Chapter 2

Leila and Macy couldn't be happier.

Leila wasted no time and pulled out the medicine she had been keeping ready.

"I went all the way to the local clinic to get these fertility pills. Just take them and you'll be pregnant in no time." Leila said.

Macy's eyes lit up, and she tried to stuff the pills into my hands herself.

"Who knows, maybe you'll end up giving us twins—a boy and a girl!" she cheered.

"Right?" Leila slapped her thigh. "Just the other day, I saw someone online who had nine babies at once. If you could be that lucky, we'd be truly blessed!"

I scoffed inwardly.

That woman with nine babies? She had already lost them long ago.

If I were tired of living, maybe I'd give it a try.

But on the outside, I just smiled, took the pills, and made a big show of promising I'd take them faithfully.

Macy rummaged through her bag and pulled out a bottle of folic acid.

"Katelyn, you've got to take this three times a day, every single day. The more you supplement, the more you'll be able to have, and the more you have, the more babies you'll pop out."

I nodded along.

Why didn't you enjoy the privilege of popping folic acid three times a day yourself?

That night, I switched out my folic acid for Macy's daily vitamins.

As for those fertility pills, I slipped them into Leila's blood pressure meds.

How could it be enough for Leila to have just one son? The Schmidt family clearly needed more male heirs.

A little over a month after we returned, it was Laurence's birthday.

Normally, I would never go back with Francis, but this time, I had a job to do—helping the Schmidt family grow their brood.

Halfway through dinner, Macy suddenly threw up right at the table.

"Mom, what did you even cook? This tastes so gamey," she said.

Leila didn't even bat an eye.

"It's just regular fish. You little brat, why do you have to ruin everyone's mood on such a nice day? If you don't like it, don't eat it," Leila said.

Macy had been single for years, and Leila never showed her any kindness. At home, the only one she ever dared to mess with was me.

After Leila's scolding, Macy could only grit her teeth and take it.

I chuckled inwardly. That vomiting probably had nothing to do with the fish.

Sure enough, that night, even without the fish, Macy gagged and threw up again—this time at the sight of the soup.

Macy ended up puking her lunch straight into the food, and Laurence didn't even blink—he grabbed Macy by the hair and tried to dunk her face right into the soup.

"You're walking bad luck! One of these days, you hopeless old maid are going to be the death of me," Laurence snapped.

Macy kept insisting it wasn't her fault, but then she finally realized something was up. That night, she bolted straight to the local clinic.

When she came back, Macy looked like she had just lost her best friend or something—totally crushed.

Leila took one look at her and started ranting, "Walking around with that long face every day, who are you trying to impress?

"If you don't want to be here, then get out! Almost thirty and still can't even snag a man—what a waste!"

Then, mid-rant, Leila turned her attention to me.

"Katelyn's a hen that can't lay eggs, and you? You can't even hook a man in the first place!"

In the middle of the night, I got up to use the bathroom and overheard Macy lurking in the yard, hissing into her phone as she argued with someone.

"Don't give me that nonsense. Just tell me straight—are you leaving your wife or not? Are you actually going to marry me?" Macy said.

I listened, amused, as Macy's voice shifted from barely holding it together to totally falling apart.

"So what am I to you, huh? Just someone for you to play with and toss aside? Well, you just wait—me and this baby, we're not letting you get away with it!" she said.

Back then, Macy had bragged to me that having a baby was the easiest thing ever—just spread one's legs and they'd pop out a son, no problem.

Turns out she wasn't exaggerating. For her, getting knocked up was a walk in the park, especially when the guy was already married.

I never would have guessed that Macy, who usually seemed so prim and proper and never had a serious boyfriend all these years, was actually someone's mistress on the side.

Honestly, I wondered if my relics-of-the-past in-laws would be so pissed they would throw her out of the house if they ever found out.

With this delightful piece of news, I drifted off to sleep, feeling pretty pleased with myself.

Macy, it looks like it was all on you to single-handedly raise the Schmidt family's birth rate.

When I woke up in the morning, Macy was already gone.

I hurriedly took Francis back to the city with me, keeping a close watch on Macy's situation.

Sure enough, a few days later, while I was slacking off at work, one of my coworkers, Nancy, shot me a sly look.

"Hey, isn't Macy your sister-in-law?" Nancy asked.

I nodded.

"Well, yesterday she got herself beat up by the guy's wife and landed in the hospital—turns out she was the side chick all along," she added.