Chapter 2

I had had enough of Linda. I gritted my teeth as I watched her hit her thigh and wail.

"Keep this up, and I'm calling the police!"

Linda fell silent.

The doctor, who had been confused a moment earlier, finally seemed to understand. After noting down the medical order, he said to me, "You'll need a full month of physical therapy. Remember to come back for your sessions after you're discharged."

Then he shot Linda a cold look. "The patient needs to rest. If you're not related to her, leave now or I'll call security."

Linda did not say another word. She picked up a thermos and walked out, glaring at me as she left.

Once everyone was gone, Wendy called to say she had ordered fried chicken for me. I told her everything Linda had just pulled and vented about it.

Wendy started swearing as soon as she heard about it. "Ask the doctor if you can be discharged today. I'm worried that psycho won't stop bothering you. I'll come pick you up in a bit."

I hung up and asked the doctor. However, he said I could not be discharged and needed another two days of observation.

Since I could not leave, all I could do was stare at the ceiling and sigh.

One week earlier, I had gone skateboarding. A ramp I had used countless times was suddenly scattered with small rocks. I could not avoid them in time and fell, breaking my leg on the spot.

I did not want my parents to worry, so I hired Linda to take care of me.

The first time we met, she looked at my leg in its cast with open disdain.

"What kind of young woman breaks her leg playing around like that? Let me guess, you were sleeping with a married man, his wife caught you, and you broke your leg jumping out a window because you couldn't get away fast enough, right?"

She spoke with an accent, so I had not caught what she said at the time. She was also about my mother's age, so I had not thought much of it.

But earlier that day, right after I got off the phone with Wendy, Linda had suddenly started acting friendly.

"Ellen, you've been doing great these past few days. You finally cut things off with that man, right?"

I had no idea what she was talking about, so I did not answer.

She kept acting friendly anyway. "You don't have parents, so I suppose it's no surprise you did something so wrong. Promise me you won't do it again, and I'll take you as my daughter-in-law. Well? Go on! Call me Mom."

I stared at her, wondering if I had heard her right.

When I said nothing, Linda seemed to take it as encouragement.

"What are you so shy about? If you're going to be my daughter-in-law, you'd better learn some proper manners. Once you're discharged, get your hymen fixed. My son likes virgins. If you don't make yourself good as new, he'll throw a tantrum."

I was completely stunned. Linda went on and on and did not bother stopping.

Thinking back on all that, I quickly called the home care agency and told them I wanted to let go of Linda early.

Before I could finish, the agency owner cut me off. "You Gen Z kids are unbelievable! If I didn't know the truth, you'd have played me for a fool!"

I blinked. "What are you talking about?"

The agency owner raised his voice, annoyed by my attitude. "Stop playing around! You hired your own mother, and now you want to fire her early! If you don't want to pay, just say so! Don't play games with me!"

"My mother? Explain to me what's going on here!" I almost growled.

"How heartless can you be? Your mother sent me the pictures and videos herself."

When I saw the videos the owner sent me, I nearly fell over.

Those pictures and videos were from Linda's first few days with me. We had not had much to talk about, and I wanted to keep things from getting awkward, so I had asked her to take a few pictures and videos with me for fun.

I never imagined they would be used as proof that she was my mother.

"Cat got your tongue?" the agency owner said. "You're paying just as we had agreed on. Not one day less!"