The day of my daughter's fifth birthday was the seventh wedding anniversary between me and James Frost.

On the same morning, before he went to work, I begged him to come home early so that we could celebrate our daughter's birthday.

As for our wedding anniversary, it didn't matter to me if we celebrated it or not.

We never did anyway.

He nodded, which was his way of saying yes.

However, he still wasn't home at nine o'clock in the evening.

I sent him a message asking him when he was coming home, but he didn't reply.

I tried calling him, but he hung up instantly.

Looking at the screen of my phone, my heart ached.

I knew James hated me. That was why his attitude towards me over the past seven years had always been indifferent. I never complained about it either.

I just told myself that I brought this on myself. I fell in love with someone I shouldn't have.

I was willing to be a replacement.

However, our daughter was innocent. He shouldn't treat her like this as well.

Laura's gaze was locked on the birthday cake on the table and her stomach was rumbling.

My heart ached and tried to comfort her. "Laura, let's not wait for Dad. He's still working. How about we dig in first?"

As soon as I finished speaking, the sound of the door being unlocked sounded.

"Dad's home." A smile immediately appeared on Laura's little face and she quickly rushed to the door.

I stood up from the sofa and was about to heat the food. When I raised my head, I saw James walking into the house with a girl that I didn't know in his arms.

The little girl was wearing all pink, like a princess. Her little facial features were delicate like a doll. She was very cute and pretty.

When I was sizing her up and down, she was also sizing me up and down.

After a short pause, she wrapped her arms around James's neck, pointed at me, and asked, "Dad, who is she?"

I widened my eyes in disbelief as I looked at James.

'She's his daughter? Who is the child's mother then? When was the child born?' My mind was a mess.

Too many questions appeared in my head and I felt like my head was going to explode.

"Baby, she's the nanny that I've hired for you." James's soft voice sounded.

I was dumbfounded by his words and stood there as if I were struck by lightning. I had no idea how to react to his words.

It was truly ironic. We were married for seven years, I gave birth to a daughter for him and took care of the elders, but in the end, I became his "nanny".

My heart immediately sank.

"Mom..." Laura immediately ran over to me and wrapped her arms around my leg. Her beautiful face was full of grievance.

I rubbed her little head and felt sorry for her.

When I was pregnant all those years ago, James wanted me to have an abortion at first.

However, I was selfish back then and went against his will. I insisted on giving birth to the child.

That was why James didn't like her either.

It had been five years since Laura was born. James had never held her or kissed her. He hadn't even talked to her very much either.

For a while, I was really naive to have thought that James didn't like children.

Only now did I realize that it wasn't children that he didn't like, it was my child that he didn't like.

I chuckled and bowed to him respectfully. "Mr. Frost, Please pay me for the work that I've done for the past seven years..."

James frowned and an unhappy look appeared on his face. "Didn't I just give you a sum of money?"

"Mr. Frost, the money you've just given me was the money that you should give me as a husband and father. The money that I'm asking for right now, is the money that you should give me for taking care of all the members of the Frost family as your nanny."

James was very generous. He immediately transferred 20 thousand dollars to my bank account.

"Is that enough?"

I laughed at myself but didn't say anything. All the things I had done for him for the past seven years only got me 20 thousand dollars.

It was quite obvious that the money wasn't enough.

The little girl in James's arms frowned and said in a cold voice, "Dad, I don't like this nanny. Let's fire her."

I looked at the little one and realized that her eyes looked familiar. I then retorted, "What a coincidence! I don't like you either. Tell your dad to pay me the money I deserve to get and I'll be on my way."

"Catherine!" James shouted angrily. "Brenda is only a child, why are you arguing with her?"

"Because I want to!" I bit my lip to prevent my tears from trickling down my face.

"I love you, James. But that doesn't mean I will love everything related to you! I'm not going to let your illegitimate daughter disrespect me like that."

My words seemed to have upset Brenda. She began crying in James's arms.

"Dad, I'm not an illegitimate daughter. I don't like her. Tell her to get lost..."

I ignored James's dark face and continued, "I'm sorry, this is my house. You're the one that needs to get lost!"

James glared at me coldly and then went back to his room with Brenda in his arms.

