Chapter 10
Nobody spoke.
I continued.
“I spent six years trying to earn a place in this family. I believed that if I gave enough, worked hard enough, and stayed patient enough, one day you'd see me as someone worth protecting.”
I took a breath.
“But the moment another woman became pregnant, all six of you decided I no longer mattered.”
Adrian covered his face.
I looked toward the sleeping baby in Vanessa's arms.
“He is innocent. I genuinely hope you all become better people for him.”
Then I stood.
“But I don't need to stay in your lives to prove I've forgiven you.”
Lilibeth whispered, “Is there really nothing we can do?”
I looked at her one last time.
“There was something you could have done.”
She raised her eyes hopefully.
“You could have treated me with kindness when you thought I had nothing.”
Her face crumpled.
I picked up my handbag.
“And that's the difference between love and convenience. Love doesn't wait until someone discovers you own the house.”
I paid for my meal and left.
Nobody followed.
That evening, I returned home just as the sun was setting.
Golden light poured through the windows.
My mother was in the kitchen making tea.
She looked up when I entered.
“How did it go?”
“They apologized.”
She studied my face.
“And?”
I smiled.
“I finally realized I don't need anything else from them.”
Mom nodded slowly.
Then she handed me a cup of tea.
We sat together on the balcony overlooking the small garden.
The bougainvillea was blooming.
A gentle breeze moved through the leaves.
For a while, neither of us spoke.
Then my mother asked, “Are you happy, anak?”
I looked around.
At the house she'd worked her entire life to give me.
At the flowers I'd planted myself.
At the bookshelves filled with stories I finally had time to read.
At the woman who had stood beside me without ever asking for anything in return.
And I smiled.
“Yes, Ma.”
I meant it.
“I'm happy.”
She squeezed my hand.
And for the first time in a long time, I felt completely at home.
Not because I had won.
Not because Adrian had lost.
Not because six people who once humiliated me had finally apologized.
But because I no longer needed their approval to believe I deserved respect.
One year earlier, six people sat in my living room and told me to leave my own house because my husband's mistress was pregnant.