Chapter 2

I walked up to him and shoved his arm, hard.

"Get out of my way."

I stepped out the door and grabbed my suitcase.

Behind me, Hester's voice came, sour and pointed. "We'll see how long you stay smug."

The door slammed shut, closing me out.

I called my mom and told her I wanted to come home for a few days.

There was a short silence on her end, then she asked if I'd fought with Hester and Anthony again.

Every time I'd gone back to my parents' these past years, it had been because of Hester.

The taxi stopped at the front gate of the complex. I paid, then dragged my suitcase inside.

I ran into Aunt Beatrice walking her dog. She took one look at me and asked,

"Did you two have a spat?"

I shook my head. "No, I just missed Mom. Came home to keep her company for a bit."

She clearly didn't believe me, but she let it go.

The moment I stepped inside, my dad took the suitcase from my hand.

"Come in, come in. Your mom made that pork rib soup you love."

"She put in extra lotus seeds this time. Good for an expecting mother, helps with energy and calms the nerves."

"Dad, Anthony doesn't trust me. He hit me."

The soup bowl in my mom's hands dropped straight to the floor.

Tears welled up in her eyes at once.

My dad's face filled with anger and hurt.

"I'm calling him. He owes us an explanation."

He fumbled for his phone while my mom pulled me into her arms and cried.

"Whatever it is, why can't people just talk it out? How could he raise his hand to you?"

She cupped my face. "Does it hurt?"

I shook my head, crying.

My dad got through, his tone softening a little. "How could you hit her? Whatever the problem is, can't you two work it out calmly?"

"You come over here and apologize to Jacqueline, and promise you'll never lay a hand on her again."

Anthony hung up before my dad even finished.

My dad froze, hurt flickering across his eyes.

My parents were honest, kindhearted people.

They'd long thought of Anthony as their own son.

All these years of marriage, whether it was money or careers, they'd done everything they could to prop up our little family.

Anthony had always been good to them too, always able to coax a smile out of them.

This was the first time he'd ever been so cold to them.

The phone rang again. This time it was Hester. "You should ask yourselves what kind of daughter you raised. The young one's shameless, and so are the old ones."

"You want my brother to apologize? Not a chance."

"After the baby's eight weeks along, go get a DNA test. If it's my brother's child, we'll naturally take your daughter back."

My dad deflated and dropped down onto the couch.

My mom cried quietly.

They'd lived upright lives, all of them. When had they ever been insulted like this?

Grievance and heartache churned inside me. I bit down hard and went into my room.

A friend had sent me a lawyer's card. I called the number right away.

"Hello, I want a divorce."

The lawyer and I set up a meeting for the next day to talk through the details.

I'd barely put the phone down when group messages started going off, one after another, nonstop.

Irritated, I opened them.

It was the family group chat. I scrolled up. It was Aunt Beatrice.

She'd posted the wrong message, and by the time she tried to delete it, it was too late.

She'd written, "I saw Jacqueline back at her parents' place. She didn't have to say it, I could tell, she must've fought with her husband."

"Always bragging about their son-in-law, so educated, makes so much money. What good is any of that? She's still running home after a fight."

"Oh no, why did this go here, wrong chat, wrong chat, wrong chat."

Aunt Beatrice sent a flood of stickers, trying to bury what she'd said.

Then, out of nowhere, Hester posted a voice message.

"Aunt Beatrice, you're not wrong. My brother's wife and my brother really did fight. He even slapped her once."

Someone chimed in, "A husband and wife shouldn't be hitting each other."

Hester sent another voice message. "It's not my brother's fault. You elders can judge for yourselves."

"Last month my brother's wife went away on a business trip. She comes back this month and suddenly says she's pregnant. Six years married and she never got pregnant, but one business trip and she's expecting?"

She even posted the dates recorded in that notebook to the group.

Someone said, "Are you saying Jacqueline cheated?"