The door opened.
Claire assumed it was a nurse, but then she heard a familiar voice.
“Claire… you’re here and didn’t tell me?”
It was Mrs. Eleanor—her mother-in-law.
She stood there in simple clothes, still dusty from travel, her face tired but her eyes full of concern. Claire tried to sit up, but the tears came before she could stop them.
“Mom… I didn’t want to worry you.”
Mrs. Eleanor placed her bag down and walked closer. She looked at Claire’s frail body, the IV in her arm… then at the message still glowing on the phone screen.
She didn’t ask questions.
She already understood.
“I heard from a neighbor,” she said, her voice trembling with anger. “Daniel took another woman on a trip and left you like this? While you can’t even pay your child’s tuition? That useless boy…”
Claire shook her head weakly.
“I don’t blame him anymore… I just feel… powerless. I can’t earn like he does. I can’t handle everything anymore.”
Mrs. Eleanor’s expression hardened.
“Never say that. You gave your youth to this family—to that company. If he doesn’t value you, it’s because he doesn’t deserve you.”
She pulled out her phone, her hands slightly unsteady, then paused.