Chapter 2
After putting Maddie to bed that night, I scrolled through her social media feed.
James was, as usual, showing off his kid.
He posted: [Rosie took first place at the parent-child sports day today. So proud.]
The photo showed James holding Rosie, with Yara standing beside him, her arm linked through his.
All three of them wore the same bright smiles, looking more like a real family than any family could.
Back when Yara had an unplanned pregnancy, the baby's dad freaked out and skipped town.
Not wanting her child to be born without a father, she reached out to James for help.
James couldn't stand the thought of Yara going through it alone, so he started spending all his time looking after her, day and night, leaving Amalia on her own.
Amalia tried to hold him back, tears streaming down her face, but James just snapped, flipped the glass coffee table, and slammed the door on his way out.
"Amalia, can't you just try to understand? She's pregnant. If something happened to her or the baby, how could you live with yourself?" James yelled.
"It's not my kid, so why should I care? She brought this on herself. If she'd just thought things through and not screwed up." I fired back.
"Enough. Stop talking. If anyone's at fault, it's me. I wasn't there for her all these years. I failed to protect her," James cut me off.
I marched right up to Yara and demanded answers.
"Yara, this isn't James's kid. Why are you making him take responsibility for it?" I demanded.
"Because James loves me, and if he loves me, he'll love my kid too. Isn't that obvious?" Yara shot back.
I was fuming, and barely got a few words out before.
Yara suddenly clutched her stomach, pretending to be in pain, and had the maid rush her to the hospital.
James was immediately alarmed, and after that, he didn't leave Yara's side for a moment.
About a month before Yara's due date, James came looking for me.
"Amalia, Yara's having the baby next month. To be careful, I don't want you stressing her out. You've always wanted to go study overseas, haven't you?
"I've sorted everything out for you already. Your flight's the day after tomorrow, and Liu, the driver, will take you straight to campus," James said.
Back then, I would've fought tooth and nail to keep her spot. No way I'd ever step aside for Yara.
But now, I knew I couldn't force something that was not meant to be. I didn't cry or throw a fit and agreed.
They had a rehearsal before the big day.
The Eastons were loaded, and their wedding was the kind of event regular folks could only dream about.
Everything had to go off without a hitch.
James had me come over, saying he wanted to go over some wedding details.
The moment I stepped inside, Yara was busy fixing her makeup.
"Hey, Amalia, you're here," Yara greeted me with a sweet smile.
She glanced over at Rosie, who was sitting in the corner, glued to her phone and gaming away. When Rosie didn't bother to look up, Yara called out to her.
"Rosie, look who's here," Yara said.
Rosie glanced up at me.
When she saw it was me, she shot me a look of pure disdain and turned her attention right back to her screen.
But Yara wasn't about to let Rosie get away with it.
"Rosie, when someone comes over, you're supposed to be polite. Come on, greet our guest." Yara pressed.
When Rosie still didn't move, Yara marched over and snatched the game console right out of her hands.
Rosie was obviously annoyed, but she still walked up to me and spat on me.
"Hello," she sneered.
That was when Yara rushed over, pretending to scold Rosie.
"Rosie, what's gotten into you? This is your dad's sister. You should call her Aunt Amalia. If your dad saw this, he'd definitely give you a hard time.
"Say sorry to Aunt Amalia right now," Yara ordered.
"Dad loves me way too much to ever get mad at me. I'm not apologizing. If you think you can, go get Dad to yell at me," Rosie shot back.
Yara gave Rosie a quick pat on the shoulder.
Rosie took off like a shot, trying to bolt out of the room. Amalia grabbed for her, but Rosie wriggled free in a flash.
Yara looked a bit taken aback, clearly not expecting me to make a fuss over her kid's behavior.
She quickly gave me an awkward, apologetic smile.
"Amalia, don't be upset. Rosie was just teasing you," Yara said.
"I can tell the difference between joking around and crossing the line. She spat on me. How is that just playing? Does she do this to you, too?" I shot back.
Seeing I wasn't letting it slide, Yara tried to smooth things over.
"Honestly, it's all James's fault. He and Rosie are super close, and he spoils her rotten. Whenever I try to say something, he never lets me discipline her. Now Rosie just does whatever she wants.
"Kids these days are a handful. You'll get it when you have your own," Yara said.
I scoffed quietly.
"Can't even control your own kid, and you wanna blame her?" I retorted.
Just then, Maddie came rushing in.
"Mommy," Maddie shouted.
My sister popped in and said, "I've got something urgent at work, so I had to bring Maddie over. I have to head out now."
When Amalia turned around, Yara's jaw dropped.
"Is this your kid?" Yara blurted out.
"Mommy, I need to go to the bathroom," Maddie said.
I didn't even bother responding to Yara. She just tossed out an Excuse me and headed off to the bathroom with Maddie.
I guess it was just my body not used to being back home, and my stomach started acting up.
I had to let Maddie wait outside the bathroom.
Maybe Maddie had been waiting too long, because suddenly she burst into tears.
I rushed out, and as soon as I got to the door, I heard James's voice.
"Hey there, little one, what's wrong?" James asked.
"Mommy's been in the bathroom for ages and hasn't come out. I'm worried she's not feeling well." Maddie sniffled.
James was just about to ask the waitress to check on me when I finally stepped out.
Maddie threw herself into my arms, calling out, "Mommy."
James just stood there, totally stunned.