabeth still didn’t react. Even if the woman killed her right there, she was willing to die with a smile, as long as she could be with Alex.

“Mother, please! Have some compassion. Can’t you feel sorry for Elizabeth? She just lost her child!” Martin pleaded.

A neighbor who was watching stepped in, trying to stop Mery’s hand from pulling Elizabeth’s hair. The woman tried to advise her, but ended up being shouted at as well.

“Compassion? Are you blind? Don’t you see my grandchild died because of her?!” Mery barked viciously. “I will report my grandchild’s death to the police. This woman must go to prison!”

The threat made the neighbor retreat in fear.

“Mama, calm down…” A soft voice was heard. Julia, the woman Mery always praised, finally spoke to soothe her.

Meanwhile, Martin’s older brother and sister just stood by, silently watching, as if Elizabeth truly deserved such treatment.

Not long after, Elizabeth’s body swayed, and darkness once again enveloped her. She fainted, shocking everyone.

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Elizabeth slept for quite a while. She only awoke when the sound of commotion reached her from the living room. With a weak body, she leapt from the bed and rushed outside.

“Don’t touch my child!” she shouted, snatching Alex from Martin’s arms.

“My love, I only want to take care of our son’s remains…” Martin said, tears falling.

“I will take care of him myself.” Elizabeth clutched her son tightly.

Martin fell silent. His heart shattered with regret. If only he hadn’t been careless when trying to reach his phone number…

But Mery’s voice rang out again, loud and sharp. “Hey, stupid woman! You have no right to stop his father from preparing his child’s body!”

Harshly, she tried to pull the baby from Elizabeth’s embrace. But Elizabeth resisted. She hugged her son even tighter, even pushing her mother-in-law so hard that Mery staggered backward. Luckily, Martin quickly supported his mother’s heavy frame so she wouldn’t fall.

Slap! Slap! Slap!

Three hard slaps landed on Elizabeth’s cheeks. Her lips split, blood dripping, yet she stayed silent.

“Shameless! How dare you fight back?! Know this—I never accepted you as my daughter-in-law. You’re not on the same level as our family!” Mery shouted for all to hear.

Elizabeth looked at her with tear-filled red eyes. “This is my child! I gave birth to him. I was the one with him day and night!”

“You gave birth to him? Don’t forget who paid for your hospital costs!” Mery sneered. “Martin only had five million rupiah (about 330 USD). The rest—twenty-five million rupiah (about 1,650 USD)—I paid! Until now Martin still owes me. Do you have any money to pay for your delivery?”

Her words pierced mercilessly. Was Mery truly human, or had she no heart at all?

Martin stayed silent, unable to defend his wife.

“My love, please… don’t be sad. You have to be strong.” Julia held Martin’s hand, as if she were the one most deeply hurt. People’s eyes turned toward them, but Julia didn’t care.

The neighbors began to grow furious. One of them even pulled Mery back when she tried to attack Elizabeth again.

“Don’t you feel any pity? Even in front of your grandchild’s body, you dare to hit the mother?”

But Mery retorted cruelly. “A woman like her deserves to be beaten! Nothing can be expected from such a fool! If a child has a high fever, just look up the solution on the internet!”

Even Martin’s sister joined in mocking Elizabeth.

Elizabeth remained silent. She chose to take Alex to the bathroom. Even though her head throbbed painfully and her body felt weak, she didn’t care.

Carefully, she bathed her son’s small body. Every detail of Alex’s face—his eyes, nose, lips, and cheeks—she caressed gently, as if she wanted to keep his little face forever in her memory.

Martin only stood at the doorway, watching his wife in silence.

When she was finished, Elizabeth kissed her son again and again. “Thank you for being part of my life. Forgive me, Alex… I can no longer hold you. Please… take me with you. I can’t endure this any longer…”

Her sobs broke loose. Her chest tightened, her heart felt as though it were being split apart. She tried to deny the sting of Mery’s slaps and hair-pulling earlier, but this pain was all too real. Which meant this was no dream.

With her own trembling hands, Elizabeth wrapped Alex’s tiny body in his favorite towel. Then, with steadfastness, she prepared her son’s remains to be buried according to custom and faith.

At that moment, her breast milk began to leak again. She took the breast pump, expressed it, and stored it in special bags inside the refrigerator. Her milk supply was abundant—each pumping session produced around 750 milliliters.

“My child… I have so much milk. I will donate it to the hospital, so that you may have many little siblings out there.” Elizabeth wept as she looked at the milk bags.

Elizabeth’s grief moved many to tears. Yet they forgot… the Creator must have already prepared something far greater for her life—something none of them could ever imagine.

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