Three days after my daughter was born, my husband was killed by a car while running to the store for some groceries.

I was so devastated I passed out. When I came to, his funeral was already over, and a stranger was standing in my living room.

"I'm your husband's twin brother. I'll be around to help take care of you and the baby."

Later, I locked myself in the bathroom with his urn, sobbing uncontrollably, when I overheard his buddies talking through the open window.

"Dude, you’re so cool blooded. Inventing a twin brother just to dodge diaper duty? What's next—triplets and quadruplets coming out of the woodwork too?"

Three days after my daughter was born, my husband was killed by a car while running to the store for some groceries.

I was so devastated I passed out. When I came to, his funeral was already over, and a stranger was standing in my living room.

"I'm your husband's twin brother. I'll be around to help take care of you and the baby."

Later, I locked myself in the bathroom with his urn, sobbing uncontrollably, when I overheard his childhood buddies talking through the open window.

"Dude, you’re so cold blooded. Inventing a twin brother just to dodge diaper duty? What's next—triplets and quadruplets coming out of the woodwork too?"

"Shut up, man! I didn't have a choice. This kid cries non-stop. Look how exhausted I am after just three days! Find me two hotties so I can catch a break."

"Two? Why stop there? You're finally free—might as well hook up with a dozen! Hannah Lanson gave you a kid, so that's done. Why not just keep this new identity? You won't even have to pay child support!"

My husband's voice sounded annoyed.

"No way. I love Hannah. After I've had my fun, I'm going to win her back. She'll fall for me again, I know it. Then we'll have a baby boy!"

I wiped away my tears and flushed the "ashes" down the toilet.

—-

"Your baby's breathing is abnormal. It might be neonatal pneumonia. We need to transfer her to intensive care. You should call a family member to come."

"Where's your family?"

I wiped away my tears. "My family member is dead. I'll carry her myself."

The doctor looked disapproving. "You had a C-section just three days ago. You need to rest. Give me a family contact number, and I'll call them."

The doctor called Kelvin Ferguson.

Kelvin's end was extremely noisy, with sounds of people toasting and clinking glasses.

"I'm not her family. Let her figure it out herself!"

The doctor's tone became stern. "The baby's condition is very serious, and the mother needs assistance too..."

"Tell Hannah to call her own parents. Why bother my bro?"

I heard one of Kelvin's friends in the background before the call disconnected.

Kelvin and I had been together for eight years and married for one. During that time, I'd never met his family. Even for major events like our wedding, pregnancy, and childbirth, his parents never showed up—only a few friends.

These friends clearly looked down on me, though they pretended otherwise out of respect for Kelvin.

The doctor looked troubled. "I'll find a nurse to help watch your baby. As for the cost..."

I pressed my lips together. "I'll pay the full amount."

I still had Kelvin's salary card. I handled our daily expenses while we saved his income for baby supplies. Now it would go toward hospital bills.

Shortly after, the nurse who went to process the payment returned with a troubled expression.

"There's no money on this card!"

"That's impossible..."

I called Kelvin repeatedly. After more than ten attempts, he finally answered.

“Hannah, I'm busy right now!"

I could hear women's voices in the background, but I had no time for that. "Where's the money from your card?"

"You mean my brother's salary card? Before he died, my brother said that money was for our parents, so I transferred it."

"You bastard, the baby is—"

“Hannah, gotta go. I'm really busy!"

"Oh, and pack up your things when you get a chance. That apartment was also part of my brother's inheritance. You can't live there anymore!"

"I'll come collect the keys tomorrow!"

"Kelvin!" I shouted, my emotions overwhelming me. The post-C-section contractions hadn't subsided, and the pain left me sweating.

"Ms. Lanson?"

The nurse stood waiting with my baby. I pulled another card from my purse.

"Use this one instead."

My emotions ran so high that my C-section incision tore open.

After getting my baby settled, the doctors and nurses scrambled to stitch me back up.

[Hannah, my brother is dead. We have no connection anymore. Stop calling me—my girlfriend will get angry.]

As if I wouldn't believe him, Kelvin sent a photo of himself with his girlfriend.

I couldn't understand how someone could turn so rotten overnight.

Just then, my phone pinged with a notification: "Hot post about [How to escape diaper duties?] has new replies."

The post was made the evening after my surgery. I could recognize it was Kelvin's social media account. The most upvoted suggestion advised Kelvin to send the baby to the neonatal unit.

Everything went black for a moment.

The latest reply from the original poster read: Thanks guys, I'm a free man again.

So he hadn't suddenly become terrible—he'd been terrible all along!

While paying my baby's hospital bills, I heard a familiar voice.

