Chapter 3

What Wendy did shocked everyone there.

Simon immediately stopped his mother. "Mom, don't do this. Have pity on Ellie!" he said.

"Pity? Why should I pity someone useless? She's truly an uneducated village woman. I told you not to marry her, but you did anyway. Look, she can't even take care of one kid. Look, my grandson died because of this woman." Wendy cried and pulled Ellie's hair even harder.

However, Ellie remained unresponsive, her eyes fixed on Nick's tiny body.

"Melissa should have been my daughter-in-law instead. She's a great woman, smart, intelligent, educated, and has a good job, unlike you, a parasite. You can't even take care of a kid." Wendy continued to rage and pull Ellie's hair with all her strength.

Once again, Ellie did not respond to Wendy's words. Even if the woman wanted to kill her right now, she would die with a smile.

"Ma'am, please have some empathy. Don't you feel sorry for Ellie? She just lost her son."

One of Ellie's neighbors even stopped the hair-pulling and tried to advise Wendy.

But she got scolded too!

"You say pity? Can't you see that my grandson died because of her? Just watch. I'll report my grandson's death to the police. I'll make sure you go to jail."

Wendy's threat made Ellie's neighbors step back.

"Ma'am, you need to calm down."

Now, the much-praised Melissa had arrived and tried to calm the woman down.

Meanwhile, Simon's brothers and sisters-in-law just stood there, silently watching Wendy's treatment of their sister-in-law.

It wasn't long before darkness once again enveloped Ellie—she fainted. Everyone was startled.

For quite a while, Ellie slept.

She only woke up when she heard a commotion from the living room.

Ellie jumped out of bed and ran out of her room.

"Don't touch my son." Ellie took the baby who was currently being held by Simon.

"I just want to bathe our son, Ellie," he replied, tears streaming down as he looked at his son.

"We don't need you. I will bathe him myself." Ellie hugged her son tightly.

Simon remained silent, hearing his wife's words. If asked about his feelings, he would say he was in immense pain. He felt guilty and full of regret.

If only he hadn't ignored Ellie's calls....

However, Wendy seemed furious and indifferent to the grief that filled Ellie's soul. "Hey, village woman! You have no right to stop his father from bathing his son."

Wendy even tried to snatch the baby from Ellie's arms.

But Ellie hugged her son tightly, also pushing her away.

Wendy stumbled a few steps backward.

Thankfully, Simon quickly caught her, preventing her plump body from falling.

Smack!

Three hard slaps landed on Ellie's pale cheek.

Wendy slapped her so hard, but Ellie didn't respond at all, even though her lips were bleeding.

"You insolent woman, how dare you defy me? Just so you know, I've never accepted you as my daughter-in-law. You are not on the same level as our family." Wendy raised her voice so everyone could hear.

"This is my son. I gave birth to him. I have always been with him day and night." Ellie looked at Wendy with red eyes.

"You gave birth to him, but have you forgotten who paid the hospital bills?" Wendy's emotions flared up even more because Ellie dared to defy her. "Simon only had 300, while I paid the remaining 1700. Until now, Simon is still in debt to me. Did you have money to pay for your delivery?"

Where was Wendy's compassion? Did she not have a heart? Meanwhile, Simon stood there, silent like a fool.

"Darling, cheer up. All will be well." The beautiful woman named Melissa held Simon's hand. Her words made it seem as if Simon was the one who had been wronged.

Even though everyone was looking at them, Melissa didn't care.

The neighbors who lived there didn't know what the relationship between Simon and Melissa was.

However, they were shocked when they saw Wendy's actions.

One of them even pulled Wendy away when she was about to attack Ellie again. "Don't you feel sorry for her? You have the heart to hit the mother?" said a neighbor, who was already furious with Wendy's behavior.

"A woman like that deserves to be beaten; there's nothing to expect from a foolish woman like her. She couldn't even take care of my son, and now her son is dead. She could have looked up solutions for a high fever on the internet," said Simon's sister.

Ellie remained silent and then went to the bathroom while carrying her son. Despite her head aching and feeling dizzy, Ellie ignored it.

This was her last chance to bathe her beloved son. Ellie gently wiped every inch of her handsome baby's skin. She carefully observed every feature of his face—his eyes, lips, nose, and cheeks. Ellie would keep her son's face well-preserved in her memory.

Simon stood silently at the door, watching Ellie bathe their son.

After finishing the bath, Ellie kissed her son repeatedly. From now on, she could only embrace the memory of her son. "Thank you for being in my life. Forgive me for not being able to hold you like this anymore. Please, take me with you. I can't take this anymore," Ellie said, sobbing.

Her chest ached and felt tight as she looked at Nick's lifeless body. She wanted to believe it was a dream, but it was truly happening. Ellie rejected the pain when Wendy pulled her hair. She rejected the pain when Wendy slapped her cheek. Yet, she still felt the pain, meaning it was indeed real.

After speaking to Nick, Ellie wrapped his tiny body in the bath towel he usually used. She then shrouded baby Nick with her own hands.

However, her milk started leaking again.

Ellie then took a breast pump and pumped her milk. After that, she stored it in milk storage bags and put them in the fridge.

Ellie had a lot of milk, she could even get 750 ml in one pumping session. She was skinny, but had large breasts due to an oversupply of milk.

"Nick, I have a lot of milk, I'll donate it to the hospital, okay? So you will have breastfed friends." Ellie cried as she looked at the milk storage bags she kept in the fridge.

Ellie's sorrow made many people pity her.

But they must have forgotten that life was a mystery and that Ellie's story might not be at its end yet.

-

At the hospital, a man stood gazing at his son inside the incubator.

His son was born two months earlier than the doctor's expected date and weighed only 1.2 kg.

"Nathan, how are you?" greeted Robert, the pediatric specialist who was treating the son of his friend, Nathan Hemingway.

Nathan, who was a famous and successful entrepreneur, just nodded. He was solely focused on his son, who was now one week old but still needed to remain in the incubator.

"Your baby needs breast milk to gain weight quickly. We've tried various brands of formula milk, but the result is the same. He is allergic to cow's milk. When he drinks formula milk, he vomits and his lips turn blue. Soy milk is also not recommended for premature babies," Robert explained.

"Since premature babies have an underdeveloped digestive system, they need nutrition that matches their needs to grow and develop properly. Therefore, I ask you to find breast milk for the little one," Robert said.

Nathan listened to what the doctor and his friend said. Should he gather nursing mothers and ask them to breastfeed his son?

"You need to find a breast milk donor," Robert suggested, echoing Nathan's thoughts.

"Where should I find one?" Nathan was puzzled by his friend, Robert.

For his son, Nathan would do anything. He was even willing to pay a high price if necessary. But where could he find a lactating woman who would be willing to provide breast milk for his son?

"Maybe a neighbor or an acquaintance could be a breast milk donor. For a donor, it's best to find a healthy woman without any infectious diseases. Her milk supply should also be abundant. If her supply isn't enough, she cannot be a donor since she needs to nurse her own son."

"What about the baby's mother? Has her milk come in?" Robert looked at Nathan. Since the baby was born, the mother had never come to see him. Yet she was in good health, and she had given birth normally.

Nathan remained silent in response to his friend's question. "Not yet," he answered.

"Alright, if you have any questions, you can see me in my office. I'll be off now," Robert said as he took his leave.

Nathan stood there, gazing at his son, who was so tiny with wrinkled and peeling skin.

A breast milk donor who would meet the criteria outlined by Robert—how could one find such a donor?