Chapter 180
hapter 180 I Never Forgot
Lily stared at Yunice’s expression and froze. Owen turned away and began rummaging through the medical kit.
Yunice met Lily’s gaze and said steadily, “You don’t love me. Stop forcing yourself to pretend you do.
Lily’s lips trembled; tears slid silently down her cheeks. No one could say how much of it was genuine.
Yunice let her pant leg fall and said softly, “You say you care about me, that when you threw that vase, you didn’t aim it between Owen and Paul. You threw it at me. You
you love me but didn’t want the shards to hit Elsie, so you stood protectively in front of her bed.”
Lily shook her head and rushed to explain, “That’s not it; I was just so angry I lost control. I didn’t mean to hurt you…
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“Maybe you didn’t mean to hurt me. But that’s the thing calculations. You thought about everyone else’s safety but mine.”
I wasn’t even part of your
Paul frowned. “You’re blowing this way out of proportion. Madam Lily just didn’t think that far.”
“Shut up,” Yunice snapped. “You’re an only child. You’ll never understand what it’s like to grow up in a family with more than one kid.”
“You really think your grandfather didn’t favor your dad over Wyatt? You don’t know the answer
to that? ”
Paul fired back, “Wyatt’s a bastard. Of course it’s different.”
But the moment the words left his mouth, Lily’s face went pale through the heart.
like she’d been stabbed right
Realizing what he’d said, Paul stiffened awkwardly. “Madam Lily, I didn’t mean it like that…”
Elsie was born from a kidnapping–technically a child of sin. She wasn’t any different from Wyatt.
Lily closed her eyes, then opened them slowly.
Her voice trembled, scattered. “I loved all of you the same. How could I not? When they first took me into those mountains, I was terrified and hopeless, but I couldn’t stop thinking about you. You were only four days old. Every day, I cried and cried, wondering if a baby that tiny–who couldn’t move or speak–was screaming from hunger. Was anyone feeding you without me there? I still had milk, but I was so scared and anxious it nearly dried up. And I thought, no–I have to hold on. What if I’m rescued? I need to be able to feed you. So I forced myself. I did everything I could to keep the milk flowing. Eventually, I started bleeding. Do you have any idea how painful that is? Do you know what it feels like to have mastitis?”
Tears streamed down Lily’s face as she clutched her chest. “ I got a fever from the infection. I was I was
180 I Never Forgot
bastard rolled me up in a mat and left me there to die. I could barely breathe, but even then, I kept repeating your names. It was the thought of you three that kept me alive. Do you understand that?”
Even Paul was moved by the pain in her story. He looked over at Yunice, frowning in disapproval.
She had tears in her eyes, too- but her face remained distant, unreadable. Even after all that, she stood like a block of stone.
“No heart,” Paul muttered under his breath.
Just then, Owen finally found the first aid kit. Hearing Lily’s story had him in tears; he rushed over, dropping to a crouch in front of Yunice. He quickly opened the iodine and gauze, ready to treat her wound.
Choking on his emotions, he said, “Yunny, let me take care of this. Once it’s wrapped, it won’t hurt anymore. I care about you. Mom cares about
you. We’re family -we should all be okay, alright?”
Yunice couldn’t tell if Owen was crying for Lily or for her. She quietly moved her leg away, refusing to accept a meaningless gesture of compensation.
Owen’s hand, still holding the cotton swab, froze midair like her avoidance had genuinely hurt him.
Yunice took a breath. “I’m not saying you never loved me; I’m saying that love changed. Time and fate moved it somewhere else. It’s just not with me anymore.”
“Maybe you did love me once–but we only spent three days together. Three days of motherly affection can’t compete with fifteen years by Elsie’s side. I only have one mom, but I’ve never been your only daughter. That ‘love‘ you talk about? It feels more like duty you’re supposed to give me just because you’re my mother. But do you really love me? Do you
-like something even know me at all? When you testified against me, you said Elsie was quiet and gentle and I was wild and hyper, so it must’ve been me who caused the injury. But was I really wild and hyper? The scar on my hand that was from shielding you from falling debris. Do you even remember that? What about the day I broke my finger? I was lying there in pain, asking if you were okay. Do you even remember what you said to me?”
–
Lily’s eyes went blank she couldn’t recall.
–
But Yunice remembered perfectly. “You didn’t answer. You had your back to me. You were busy fussing over Elsie – checking to see if she was hurt.”
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