Lahat ng Kabanata ng Leaving in Full Bloom: Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 10

Claude ignored Mabel's request. "If you want to eat it, peel it yourself. I only peel shrimp for my wife."I swallowed down the wave of nausea rising in my throat. "Give them all to her. I don't want any."That was when Alicia set down her fork with a sullen face."Angelina, you've failed IVF six times, haven't you? Since Mabel's here, why don't you learn from her?"Mabel lowered her head shyly."I don't really have any experience. My boyfriend and I did it for the first time, and I got pregnant. Maybe we're just healthier."Alicia smirked. "Of course. Angelina's five years older than you, and her body can't compare to yours."I'm thinking of having Mabel move in. She's pregnant now, but her family is not around. The housekeeper could look after her, too."The moment she finished, Claude refused outright. "No!"Alicia's eyes turned even colder toward me, making veiled jabs with her words."What's the matter? Is someone jealous seeing other people being pregnant while she's in

I asked, "Food? What is it this time? Wild rabbit uterus? Or their balls? Those aren't even things humans should be eating!"Alicia loved sending me strange and disgusting folk remedies, none of which ever worked. Over the years, I'd forced myself to eat a lot of them, only to still be scolded by her for not being able to have children.Claude said, "I know it's been hard on you, but you shouldn't have blocked my mom."I didn't want to talk to him anymore, so I showed him the chat history between me and Alicia."A woman who can't have kids isn't a real woman. And when you finally did get pregnant, you couldn't even keep it. How pathetic."When Claude and I had just gotten married, I had naturally gotten pregnant once.But when I was seven months pregnant, the baby's heartbeat suddenly stopped. I had no choice but to have an induction.She'd said those words of blame to me countless times since then. I'd never told Claude before because I didn't want to put him in a difficult spo

After calming Mabel down, Claude wanted to go home and spend their wedding anniversary with Angelina.Mabel grabbed his hand. "Claude, you promised you'd stay with me tonight."Claude frowned, his mind full of Angelina. If he weren't there tonight, she would definitely be worried.Mabel looped the ribbon of her nightgown around his finger and gave it a slow tug, letting the silk slip from her shoulders and pool on the floor.Claude's breath caught. He pulled Mabel into his arms and kissed her fiercely.The phone rang several times, but neither of them paid attention.Two hours later, Claude was finally done. He got dressed before finally checking his phone.To his surprise, Angelina hadn't sent him a single message.All the calls were from Alicia.He casually buttoned his shirt as he called her back. "Mom, what is it?""Where were you? Why didn't you answer? Check online right now. Someone took photos of you and Mabel!"Claude felt like he had been struck by lightning. "Did

Alex was in the photo holding a young woman, whose smile looked a lot like Alicia's when she was younger.Alicia's face went pale, and tears welled up in her eyes. "Who is she? How could you do this to me?"Seeing that he'd been exposed, Alex no longer bothered to pretend."Didn't I just learn it from you? Mabel was the one you pushed onto Claude. I only made the same mistake every man makes. It's not like I'm bringing her into the house."At the very least, there won't be another child in the family."With that, he turned and walked away.Alicia asked Claude while crying, "We've been married 30 years. What did I do wrong for him to treat me like this?"Claude looked at her coldly. "And what about Angelina? What did she do wrong?"A knife would only hurt when it cut into one's own flesh.Alicia was like that.He was like that, too.Neither of them deserved to live in peace.Alicia slumped on the couch and turned to look at Mabel, who was standing off to the side, too scared

The first month after I left, I went to a coastal city I had always dreamed of visiting to relax and heal.It was where I ran into my college senior, Theodore Ramsey.I didn't know anyone in the city, and my body was still weak from the abortion.That month, Theodore helped me a lot.I'd always been sensitive about feelings, and when I noticed the way he looked at me was more than just friendship, I chose to say goodbye and head to my next destination.Even if I avoided looking at Claude's public apologies online, I would still hear about them now and then.His brooding, regretful image made some people believe that his cheating could be forgiven, especially since, they said, he had always treated me well.Many people thought I should take him back.But the moment I learned about his affair, I had never once considered going back.I stayed in the second city for about half a month, but the climate didn't suit me, so I decided to move on again.The day before I left, I went ou