Then she called me directly. "What's going on, Leticia? Did you even see the messages I sent you? These are the best guys in our county. There's a boss who... Ouch!"
She was still talking when something happened, and the call ended abruptly.
Then my phone rang.
"Leticia, Damian's in the hospital. What should we do?"
It was Tiara, and she sounded panicked.
Damian?
"He's been vomiting and having diarrhea since last night. The doctor just said it's food poisoning. He's just a kid…"
"Food poisoning? What did you feed him?"
"Nothing special, just the formula Ansley gave us!" she cried.
"I knew that Ansley wasn't any good. The formula she gave us must've been bad, and now it made my son sick…"
Marcus chimed in from the phone.
"Shut up! Ansley is a great person. I bet it was your mom sneaking some corn mush to Damian while I wasn't looking last night…"
The voices on the phone were getting chaotic, so I held the phone away in disgust and hung up.
I didn't know what happened after that, but I heard Tiara had a huge fight with my mom.
That was when my mom thought of me again and called to complain.
She said it wasn't her fault.
The doctor said it was the formula that caused Damian's illness.
But Tiara refused to believe it.
She kept feeding Damian the formula anyway, and later, Damian's fever broke and he seemed fine, growing taller and stronger.
Then Tiara credited the formula for it.
I once glanced at a photo of Damian. He was twice the size of other babies his age.
He looked a bit too healthy.
But Tiara didn't think so. She kept posting his photos on her social media.
She even captioned: [My son is going to be a big success with this strong body.]
Watching Damian's unusual growth, I thought about the recent news of an inferior formula circulating and could only sigh silently.
When I got the news that my cousin was getting married, I went back to my hometown.
Sure enough, as soon as I got home, my ears were filled with nagging.
My mom was still grumbling non-stop, basically saying that even my cousin was married now, but no one wanted me.
I ate some snacks, pretending I didn't hear anything.
My gaze shifted to Damian, who was lying on the floor nearby.
He was five now, but he was as sturdy as a little bull, chubby and round. The most striking thing about him was his big head, which looked about as big as an adult's.
He looked completely different from Damian in my previous life.