I then carried Laura to the table in my arms and was going to celebrate her birthday.

"Mom, does Dad not like me?" Laura asked all of a sudden.

I didn't want Laura to be filled with hatred, so I lied to her. "Laura's a good girl, why would Dad not like you?"

"Then why doesn't he carry me in his arms?" Laura lowered her head and began crying.

I kissed her pink cheeks, but didn't know how to comfort her.

'Silly child. Your dad wants you dead, so there's no way that he would want to carry you in his arms,' I thought.

I couldn't help but start crying again.

My tears landed on the back of Laura's head. She reached out and tried to wipe away my tears.

"Don't cry, Mom. I don't want Dad to carry me anymore. It's all my fault that you're crying again."

James walked out of the bedroom and frowned when he saw Laura and me crying.

"Catherine, we need to talk."

I wiped away the tears on my face. "What do you want to talk about? Your illegitimate daughter or a divorce?"

"Stop talking nonsense. Brenda isn't my child. She belongs to Nova and her ex-husband. She has appendicitis and will be having an operation, so she asked me to take care of Brenda for a couple of days."

I didn't feel any better after hearing James's explanation.

'Nova... It sounds like they're still close,' I thought. 'No wonder he's so nice to a little girl. She's the daughter of his true love.'

Seeing that I remained silent, James continued, "Brenda's father abandoned her when she was born. That's why she feels insecure all the time and has some mental problems as well. Nova's afraid that she would become autistic, so she asked me to pretend to be Brenda's father. Therefore, I hope that you won't try to upset her..."

I interrupted him and asked, "James, do you know what day it is today?"

"Laura's birthday today." James looked at the cake on the table. His voice was indifferent.

I laughed angrily. "Do you know who Laura is?"

"I do." James nodded.

Laura sat on my lap with pursed lips and looked like she was going to cry.

My heart ached, so I shouted, "Since you know, then did you buy her a present? Did you even look at her after you walked into the house? All you've been talking about since you came back is Brenda, have you thought about Laura's feelings?"

I had never lost my temper towards James for the past seven years that we were married.

I just pretended I was fine no matter how he treated me.

But I felt that James had gone too far that night, so I couldn't control my temper anymore.

James didn't expect that I would lose my temper either. He then turned to look at Laura. "I'm sorry. I was too caught up today, so I forgot to get you a present."

"It's alright." Laura was sobbing, but she acted very maturely. "I don't need a present. I just don't want Mom and Dad to argue anymore."

I took a deep breath to calm myself down.

"We're not in an argument, Laura. Now that Dad is back, let's celebrate your birthday."

James didn't say no, so I took it as a yes.

As soon as we put the birthday hat on Laura's head, Brenda walked out of the room.

"Dad, my tummy hurts."

James stood up and rushed to the bedroom door. "I'll take you to the hospital."

With that, James picked Brenda up and headed towards the door.

Seeing Brenda giving me a provocative look whilst being carried by James, I immediately understood what she was doing.

I couldn't help but curve my lips. 'Like mother, like daughter.'

It seemed that Brenda had inherited her mother's personality.

This caused me to want to win over Brenda. I wasn't a match for Nova, but it wasn't hard to win over a child.

With that thought in mind, I shouted, "James, celebrate Laura's birthday with her before you leave."

James stopped, turned around, and glared at me.

"Catherine, can't you see that Brenda has a stomach ache?"

I covered my chest as my heart ached and smiled self-mockingly. 'Looks like I can't even win over a little girl. How useless of me!'

I know that I couldn't prevent James from leaving, so I didn't say anything else. I just lit the candles on the cake and continued to celebrate Laura's birthday.

James still hadn't returned the next morning when I was sending Laura to the nursery.

I thought he wouldn't come home for a while like before after what happened last night.

However, I was wrong again.

When I got home, James was calling his mother and asking her how to make oat porridge.

He said that Brenda wanted to have oat porridge.

Looking at the man who had never cooked before, being busy in the kitchen with a pink apron on, my heart couldn't help but ache again.

It was a good thing that Laura wasn't home.

If she was, she would probably be crying again.

Seeing me return, Brenda stood up from the sofa and rushed into the kitchen to wrap her arms around James's leg.

"Dad, that evil woman is back. I'm scared."

