Once again, the call ended on me.

I didn't think a few words from Gigi would lead Zachary to misunderstand that it was my mother who got into an accident. He also thought I was asking for money to give to my brother.

Staring at the stack of hospital invoices in my hand and the nurse waiting for me at the door, I felt anxious and frustrated. I tried to call Zachary again, only to find that I had been blacklisted. Feeling more and more distressed, I tried all sorts of ways to get in touch with him, to no avail.

He kept saying he was busy, yet he didn't seem to think it was a waste of time to blacklist me everywhere. Moreover, it was his own mother whose life was hanging by a thread right now! How could he believe Gigi's baseless claims?

It took all my effort to stop myself from losing my composure in front of everyone at the hospital. Now was not the time to confront Zachary about this. Nothing mattered more than Marie's life.

I reached out to a few friends and started asking if I could borrow money from them. Once I had 100 thousand dollars, I hurriedly went down to make payment to the hospital. By the time I got back to the operating room, the back of my blouse had been soaked through with sweat.

I clenched my hands as I stared at the red light outside the operation room. I kept praying for Marie to be alright. She had always been kind to me. Knowing that my parents favored my brother over me, she loved me as if I were her own daughter.

Marie divorced Zachary's father a long time ago and raised Zachary by herself. However, she wasn't the type to feel possessive over him. Instead, she respected us and gave us our privacy by choosing to stay alone elsewhere. She would drop by every week to visit us and bring us some of our favorite food.

During her last call with Zachary, he had off-handedly mentioned missing her homemade pickles, but she took it to heart. As soon as she prepared a new batch, she brought it right over to us.

She only needed to cross a road to get back to her place, and yet, she ended up getting into an accident while doing so.

According to the kind person who brought Marie to the hospital, the driver who hit Marie seemed to have been a drunk driver who was speeding. Marie had been knocked several feet away and lost a lot of blood.

Recalling what the nurse said earlier, I felt uneasy.

When the doctor came out of the operating room, he shook his head and sighed, saying, "The surgery happened too late. We tried our best, and the patient has regained consciousness, but… Well, you can go in and talk to her now."

The last shreds of my hope shattered. Knees going weak, I crashed onto the floor as tears rolled down my cheeks. However, I couldn't waste any time. I climbed back up clumsily and entered the hospital room where Marie had been taken. She was hooked up to all sorts of machines.

Just a few hours ago, she was smiling and telling me she would bring over some of her homemade pastries for me to try. But now, she was lying on a hospital bed, looking rather pale.

When Marie saw me, she did her best to squeeze out a smile.

"You're here, Annie. Where's Zachary?"

I didn't know how to respond to Marie's question. My resentment over Zachary's lack of trust in me intensified.

Mustering a forced smile, I replied, "Zachary's working, Mom. He can't get away."

I wasn't sure if Marie believed me. Her smile seemed to have faded slightly. She gestured for me to come closer. Doing so, I noticed that her eyes were red.

"I know Zachary has done you wrong, Annie. I know what's going on. He has never been home whenever I've gone over to your house recently. How can a person be that busy?" Marie said.

She spoke with strength, and her cheeks looked flushed. My heart clenched at the sight of that. I knew patients often showed signs of improvement before taking their last breath. Seeing this now, I felt even more anguished.

Marie noticed my sorrow. She used her hand, which felt extremely cold to the touch, to wipe my tears away.

"Once I'm gone, there won't be anyone to help you teach him a lesson. You're a lovely person, Annie. You should be happy. Stop allowing yourself to be hurt like this. You should get a divorce," Marie said. "I'm to blame too. I never thought he would end up like his father…"

A tear rolled out of the corner of Marie's eye, and her hand slowly collapsed onto the bed.

I tried not to cry, but it didn't work. I couldn't stop myself from sobbing.

"Mom!"

The heart rate monitor flatlined.

I was never going to get to eat her handmade pastries anymore.

…

When I went over to Marie's house to go through her belongings, I saw a letter on her desk. I didn't know when she had written it, but it was addressed to me. It was only after reading the letter that I found out Zachary's father had cheated on her.

She had suffered a lot in her early years. Life only improved once Zachary was older.

Marie hated unfaithful people the most. Who would've thought that Zachary, the son she adored and raised on her own, would become one such person too?

Marie's relatives and I organized her funeral. Perhaps I had cried my eyes dry already, for even when I saw the large grayscale portrait of her, I couldn't shed any more tears.

During the funeral, some of the relatives asked me why Zachary wasn't in attendance. This time, I didn't cover up for him. I told everyone that he was busy helping Gigi, his beloved first love.

John Palmer, Marie's younger brother and Zachary's uncle, was so outraged that he called up Zachary and questioned, "Where are you, Zachary? Why aren't you here after what happened to your mother?"

After a long silence, Zachary finally asked, "Uncle John, is Annette with you?"

John glanced at me before humming in acknowledgment.

"Can you pass the phone to her?" Zachary requested.

John hesitated for a moment before handing me his phone. I accepted it with a frown as I wanted to hear what Zachary had to say.

"Yes?"

Immediately, Zachary lashed out at me.

"Can you get any more shameless, Annette? You paid my uncle to put on a show with you, didn't you? Your mom can die for all I care, but my mom has been nothing but good to you! How dare you curse her by pretending something has happened to her? When did you become like this? You can't even begin to compare to Gigi!

"If not because I know Mom wouldn't agree to it, I would be filing for divorce right this instant! Stop calling me. Gigi's situation is serious. I have no time for your games!"

Having said everything he wanted to say, Zachary ended the call. He had no clue that John had put the call on speaker mode. All of the relatives present heard what he said to me.

John was so furious that he nearly got a heart attack. He couldn't stop berating Zachary for being an ingrate.

All along, all of Zachary's relatives thought of him as a decent young man and a wonderful son. He was handsome, well-educated, and had a good job. Yet, he was behaving this way when Marie had passed away. He had no conscience to speak of!

Staying silent as the others rebuked Zachary, I stared at the photo of Marie in the center of the funeral parlor. She had a warm smile on her face. I had taken that photo of her back when Zachary and I first got married.

I could still recall the way she had taken my hand after that. With all the earnestness in the world, she told us to be good to each other, even giving Zachary a double reminder to do so. She also said that I was to tell her if Zachary ever treated me badly. She promised to teach him a lesson on my behalf.

At the time, Zachary protested, saying, "What are you talking about, Mom? Why would I ever treat her badly?"

"There are no guarantees in life. Who knows what might happen in the future?" Marie retorted.

None of us expected her words to act like a prophecy.

I was still caught up in my memories when someone asked, "Why didn't the culprit show up either?"