After a real soaker, mud and rockslides took out part of the village, everyone hunkered down at home, scared to step outside.
My man broke the news to my mom that he'd wrecked the car.
Without thinking twice, Mom zoomed off to the city on her electric trike, right into a fresh landslide. Got swallowed up by mud and rocks—never found her again.
By the time I got there, rescue was packing up. They just gave me that "sorry" look and told me to brace for the worst.
Mom's last words to me were all about the mess, "Alex crashed. I'm heading to town. Money's tight. Gonna hawk the gold bracelet your dad left."
That bracelet was all Dad left her. She clung to it, even when she was knocking on death's door.
Lost Mom and couldn't bear losing my husband too, so I buzzed Alex, all frantic.
He picked up quickly, background all boozy laughter and karaoke. Alex slurred out some club's name, "Just raked in a cool hundred mil from the live stream. Join us for some champers?"
Felt like a punch to the gut. I blurted out, "You're not hurt? Why the hell did you lie to Mom?"
Then, some snarky voice piped up, "With Alex flush with cash, gotta see who's gold and who's glitter."
I didn't even argue. Just hung up and started mourning Mom.
She left nothing, so I packed her favorite outfits and set up a marker by Dad's grave.
The landslide was brutal. Most folks moved out, and the village was too shaken up for any condolence feast.
Losing Mom crushed me. We'd been each other's rock for years, thought Alex would add some spark, not more tears.
Home alone, I was sifting through my stuff, planning my exit.
During all this, Alex didn't show one bit of concern.
When I walked in, there he was, sprawled on the couch. He barely glanced up, "Where were you?"
I fired back, "Aware of the mudslide back home? Knew it was deadly, right? Why pull such a sick prank on my mom?"
He shrugged it off, lobbed some shopping bags my way, "Got these for you and Mom. Dropping another twenty thousand on fixing up the old place later."
I just stared. He scratched his nose, "I wasn't really testing her... Just got carried away, you know? Plus, it gives me an out if anyone bad-mouths her later, right?"
Thinking how Mom sold her soul for that man, and died trying to save him, and here he was, still playing games.
They say hearts aren't made of stone. We treated him right all these years, but did he care? Not a bit.
I was so livid, it hurt. I hated him, and myself for loving a monster.
Alex was busy with his phone, clueless to my storm brewing. He pushes the bag at me again. "Check these out, see if anything catches your eye."
All from Hermès, stuff Cecelia Williams once dreamed of. I peeked inside, some less sought-after bits, obviously leftovers from some posh haul.
I'm no high roller but know enough to spot the bait-and-switch.
Basically, they were Cecelia's rejects.
Cecelia Williams, that's the chick who grabbed his phone that day, his orphanage friend and old flame.
They split after the orphanage.
However, they reconnected when I nudged him into e-commerce. He hired her as a live stream host, and even made her his personal assistant after starting up.
Whenever I'd get suspicious, he'd play it cool, "If anything was up with Cecelia and me, it would've happened ages ago. Why would I marry you? You're overacting and paranoid."
Old lines, but they cut deep. I couldn't muster a comeback.
I mean, I could've thrown in his face that he was dirt-poor back then, and now he's Mr. Moneybags.
But I loved him too much to hit where it hurts.
But to him, my love just spelled sucker.
Had enough of the bickering, I walked to the bedroom and packed my bags in silence.
Then I slapped the divorce papers on the table, "We're done."
Alex just stared, then flung them down, "Lily, what's this about?"
I wasn't fuming, just picked them up quietly.
Just one sheet of paper, I didn't want anything but to walk away empty-handed.
He fumed, trying to keep cool as he said condescendingly, "What, I can't buy a little place for Mom nearby? Seen anyone else do that for their mother-in-law?"
Guess he forgot the house we were in was bought by Mom's life savings. She holed up in that run-down place back home to avoid bothering us.
I left the papers on the table, ice-cold, "No need. Living's for the living. 'Because of your damn 'test,' Mom's gone, and she can't even rest in peace."