James bent down and picked Brenda up with one hand as he continued cooking with the other.

"Don't be scared, Brenda. Your Dad's Superman. I'll protect you."

Such a warm scene made my eyes feel like they were burning and tears quickly welled up in them.

I walked to the door of the kitchen and leaned against it as I said sarcastically, "James, who will be burying you and praying for you after you die?"

'Probably not me or Laura,' I added inwardly. 'He hasn't treated Laura like his daughter at all. Why should she be by his side when he dies?'

James put down the spoon in his hand and glared at me angrily. "You're just wicked, Catherine."

"Well, I've always been like this. You should have gotten used to it already." I sneered.

James ignored me and went back to his room.

At 10 o'clock in the morning, I went to the hospital to get my report.

The doctor looked at me with a serious face. "Ms. Somerfield, you have breast cancer and it's at the terminal stage as well..."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I forced a smile on my pale face and said, "There must be some kind of mistake, doctor. I'm only having chest pains."

The doctor shook his head. "There's no mistake. You must have been suppressing your feelings for too long for you to get this illness. My suggestion is that you come and be hospitalized to start your treatment straight away."

The doctor said something else as well, but I couldn't make out what it was. All I could think about was Laura.

'If I fall ill, what about Laura? Her father doesn't love her, her grandmother doesn't like her, and my parents...'

I leaned against the wall and walked out of the doctor's office lifelessly. I then sat myself on a bench in the corridor.

I only came back to my senses when I heard my phone ring.

Looking at the screen of the phone, I saw that it was Laura's tutor calling.

I answered the call. "Hello, Miss Hudson."

"Catherine, I think you should come to the nursery as soon as possible. Laura is burning up with a fever."

After hanging up the phone, I rushed out of the hospital and took a taxi to the nursery that Laura went to.

Laura was lying on a small bed with a red face. When she saw me, she whispered, "Mom, I'm okay. Don't worry."

"Let's go to the hospital." I picked Laura up in my arms but my chest began to hurt again.

Laura had always been well-behaved since she was born. It was probably because she knew not a lot of her family liked her.

She was just like me. She didn't know how to please others.

She would definitely suffer in the future with such a personality, but I didn't know what to teach her.

I didn't know how to teach her to be like Brenda, who knew how to pretend to be sick.

After coming home from the hospital, James held Brenda in his arms and was reading "Cinderella" to her.

I held Laura in one hand and a bag of medicine in the other, but James just ignored me completely. He treated us like we were thin air.

My heart ached so much that I began to find it difficult to breathe.

At that moment, I began to regret marrying James.

I even began to regret the decision to give birth to Laura.

I gave birth to Laura, but couldn't bring her any happiness. This was my failure as a mother.

However, I couldn't really go back in time now.

All I could do was treat Laura the best I could whilst I was still alive.

After placing Laura on the bed, I tucked her in and went to make some food for her.

Laura's favorite food was the chicken and mushroom soup that I made for her. There wasn't any fresh chicken in the fridge, so I said to James, who was on the sofa, "Laura's ill. Keep an eye on her for me. I'm going out for some groceries and will be back soon."

James still remained silent as always.

I was used to it and left the house.

When I came back home, I saw Brenda drawing things on Laura's face with my lipstick.

I was infuriated and shouted, "Brenda Collins, what are you doing?"

Brenda jumped when she heard my voice and began crying.

James heard the noise and walked out of the bedroom. He picked Brenda up to comfort her. "It's alright, baby. What's wrong?"

I pointed at Laura's face and shouted, "What's wrong? What do you think?"

"Brenda is only messing around. There's no need to lose your temper." James furrowed his brows and his eyes were full of anger.

"Messing around?" I glared at James and the pain in my chest was causing me to have difficulties breathing. "How about I draw something on your face and see how you feel about it? I'm only messing around anyway."

"Fucking psycho!" cursed James as he left with Brenda in his arms.

I was like a maniac and wouldn't leave him alone.

"Yes, I'm a psycho. I'm about to die! You happy now, James? I can finally go live with your true love happily ever after. Are you happy now?"

James ignored me and continued to look at Brenda with a gentle gaze. "Don't cry, baby. How about we go out shopping?"