Chapter 5

What?

That short sentence left me in shock. I couldn't regain my composure for a long time.

I only stared at Shayne in disbelief.

He said he took Zach to his mother's place, didn't he?

Zach's grandmother should know about Zach's condition. She wouldn't let Zach eat just anything.

So, why was Zach in the hospital?

And how did Luna know about Zach's condition?

"Which hospital is it?" Shayne hurriedly picked up the clothes that had fallen on the floor and put them on in a panic.

Luna cried on the phone while telling him the name of the hospital.

Worried about Zach, I could only follow behind Shayne.

It was then that Shayne noticed my presence.

I knew my expression was grim as if I was on the verge of exploding, but I ultimately held it in.

He opened the car door and got in immediately.

I also got into the passenger seat.

We were silent the entire journey.

My head, messy with information, slowly started to clear up during this 20-minute journey.

In other words, Shayne was sending our son to Luna behind my back even though he said he and Zach would cut ties with her.

In order to keep me from noticing anything, he even went as far as to sacrifice himself, using the excuse of wanting a second child with me to distract me.

I turned to look out the window.

It turned out that in this entire family, I was the only one who wanted things to go back to how they used to be and live a good life.

Their hearts had already shifted toward Luna long ago.

…

When I arrived at the hospital, I rushed straight to the infusion center.

Zach was all by himself in the large room.

With his head tilted to the side, he rested against the wall. Clearly, he had fallen asleep.

I strode over to him. As I looked at his peaceful, sleeping face, my heart was filled with pain and anger.

I felt sorry for him—he was too young to understand what was right or wrong.

But those adults who knew better still indulged him despite being fully aware that he had a sensitive stomach. They were the reason he had to be frequently hospitalized.

What infuriated me was that the culprit who got him admitted to the hospital didn't even stay here to accompany him, leaving him all alone.

She didn't care whether he would be scared or not.

I took a deep breath, forcing myself to stay calm.

Then, I sat down beside Zach. Not wanting to disturb him, I gently supported his head and let him lean against my chest.

"Aralyn Jaffe, my son cares about you and lets you stay home as a full-time housewife to take care of the child. Now look at what's happened!"

A shrill voice accusing me sounded from the doorway.

I turned to look, only to see that the person approaching was Shayne's mother, Charlotte Anderson.

She had just rushed over, but to cover up her own negligence, she was determined to strike first. "Under your so-called 'utmost care,' Zach's stomach has been having problems every few days..."

Was she trying to shift the blame onto me?

When conflicts arose with the elders in Shayne's family, I usually held back to avoid putting Shayne in a difficult position.

But Zach was my bottom line.

I would never back down when it came to issues concerning Zach!

As I didn't want to wake the sleeping Zach, I deliberately lowered my voice. Still, I couldn't hide my anger. "Mom, you know better than I do who's the reason Zach's stomach has been acting up."

"I certainly do!" Charlotte sneered. "Aralyn, Zach has spent the most time with you. If you had taken proper care of him, his stomach wouldn't be weak enough to end up in the hospital just from eating some food!"

I looked up and met her gaze.

All the frustration that had built up over the afternoon finally boiled over, and I growled, "But when Zach's with me, he was never hospitalized because of stomach issues!"

Charlotte was taken aback. "You..."

I had no intention of stopping. "On the contrary, ever since you said you wanted to see Zach and asked Shayne to drop him off at your place after work, his stomach problems started occurring more frequently. I also reminded you not to feed him random food. But did you listen?"

I couldn't say I had no grievances against my in-laws.

It was just that I always thought it wasn't a big deal in the past. Also, since they loved the child so much, as long as I gave them a heads-up, they would surely pay attention and wouldn't make the same mistakes again.

It turned out I overestimated them.

"You not only ignored what I said, but you also sent the child to Luna! You let my child develop a bond with Luna; she's the mistress who's trying to interfere in our marriage!

"Today was no different! Shayne came home and told me he had sent the child to your place. Just a few hours later, Zach was at Luna's house, vomiting and having diarrhea, and was sent to the hospital! And then…"

Just the thought of what I saw when I first arrived at the hospital made me sad.

"She left just like that. She left a child here by himself."

Charlotte opened her mouth to refute, but she didn't know what to say.

"Mom." I struggled to speak. "I know you've never thought highly of me. I also understand that Luna is the only one you actually acknowledge as your daughter-in-law. If you hate me and want to torment me, come at me!

"Zach is, after all, your grandson, and he's still so young… He can't take this kind of turmoil!"

Charlotte didn't expect her usually obedient daughter-in-law to snap back at her. When she snapped out of her reverie, she was about to scold me to teach this disobedient daughter-in-law of hers a lesson.

But before she could say anything, Shayne rushed in and interrupted her. "Mom, please, stop talking."

Whenever there was conflict between me and my in-laws, Shayne would side with me no matter what.

This was one of the reasons I was so devoted to him.

Charlotte was even more furious when her son intervened. "You ungrateful child, didn't you hear how your wife scolded me?"

Shayne, with a cold expression, stood beside me. "Is there anything wrong with what she said?"

Charlotte was left speechless.

Shayne continued, "I've made it clear to you that I won't have any more contact with Luna, yet you still secretly sent Zach to her. Your actions have already affected the relationship between my wife and me."

Hearing this, I looked at Shayne in surprise.

Did he not know about this?

Charlotte seemed to have a lot to say but ultimately held back, settling with glaring at me.

My attention was fully focused on Zach; I didn't have the time or energy to engage with her.

After thinking it over, I decided to make things clear. "Mom, I won't be sending Zach to your place anymore."

I didn't know exactly when Luna started interacting with my son. However, I hoped there would be no contact between the two of them from today onward.

At the same time, I would make more time to spend with Zach and guide him. As long as I was patient enough, he would definitely return to being the healthy, well-behaved child he used to be.

Without hesitation, Charlotte objected, "Absolutely not!"

I was merely informing her. Whether she opposed or supported it wouldn't change my decision.

As she didn't get a response from me, Charlotte turned to Shayne.

Shayne simply said, "I support Aralyn."

"You two!" Charlotte was furious, but there was nothing she could do. After a long standoff, she had no choice but to leave when she saw that neither of us was willing to compromise.

Only our family of three remained in the big infusion center. I held Zach in my arms, with Shayne sitting beside me.

Zach was sleeping soundly. However, he woke up abruptly when the needle was removed. He opened his eyes and looked at me, confused.

I gently patted his back and softly reassured him, "My darling, don't be scared, I'm here."

Zach pouted, clearly unhappy. "It's your fault. Why did you have to come to the hospital?"

Maybe it was because I was his mother, even though he was throwing a tantrum at me, I still found his little pout adorable.

"Don't you want me here?" I asked.

"Of course," Zach answered without missing a beat. "If you hadn't come, Ms. Luna would have stayed here with me."