Even after Ethan betrayed her, she had always been gentle with me. She kept telling Ethan to treat me well and never wrong me, or she would disown him. To avoid bringing trouble to Ethan and me, she insisted on returning to her hometown to live alone, and no one could change her mind.
Whenever she visited, she arrived with a bag of local treats. She had always wanted a daughter; she treated me like the child she never had.
I watched as her breathing grew shallow and her face ashen. Without thinking, I dropped to my knees.
Bending forward and swallowing bile, I began to eat the fish, now mashed into fragments on the floor.
I set aside my dignity and everything else, willing to do whatever it took to keep her alive.
Clara pointed at me and crowed with triumph, "Hahaha! — look, doesn't she look like a dog?"
"She complained the fish was pre-made, and now see how she gobbles it down!"
The servers laughed, cruel and loud.
"Clara deserves to be Mrs. Shaw. She knows how to teach people a lesson."
Ignoring their taunts, I forced the fish down, mouthful by mouthful.
When I finally looked up, I pleaded, "I did what you asked. Now give me medicine."
Clara sneered, "Are you stupid enough to believe that?"