Chapter 2

Lily was gone, and my heart was breaking. I cried every day.

The next time I saw Lily, her belly was already big, and she was followed by a punk with dyed hair.

My husband was so angry he smashed the table. I sat beside him, crying non-stop.

I tried to take her to get an abortion, but she shook me off:

"You don't love me. Can't I have a child to love me?"

I had worried myself sick for her all these years. How could she say I didn't love her?

She grabbed a fruit knife from the kitchen and pointed it at me.

"If you try to stop me again, I'll kill you all."

Lily took two thousand dollars and left without looking back.

My husband was smoking on the balcony and said to me:

"How did you raise our daughter? How did she turn out like this?"

I was also blaming myself. How did the sweet little girl from her childhood turn into this?

Before Lily got too far, I chased after her.

Lily and the punk were waiting for a cab outside.

I grabbed Lily and tried to drag her home. This time, I wouldn't let her leave no matter what.

But I didn't expect Lily to have grown so strong. Even with all my strength, I couldn't pull her, and she pushed me to the ground instead.

I had been working in a factory for years and had an old back injury. This fall aggravated it, and I grimaced in pain.

Seeing my pained expression, Lily said, "Keep acting. Go on."

Lily looked at me coldly, like a stranger.

"Lily, come home with mom. Listen to me, you can't have this baby. It will ruin your life."

"My life is already ruined. You're only realizing this now?"

I cried and said, "I'm sorry, Lily. I've missed you so much while you were gone. Please come back with me."

Lily shouted and covered my mouth with her hand. "Shut up! Don't cry! You're just trying to make me feel guilty."

"Why should I go back with you? So you can kill my baby?"

Before I could say anything, a sharp knife plunged into my heart.

I looked down and saw blood gushing from my chest.

Lily was holding the fruit knife she had taken from our home.

Lily said coldly, "I won't let you kill my child."

"I won't be like you, treating my own child badly."

That was the last thing I heard.

Soon, I lost consciousness.

When I woke up again, I was back in the hospital.

Time had rewound to when I had just given birth to Lily.

My husband was showing me the swaddled infant.

I hadn't yet woken from the nightmare of my previous life.

The knife entering my body was so cold and painful.

The one who plunged the knife into my heart was the daughter I had raised for so many years.

My heart went cold, as cold as the knife tip that pierced it.

I didn't understand why. Even if you raised a dog for eighteen years, it would become attached to you.

Why was Lily always so cold, like a stone that could never be warmed?

Her words still echoed in my ears: "I won't be like you, treating my own child badly."

Hadn't I been good enough to her?

We didn't have much money, but everything good was hers.

When she said she wanted strawberries, even if it was freezing outside, I would go from store to store looking. Even if I only had a few dollars left, I would buy the best for her.

When Lily was little, she was always afraid of monsters and didn't dare sleep alone.

I always slept with her, even if it meant I couldn't sleep well myself.

From small things like toys and snacks to big things like a piano or trips to the amusement park or vacations, as long as she asked for it, I would make it happen.

Wasn't that good enough?

Maybe it was too good.

It made her think she was the center of the world, that everyone should revolve around her, that she could take my love for granted.

This life would be different.

I was prepared to discipline her strictly.

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