I choked out those last words. To him, money fixed everything.
If money could bring Mom back, I'd pay whatever it cost to bring her back and erase Alex from my life forever.
Chapter 2To Alex's surprise, I just walked away.
Alex was a buddy from college. Back then, my mom hustled extra hard to make ends meet, worried I'd run short. Not much of a scholar, but she cooked up a storm. She set up an ice jelly stand outside my university. Killer taste, spotless setup, always drew a crowd.
I was the it-girl at school—looks and brains. That rubbed some folks the wrong way. They couldn't touch me, so they dissed my mom instead.
They'd trash-talk her at the stall, spewing nonsense about "country folks craving city life."
Alex wasn't having any of it. He shooed them off and got his orphanage crew to watch over Mom.
He'd always say how he envied me for having a mom like mine.
We started hanging out, sharing meals, and yeah, fell hard for each other.
He promised when he made it big, he'd make sure we never had to deal with bullies again.
I thought we'd stick together, climb out of the gutter side by side, and be each other's rock.
But no, the minute he got a taste of cash, he started seeing himself as above the rest, running those pathetic 'poverty tests.'
I snagged a furnished apartment, almost as nice as a hotel. Moved in with just my suitcase—no fuss.
There was a tiny dressing room I didn't need, so I turned it into a little shrine for Mom's stuff, like she was still around.
Maybe she'd drop by in my dreams, or around our special days.
Took a day to get my head straight, then hit the job hunt.
After marrying, I'd faded into the background, my resume a ghost town.
Sure, I worked behind the scenes, unpaid, invisible at the company. To the world, I was just Alex's wife, the lady living off his wallet.
Never thought Alex would show up at my new place today.
He looked angry, so surely I wouldn't have any thought that he was here to ask me home.
He barged in, furious, scanning the room like he was looking for something, then snapped, "Where's your mom?"
It caught me off guard and sounded almost like a curse, "What are you talking about?"
He shifted gears, annoyed, "I asked where your mom went. Get her out here, now."
That set me off, "Joking about her now? Really? I told you, the night you played your sick game, she died in that landslide."
Cecelia stepped out from behind him. "Alex, see? These lowlifes, always scheming, have no morals. Even faking their own deaths for a buck."
I'd ignored her cheap shots before, but dissing my mom to my face? Couldn't let that slide.
I slapped her quick, "What your mouth!"
I was too fast for her to react, so she just took it.
But then Alex slapped me back, harder. Even without a mirror, I felt my cheek puff up.
"What right do you have to hit Cecelia?"
Alex was unapologetic and grilled me, "Do you realize how much your mom crossed the line? Using my name, claiming she was my mother-in-law on a live stream. It's messed up our business. Suppliers and clients think I'm playing both sides. Now we're losing advertisers and facing returns left and right."
He shoved his phone at me, showing a live stream of a middle-aged woman, anime effects and all. Looked a bit like Mom, but her face was hidden.
She was selling what Alex sold, but at prices way lower than they were on Alex's livestream channel.
She said as Alex's mother-in-law, she didn't want customers to be taken advantage of by big streamers, claiming she was cutting out the middleman to give folks a fair deal.
Cecelia chimed in, all fake concern for Alex, "You haven't worked for years. It's been tough on Alex alone. If you needed money, why not just talk to him? Why pull a stunt that hurts everyone?"
Alex backed her up, "Your mom's been hustling at that stall forever, could only see the small gains."
His tone now, just like those girls back then, slagging my mom... It felt unreal, like déjà vu.
For a second, I wondered if the brave guy who stood up for me and my mom was just a figment of my imagination.
Cecelia, all high and mighty. "Get your mom out here, let her clear the air. Say she did it to cash in on Alex's fame. None of this mess is on us."
My heart sank watching them tag-team like this.
My husband, my supposed lifelong partner, here accusing me and my mom without a shred of proof.
He'd written off my mom without even checking the facts.
Mom always treated him like her own. Felt bad for him losing his folks young, sometimes put him first before me.
