Chapter 1Phone Calls Over Hospital Bills

I was gravely ill. My son, Harper, and his wife, Kate, used their entire savings to pay for my treatment, caring for me with every ounce of their being.

After I recovered, I signed over all my property to my daughter.

To my surprise, my daughter-in-law was not pleased.

I told her, "While I was sick, my daughter called to check on me every other day. She's so devoted. What's wrong with me giving her the house?"

My son and his wife questioned me, their voices shaking with anger. "We cared for you day and night, spent tens of thousands of dollars on your treatment, and that doesn't even compare to a few phone calls?"

My answer was unhesitating. "Of course not."

…

My son's face turned ashen with rage, and my daughter-in-law burst into tears. "We sold our new home—the one we just bought—to pay for your treatment! If you give the house to Ramona, where are Harper and I supposed to live?"

Harper stared at me, shocked. "Mom! When you were in the hospital, it was Kate and I who cleaned you, who dealt with your bedpan! Ramona just made a few phone calls! She never even came to see you!" His disappointment was raw and undisguised. "Kate quit her job to take care of you! How can you do something so unfair?"

Kate collapsed onto the floor, sobbing. "If I had known what a horribly unreasonable person you were, I would have never married into this family! You're a twisted old hag who favors her daughter over her son! From now on, let your precious daughter take care of you! I'm done!"

Kate had always been a gentle, kind girl. I'd never seen her this hysterical.

Seeing his wife so upset, Harper tried to reason with me. "Mom! It's my duty to care for you, I know that. But Kate isn't your blood. By rights, my sister should have been the one doing all this. I called her so many times when you were sick, I begged her to come, but she wouldn't! How can you still believe she's the devoted one?"

Kate glared at me. "When we were short on money for your surgery, Harper and I were so desperate we were talking about selling a kidney! And your daughter? Do you know where she was while you were in the hospital? She was on vacation in Thailand! The price of one of her new handbags could have saved your life!"

"You're Harper's mother. It's our duty to care for you, to get you treatment. We never expected anything in return. But you can't just kick us out of our own home so you can give everything to your daughter!" she cried. "You can hate me, your daughter-in-law, that's fine! But Harper is your own son! How can you be so cruel to your own flesh and blood?"

Harper looked at me, his eyes full of despair. "Mom, I know you dote on Ramona, but you can't push me to my death just to favor her!"

I said coldly, "I dote on my daughter because she would never plot against me! Not like you two, putting on a show of caring for me in the hospital just to get your hands on my property!"

Furious, Kate stormed out and went back to her mother's house. Harper, seething with anger, refused to speak to me.

A few days later, my daughter, Ramona, returned from her vacation in Thailand. She even brought me a large Thai mango.

My son exploded. "Ramona, don't you know Mom is allergic to mangoes? She just had surgery! Are you trying to kill her?"

I slapped him across the face. "Who said I'm allergic to mangoes? I think you just can't stand to see your sister being good to me! You ungrateful brat! I've raised you all your life and you've never given me a single thing. If it weren't for your sister, you would have worked me to death!"

Harper clutched his cheek, his face a mask of disbelief. "Mom! Can you really only see your daughter? Can't you see anything I've done for you? Have you forgotten who paid for your treatment, who stayed by your side day and night in the hospital?"

He thought that would make me feel guilty.

But what did I have to be guilty about?

I took my daughter to have all the property deeds transferred to her name. I also gave her my pension card. I even packed up all the meat and nutritional supplements in the house into her car for her to take home.

After seeing her off, I turned around and asked my son for money to buy groceries.

His eyes widened in disbelief. "Mom, you gave the house, the money, and the steak and supplements I bought for you to Ramona, and now you're asking me for grocery money?"

His voice trembled. I could tell his anger had been building, and he was about to erupt.

I said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Isn't it a son's duty to provide for his mother? Whoever heard of parents asking their daughter for grocery money? People would laugh their heads off!"

Harper was completely stunned. Two lines of tears streamed down his face, and he looked utterly defeated.

But he still gave me fifty dollars for groceries.

I took the money, went to a restaurant, and treated myself to a nice meal. Then I bought a few plain bread rolls and went home.

When I got back, Harper and Kate had a pot of congee simmering, waiting for vegetables to be added.

Seeing the bread rolls in my hand, Kate was shocked. "Mom, didn't Harper give you fifty dollars? Why did you only buy a few rolls? What are we supposed to eat?"

I looked at her calmly. "I already ate out. A forty-eight-dollar steak dinner. The remaining two dollars was only enough for these."

Kate threw down the ladle in a fury. "How could you be so selfish? Don't you know Harper and I were waiting for you to bring back food so we could cook? You could have at least bought a head of cabbage!"

I retorted indignantly, "I'm a patient recovering from a serious illness, and you want me to eat cabbage? I see what this is. You two ungrateful children just want to make my life miserable!"

Harper started to scold me, but I glared at him and collapsed onto the floor, wailing. "Oh, my poor husband, you died too soon! You left me with this monster who won't even let me eat! Why didn't you just take me with you?"

Seeing me like this, Harper, though still angry, didn't dare say another word.

That evening, he came back with a large bag of groceries.

Kate was clearly furious with me, but she still placed the best piece of fish in front of me. "Eat up. Once you're fully recovered, I'm never taking care of you again."

I slammed the plate on the floor. "You dare serve me a fish that costs a few dollars? Do you have any idea that the fish your sister buys for me costs hundreds? Being with you two has been nothing but suffering!"

This time, tears of pure rage streamed down Harper's face. "Mom! Ramona hasn't cooked a single meal for you all year! The last time you ate fish she made was three years ago! How can you be so biased? If she fed you dynamite, you'd probably still think she was wonderful!"

I slammed my hand on the table. "Ah, so your true colors are showing! I knew you had bad intentions! Now that you didn't get the money and the house, you're plotting to blow me up, aren't you?"

"Get out! Both of you ungrateful animals, get out of my house!"

Harper stared at me, dumbfounded. "But… all our money went to your surgery. We don't even have enough for a deposit on a rental! Where are we supposed to go?"

I shot him a look of disgust. "Oh, so now you're keeping score on the money you spent to save your mother's life? You think it was a waste, don't you? You probably wish you had just let me die!"

"I don't care where you go! Just get out and I hope I never see you again for the rest of my life!"

Harper never imagined I could be so heartless. That night, he and Kate moved out.

After they left, they had no money for food. He tried to borrow twenty dollars from me to buy rice, but I refused. My son, sobbing, started slapping his own face in despair.

"I don't have a mother as cruel as you! You don't want to see me? Fine! I'll go! I'll go so far away you'll never see me again!"

Not long after, Kate called and cursed me out. It turned out she had been pregnant. But from the exhaustion of caring for me, compounded by the poor nutrition from eating nothing but bread rolls, she had a miscarriage.

After that, our relationship deteriorated completely. I heard from a neighbor that Harper and Kate had gone abroad to work, trying to earn money to pay off their debts.

In the blink of an eye, five years passed. Harper never came to see me. I never contacted him.

But today, I had to send him a message.

I was dying. He needed to come back for my funeral.