Chapter 2

I was kicked out. Devastated, I moved back into my college dorm.

Even during the breaks, I applied for housing exemptions and stayed on campus. I didn't go home for six months.

My mother blocked my number. She never reached out to me, not even once.

After graduation, I landed an internship at a marketing firm, where a guy named Ethan started pursuing me.

He knew about my dark past, but he didn't care. He wanted to protect me.

A year later, we got engaged.

In the days leading up to the engagement party, I couldn't sleep, crippled by anxiety.

But I kept reassuring myself: "I’m far away from my mother now. Nothing will go wrong this time. It can't."

The party went beautifully. As the night wound down, the heavy weight in my chest finally began to lift.

But during the final toast, Ethan playfully covered my eyes, whispering that he had a surprise for me.

A sudden dread washed over me.

When I opened my eyes, my mother was standing in front of me.

Ethan nudged my nose gently. "I know you’ve been missing your mom. Since we only get married once, I invited her as a surprise."

Swallowing my fear, I looked at her.

She had aged terribly over the past two years. Deep wrinkles carved her face.

After all, she was the one who raised me. For a split second, a wave of heartbreaking nostalgia hit me.

"Mom," I choked out.

But she didn't even look at me. She pulled out a small container of macaroni and held it out to Ethan.

Ethan and I exchanged a worried glance. He politely declined, and I let out a breath of relief.

I stepped forward, trying to grab the container from her hands.

"Mom, please don't do this. Today is my engagement party, just let us..."

Before I could finish, my mother suddenly went wild. She forced the container open and shoved a spoonful of the macaroni into Ethan’s mouth.

Ethan swallowed it reflexively. Instantly, his face went pale, and his eyes filled with absolute, primal terror.

The next second, he violently shattered the glass window of the venue and leaped from the eighth floor.

My fiancé died right before my eyes.

The venue erupted into pure chaos. Ethan’s hysterical parents grabbed my mother by her throat, screaming for her life.

"My son did nothing to you! Why did you kill him?!"

"I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you myself!"

My mother fainted from the assault, and the angry crowd turned their wrath on me.

"I heard about her! Everyone she dates dies! She’s a cursed witch!"

"Make her eat the macaroni! Make her eat it!"

My heart was already dead. Without waiting for them to force me, I grabbed the fallen container and stuffed the remaining macaroni into my mouth.

I didn't care if I died. I just wanted an answer.

But ten minutes passed, and I felt completely normal.

The police arrived and took both my mother and me back to the precinct.

"It’s you two again," Detective Vance said, rubbing his temples in frustration. "What is in this food?"

Baffled, the police formed a special task force. They even flew in an occult expert from New Orleans, a specialist in dark voodoo and curses, to inspect the macaroni.

"There is absolutely nothing wrong with this food," the expert concluded, sighing.

Once again, the investigation hit a dead end.

An older, dedicated detective on the force decided to take a risk and ate a portion of the macaroni himself.

The other officers held him back, terrified he would jump out a window.

But just like me, the detective suffered no ill effects whatsoever.

With no physical evidence, the police had no choice but to release my mother.

Ethan’s family looked at me with venomous hatred.

"Just promise me you’ll never date anyone again, you monster," his mother wept. "Stay away from innocent people."

With nowhere else to go, I had no choice but to follow my mother back to her house.