She'd say we were all he had. "If we don't love him, who will? Poor guy."
Ha, guess he didn't see us as his only family after all.
Before I could get a word in, Cecelia was rifling through the dressing room, throwing Mom's stuff around like she'd uncovered a crime. "Your mom's clothes are all here, and you still claim she's gone?"
"Hands off my mom's things!" I lunged to grab the stuff from her.
Alex grabbed me firmly. "Tell me where your mom is, or I'm not letting you go."
Cecelia tore at Mom's clothes, spiteful, "You think you can hide out, live it up while others suffer? Not on my watch!"
"Stop, just stop!"
I watched, heartbroken, as Cecelia trashed what little I had left of Mom. I pleaded with Alex, "Make her stop!"
Alex cold as ice, "Then call your mom out."
Rage mixed with helplessness, I said, "I told you, she's gone. Why would you think it's her in the video?"
Alex claimed, "She was live streaming right there on the street. Cecelia's girls saw it."
Glaring at Cecelia, memories and realizations flashed through my mind, but I was too upset, too constrained, to think straight.
As we talked, Cecelia wrecked all of Mom's belongings, stomping on them and spitting on them.
I snapped like a frantic beast and bit Alex hard, no holding back.
I almost tore off a chunk. I used to cry over his smallest cuts, but now, the pain drove me to bite with all I had.
Alex yelped in pain, let me go. I shoved Cecelia away and stopped her from ruining Mom's things.
Enduring the pain, Alex grabbed me, forced me down, and made me kneel before Cecelia. "You've bullied her again and again. Apologize to her now!"
Chapter 3At that moment, the pain didn't even register. The man in front of me wasn't my husband, he was a monster wearing human skin.
Seeing no reaction from me, he grabbed my head and smashed it against the ground repeatedly. Eventually, he stopped.
He stood up, his voice ice cold. "Think we can't track down your mom? I'll call the cops, plaster her face online, and offer a reward. We'll find her, no doubt!"
After his threat, he helped Cecelia up, looking all worried for her, and then they left.
I was left in tears, clutching those trampled relics of my mom. Even those felt like they were slipping away from me.
Alex threw a sneer back at me, "No need to play it up, you'd make a great actress."
Cecelia chimed in, sweet as poison, "Maybe she's just jealous seeing you protect me, doesn't want to let go."
Alex scoffed, "You think she's in your league?" Then he ushered Cecelia into the elevator.
I sat there a long while before I gathered the ruined mementos into a box. I took them downstairs, burned them, and buried the ashes.
Guess this is a different kind of rest-in-peace.
Just as I buried the last of my mom's things, I turned to find Alex not far off, his eyes wide with panic.
He managed a shaky, "Lily, I... I'm sorry. I never thought she'd actually... you know, from that night."
Turns out, he knew the truth after that bit of while.
Turns out, it wasn't hard for him to figure out the real story.
I scoffed, "What? As long as she survived, your little game was fine? How much money do you need to stop these cruel games?"
These games, they belong in thrillers, not real life, where trust funds play with lives.
Alex and I, we're new to big money. Sure, we hit a million on streams, but the real cut? Just a slice. Costs of glam giveaways, hosts, platform cuts—it adds up.
He failed to see, bigger broadcasts meant bigger risks for a startup like ours, teetering between chance and collapse.
Some small tricks he encountered like someone cashing in his fame might lead to the destruction of our company.
He bit his lip and tried to defend himself, "I was drunk, got carried away with the cheers..."
I almost laughed, "Got carried away? She loved you like her own. Couldn't you, at the very least, treat her with basic decency? Remember when we were nobodies and you stood up for what's right? What happened to that guy?"
I thought I was numb to the pain, but the memories stung, bringing fresh tears.
He was a mess, scrambling for words, "I... I didn't mean for this."
I'd held back these words for so long, but now they poured out, "This game, this test of yours—if it was just that and you were so absurd like that, she passed when she said she would go get you, right? Why push her to actually show up that night?"