"Doctor, payment."

I turned to see Kelvin holding a stack of receipts.

When he spotted me, his eyes narrowed briefly before he lifted his chin defiantly.

"Hannah, are you following me?

"Perfect timing. Since we're family, help me pay these bills!"

The payment slip with the doctor's diagnosis appeared before my eyes: ...tears due to excessive force.

The patient's name was Lucy Winters, female.

"Hannah?" Kelvin called again.

He grabbed my phone and quickly paid the bill.

"How do you know my phone password?" I snatched back my phone.

Kelvin hesitated, then declared self-righteously, "My brother told me. Besides, what's yours is my brother's, so why can't I use some?"

"No! This is robbery!"

Kelvin sneered. "Robbery? Let me tell you, this is all joint property between you and my brother. As his brother, I'm just preventing you from stealing his inheritance!"

So this was Kelvin's true face.

"Kev, all done?"

Kelvin's friends approached with a young woman.

Kelvin rushed to her side, concerned. "All done. I told you to wait for me. Why did you come out so quickly?"

The woman looked pale and glared at me suspiciously. "Who's that?"

Kelvin's friend William Henderson leaned in. "Oh, that's Hannah, the jinx."

"Got her husband killed after just one year of marriage. Hey, where's your baby? Did you get it killed too?"

I slapped William across the face.

I didn't care about Kelvin being dead or alive, but cursing my baby? I'd slap him to death!

"You—!"

"What's going on here?" The on-duty doctor shouted. Taking advantage of the distraction, I slapped William again.

I shook my stinging hand. That felt good!

"You ugly hag—"

William couldn't contain himself anymore. I quickly ducked behind a payment kiosk.

"Help! Robbery! Murder!"

The doctor rushed over with security guards, and I pointed at William and Kelvin.

"Doctor, please call the police! These men are robbers and killers!"

"Hannah!"

Kelvin's face turned cold. "You've gone too far!"

I immediately teared up. “Are you just going to watch them insult your sister-in-law like this? How can you face your dead brother Kelvin?"

Kelvin's friends never liked me. They thought I was stuck-up because I didn't hang out with them.

At first, I did try joining them for meals, but they would smoke, drink, and crudely judge women at the table, making vulgar comments.

I couldn't stand it and stepped out for some air. When I returned, I overheard them deliberately accusing me of being fake and pretentious.

Especially that William—he always looked at me with obvious lust. Once, when Kelvin wasn't around, he even tried to touch me.

After I told Kelvin, he apologized sincerely and explained that his friends weren't well-educated but were loyal at heart.

After we married, I forced myself to maintain a superficial relationship with these people. Now that Kelvin was "dead," our relationship deteriorated back to how awful it was initially.

Birds of a feather flock together—I suddenly realized that perhaps Kelvin had been a terrible person all along.

To prevent things from escalating, Kelvin had no choice but to pay me back.

"Hannah, your stingy behavior is disgusting! No wonder my brother would rather die than stay with you!"

I almost laughed. Did he think Kelvin was still my weakness?

In the past, I couldn't bear hearing that Kelvin didn't like me—the foolishness of young love.

Now I just found those words revolting.

"Bad luck to speak of the dead," I said. Kelvin froze, shocked that I would refer to him as dead.

"You..."

He sensed something different about me and felt uneasy. When he turned to look at me again, William and the others pulled him away.

After leaving the hospital, I went straight home. My first task was changing the locks.

"Hannah? You came back alone? Where's the baby?" My neighbor looked at me in surprise.

I forced a smile. "The baby's father died. My child is still in the hospital. I need to sell this apartment to cover the medical bills. It's not good to keep a dead man's things. I need to clear everything out."

The neighbor's expression immediately turned sympathetic, and she rolled up her sleeves to help.

Though still weak, I had already called a moving company. They took everything I'd prepared for the baby. The rest—whether Kelvin's or things we bought together—I threw away.

"It's good to get rid of it all. Don't dwell on these sad things. Focus on raising your child—that's what matters!"

The neighbor walked me downstairs.

I left the keys and property deed with a real estate agent, asking them to sell the apartment as quickly as possible.

This apartment was bought by my parents. After graduation, Kelvin had moved in without hesitation, as if entitled to it.

Thinking about how he had asked me to move out earlier made me want to laugh. He must have forgotten this was my apartment all along.

Or perhaps he simply wanted to claim my property as his own.

The apartment was in a great location with a good layout. It sold within three days for 100,000 dollars above the asking price.

Looking at the cash in hand, I was quite satisfied.

I moved all my baby's things to a postpartum care center and paid for three months.