That evening, Clement didn't bother warming my milk. He just stood there, irritation written across his face.
"I've been working all day. You can't heat it yourself?"
Before I could say a word, he disappeared into the basement. Seconds later, that familiar sweet, coppery smell drifted up through the floorboards.
I didn't lose my temper. I stuck to the plan and kept acting.
By the next morning, I was too weak to get out of bed.
That afternoon, Clement didn't even come into the bedroom. I could hear him pacing the hallway, making call after call, his voice bright with barely contained excitement as he schemed.
I didn't ask a single question. I just watched the gleam of his new watch catch the light and let myself smile.
That night, Clement's mother, Lauren Lawrence, descended on my home with over a dozen relatives in tow, barging through the front door like a conquering army.
Lauren's voice carried through the entire house, loud and shrill, as if she already owned the place. "Years I've spent smiling at that woman's face. Years. Well, the suffering's finally over."
The crowd fawned and congratulated one another for a while before Lauren's voice cut through again. "Come on. Let's go upstairs and get one last look at the little tramp!"
They surged up the staircase and crammed into my bedroom.
I sat propped against the headboard, expression blank, watching them gawk at me like visitors at a zoo, amusement and contempt plastered across every face.
Among them were people I had helped. One had been wrongfully fired, and I was the one who found them a new job. Another's child couldn't get into school, and I was the one who secured the enrollment spot. Yet another had lost over a million dollars in a failed business, and it was my emergency fund that pulled them out of the hole.
Clement had no conscience. Fine. But neither did a single one of them.
I spoke, my voice flat and cold. "Mom. Auntie. Uncle. What exactly is this about?"
They exchanged glances, then sneered in unison. "It means we've been putting up with you long enough, and today we're finally getting it off our chests!"
"Every time we had to look at you sitting up there on your throne, it made us sick!"
"We just didn't have the resources. If we'd been born rich like you, we'd be running the world by now! Who do you think you are?"