Chapter 1
In the hotel restroom, I was cleaning my blouse soaked with milk stains when a pair of hands caressed my softness from behind.
I grabbed that groping hand and threw him over my shoulder. My mother-in-law rushed up and slapped me across the face.
Because I had fractured her precious son’s tailbone...
Today was the baby’s one-month celebration party at a fancy downtown hotel in Chicago. I’d been bustling around since early morning.
Even with the air-conditioner cranked up full blast, I was still sweating buckets.
My husband pulled me aside and pointed at my chest. Seeing the hunger in his eyes, I smacked the back of his head.
“Pervert, we’re surrounded by people!”
But before I knew it, he dragged me into an empty corner, pulled up my blouse, and exposed the pair of full, white, round breasts underneath.
They were already glistening with milk.
“Honey, how did they get even bigger? I literally nursed from them this morning.”
He looked all pitiful, but the desire in his eyes was impossible to hide.
“Stop it, guests are arriving soon.”
“Just one quick sip, babe.”
“No... ah!”
The heavy weight on my chest suddenly felt light the moment his mouth covered it, like a huge burden had been lifted. Guests, banquet—none of it mattered in that moment.
“Hello?!Someone here?”
The sudden shout snapped me back to reality. I quickly pushed my husband off, pulled my blouse down to my neck, and shot the man in front of me a warning glare before letting it go.
The one who called out was my husband’s younger brother, Derek Winter.
His gaze swept over us, lingered on my husband’s mouth for a second, and he flashed a knowing grin.
Guess the kitten didn’t wipe the milk off his face properly.
I pinched the soft flesh on my husband’s waist hard where Derek couldn’t see. Only then did he casually wipe the leftover milk from his lips, laugh it off, and say, “The coconut water at the banquet is really good—kids love it.” Then he hurriedly dragged Derek away, leaving me alone in peace.
I let out a huge sigh of relief, double-checked that everything looked fine, and went out to greet the guests.
My mother-in-law handed our daughter over to me. That’s when I noticed a small silver bracelet on the baby’s wrist.
“Thanks, Mom. Sweetie~ isn’t Grandma so good to you?”
She also gave the baby a thick red envelope—probably a few thousand dollars. Everyone around said I had a great mother-in-law and Emily had a wonderful grandma. But her next words silenced the entire room.
She pulled out two heavy gold bracelets and a $10,000 red envelope, dangled them in front of baby Emily, then put them away.
Confused, I watched as she said to my daughter, “Emily, hurry up and give Grandma a little brother. Once he’s born, Grandma will buy you a silver necklace.”
“Mom, Emily’s only one month old and you’re already pushing me to have another? And why does a boy get gold bracelets while Emily gets silver? That’s blatant favoritism! How will Emily feel when she grows up—that Grandma doesn’t like her but loves her brother?”
The moment the words left my mouth, she slapped me hard.
“How dare you stir trouble? You give birth to a girl and suddenly think you’re above everyone? I love grandsons and granddaughters equally—it’s just that girls can’t handle heavy gold.”
I held my stinging cheek, wanting to argue, when my husband suddenly stepped in, stuffed a red envelope into my hand, and pulled us apart. “Mom, how could you be so forgetful? You even misplaced the money.”
He claimed his mom had cashed out the gold bracelet money into two red envelopes and simply forgot one.
I didn’t believe a word of that nonsense.
She’s from a small rural town in the Midwest and has always looked down on me for being a city girl from Chicago. My husband and I met in college, dated for seven years before marrying.
He loves me—I know that—but he can’t stand up to his mom. He says she raised him and his brother alone, scraping by and even selling family belongings to put him through college.
Before marriage, I admired his filial piety. After marriage, even though she constantly made things difficult for me, I didn’t want to put him in a tough spot, so I endured it again and again.
I didn’t want to cause a scene on such a happy day, so I excused myself to the restroom to compose myself.
I splashed water on my face. Looking up at my slightly red eyes in the mirror, I felt a wave of grievance.
Water splashed onto my chest, mixing with milk and soaking a large patch. I’d deliberately worn a white button-down blouse today—the wet spots made the pale mounds faintly visible...
Since it was the women’s restroom, I felt safe enough to take off the blouse, leaving just a black lace nursing bra.
The blouse would take a while under the hand dryer. I turned my back to the door and started scrolling short videos, completely unaware of footsteps behind me.