Chapter 2

"Mrs. Anderson must be such a petty person. Being with someone like that must be exhausting. No wonder Mr. Anderson's affections shifted."

"Let's set that aside for now—don't they have a child? If they really divorce, what about the kid? If Mr. Anderson and Ms. Dixon continue to develop their relationship, they'll definitely get married eventually. Being a stepmother in a wealthy family won't be easy."

My heart felt like it was being fried in oil, flipped over and over thousands of times.

I could no longer tell if there was more sadness or more anger in my chest.

The air conditioning in the hospital room was set very low. Countless threads of cold air drilled relentlessly into my body. I shivered and couldn't help but remind the family member at the next bed:

"Could you please turn up the temperature? My child has severe diarrhea and can't catch a chill."

I don't know how much time passed, but that cold air kept drilling into the depths of my heart. I looked up somewhat impatiently, only to meet the horrified eyes of a nurse.

"Ms... Ms. Lane, normally family members can't stay in the morgue for more than fifteen minutes, but you've been here for half the afternoon. Please leave now. The director has been urging you to sign the medical death certificate. And what about the child's father? He's never shown up. Now that the child is gone, he should at least make an appearance. You should contact him as soon as possible."

My head exploded. I finally came to my senses and stumbled to my feet, heading out.

The process of handling the death certificate was quick.

In less than two hours, I stood in the cold wind, hands trembling as I called the funeral home.

After that, I called Finley over thirty times. As expected, all went unanswered.

Leaning against the cold tiles, I kept laughing at myself in my heart.

The funeral home staff came to collect our son before the hospital director got off work. Along the way, I lost count of how many times I cried myself unconscious.

After arriving at the funeral home, the staff immediately took our son to the cold storage room, then gently instructed me to go home and bring his favorite clothes for him to change into.

To leave this world clean and neat.

That's right.

Our son was just like Finley—both had obsessive cleanliness.

"After the deceased's body arrives at the funeral home, it usually must be cremated within 72 hours. But if the family requests, we can extend the cremation time—three days, five days, or seven days. Do you need that?"

I reached out to touch our son's face, which had no warmth left. "Three days."

......

It was already late at night when I made it home in a daze.

Seeing me, the smile in Finley's eyes faded.

"Why are you back so late? Is Asher feeling better? Lily heard he's been having diarrhea and was so worried. She specifically asked me to bring back two boxes of anti-diarrheal medicine."

I dodged to avoid the medicine he handed me. After seeing the date on the box clearly, I let out a cold laugh, and tears flowed uncontrollably again.

"Expired medicine. Who's she trying to poison?"

Finley's expression froze on his face. The side showing the production date turned over, and then a flash of impatience crossed his face.

"Lily just didn't notice, that's all. Can't you speak without being so sarcastic? You know pregnant women need to be careful with medication. She's just a girl in her twenties—how can she keep track of everything?"

"And why didn't you come to Lily's art exhibition today? I told you days ago how important this exhibition was. Did you have to cause trouble on this particular day?"

He instinctively defended Lily by scolding me. I don't know when he started being able to completely ignore my red-rimmed eyes.

"Do you still remember your original intention for sponsoring Lily?"

Finley froze. The scolding words were all swallowed back.