I quickly helped her sit down and frantically tried to call Melinda, but I couldn't reach her.
Facing this situation for the first time, I panicked and called 120 (emergency services). My sister-in-law was in excruciating pain, her contractions coming in waves, and her clothes soaked with sweat.
I was terrified, was giving birth really this scary?
When the ambulance arrived to take her away, the nurse looked at me sternly. "Where is the accompanying family member?"
"Can I do it?" I replied nervously, not knowing what I could do.
The nurse glanced at me. "You can't. Where are the other family members? Where is her husband?"
"Her husband is not home; he can't come back."
The nurse looked at Mia with concern, who weakly said, "I can manage. I can make decisions for myself."
"Alright then," the nurse said and shut the ambulance door without looking at me again.
Back home, I was anxious, unable to sit or stand still.
Calling Jayden was useless; he couldn't come back and was just as anxious. Melinda's phone was still unreachable.
Finally, at three in the morning, Melinda came back. I rushed to her. "Mia has given birth; she's already in the hospital. Where have you been? Why are you just coming back now?"
Melinda panicked for a moment, then hurriedly told me to go to bed and pushed me into bedroom.
"Instead of worrying about others, you better worry about yourself, just in case."
She was right; I suddenly became scared and didn't dare to mess around. After all, I really couldn't help much—there were doctors and nurses there, who were surely more helpful than me.
I lay in bed trying to calm myself down. Melinda was busy in the kitchen for a while and then left the house again.
I sneaked up to check and found that only a few eggs were missing from the house.
At that moment, I had to admit that Melinda might indeed be the evil mother. How could she not be with Mia while she was giving birth? Mia must be so scared now!
Our family doesn't have gender discrimination; Melinda only nurtures excellent children. So when Jayden didn't get into high school, my parents made him work in a factory to support my education.
Compared to him, my academic performance was much better. I didn't let them down and got into a top university. After graduation, I secured a stable job with a permanent position—it was smooth sailing.