\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 3\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 3\u00a0<\/p>\n
Gabriel picked up that boy and walked out without even glancing at my crying baby in my arms.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He never showed up again until my discharge day.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Standing at the hospital entrance trying to flag down a taxi, even the starting fare made me hesitate. My wallet had three coins left money that another patient\u2019s family had slipped me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I called Gabriel asking him to transfer me some cash.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNo money?\u201d His voice was full of irritation. \u201cYou know how tight things are at home right now. Figure it out yourself.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Through the glass window of a restaurant just fifty feet from the hospital entrance, I could see the three of them sitting around a table sharing cake. Gabriel was wiping cream off Vera\u2019s mouth while the kid clutched a balloon and jumped into his arms. The warm yellow light stretched their shadows long across the floor, like a perfect family portrait.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My baby suddenly started crying. I patted his back and turned away, every step feeling like walking on broken glass.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When I pushed open the wooden door to our rental, the hinges let out a harsh screech.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The wall calendar was still stuck on the day I went to the hospital. The bloodstains on the floor had turned dark brown, mixed with dust and hardened into crusty chunks that smelled like rust when you got close.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t even have the energy to guess where Gabriel had been these past few days or who he\u2019d been with.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After putting the baby in his bouncer, I dragged my five-stitch wound down to scrub the floor.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When the disinfectant soaked through the gauze, the pain made everything go black.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This tiny 100-square-foot room where you\u2019d bump into furniture just turning around had drained every ounce of my strength.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know how long I\u2019d been asleep when the sound of the door opening woke me. Gabriel was standing by the bed holding a bag with\u00a0<\/p>\n
cartoon prints on it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cClothes for the kid.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He handed me the bag, his voice deliberately gentle.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I touched the soft cotton fabric and froze. The carefully stitched collar still smelled like sunshine, and for a moment I thought he\u2019d finally\u00a0<\/p>\n
remembered he had a flesh-and-blood child.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then my fingers found a milk stain on the sleeve that wouldn\u2019t wash out. That crusty spot felt like a needle, bursting my fantasy wide open.\u00a0<\/p>\n
These were clearly old clothes that had been worn for a long time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My phone screen suddenly lit up with a photo from Vera.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She was wearing a new platinum bracelet while her kid was dressed in a luxury outfit. The background showed the VIP lounge of some high-end boutique.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGabriel was worried my son might feel left out compared to other kids, so he booked the whole floor just for us to shop. Picked me up some new jewelry too while we were there.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat you\u2019re holding are my son\u2019s old clothes. We were going to donate them to charity, but he said not to waste them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
09:59\u00a0<\/p>\n
You Thought Cilantro Was Just a Flavor? It\u2019s Actually My FU, Cheater!\u00a0<\/p>\n
8.8%\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 3\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSome people are just born to live off other people\u2019s leftovers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
My hands shook violently as I clutched those clothes. He could humiliate me all he wanted, but how could he treat a newborn baby like this?\u00a0<\/p>\n
I threw the clothes right at his face.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEven if I have to dig through trash, I won\u2019t dress my kid in someone else\u2019s hand-me-downs!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Panic flashed in his eyes before his face darkened.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMoney\u2019s tight right now. Having clothes at all should be enough.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He reached out to hug me, softening his voice.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce next month\u2019s project payment comes in, I\u2019ll buy the kid the best stuff. Just be patient.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I turned away without saying anything. Those promises woven from lies had frozen solid during countless cold nights.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The next morning, I pulled out a wooden box from under the bed. Inside were the gold necklaces and bracelets that grandma and mom had left me. If the landlord wasn\u2019t pushing for rent, I would never touch these things.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But I needed to take my child and leave, and that meant having money for travel and somewhere to stay.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2661 (0)\u00a0<\/p>\n
(0)\u00a0<\/p>\n
You Thought Cilantro Was Just a Flavor? It\u2019s Actually My FU, Cheater! by Mark Twain 12 \u00a0 Chapter 3\u00a0 Chapter […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cilantro-taste-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20262\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}