Carl felt a tightness in his heart when he realized the shrill voice sounded incredibly familiar.
Approaching the hospital room, he pressed his ear against the door, and his handsome face darkened.
Swiftly pushing open the door, Carl noticed a woman pointing at Nana and shouting profanities. He stepped forward and tightly grabbed her.
“Mom! What are you doing at the hospital? Haven’t you caused enough trouble at home?”
Carl’s eyelid twitched. He never expected his mother to find her way to the hospital.
As soon as Carl spoke, criticizing her, Mrs. Waters became even more arrogant.
“Why can’t I come? The child is the blood of the Waters family. As a grandmother, don’t I have the right to know?”
Mrs. Waters stood her ground, shaking off Carl’s hand and reprimanding him sternly. “You’re becoming more and more unreasonable. You hid the fact that Nana had given birth to a baby from me!”
Hearing his mother’s justified scolding, Carl felt frustrated and lowered his gaze.
“Mom, I didn’t want to hide it from you.”
He took a deep breath, suppressing his inner irritation, and explained, “At that time, Nana had a difficult delivery, and her body hadn’t fully recovered. I just didn’t want you to disturb her.”
Unexpectedly, Carl’s constant vigilance against her made Mrs. Waters even angrier. Her face turned red, and she stared at him, asking with an indignant tone, “Am I that terrible in your eyes? How did I affect her postpartum recovery?”
Tired of his mother’s abusive language, Carl closed his eyes gently.
Collecting his thoughts, he didn’t want to argue and maintained his composure as he persuaded, “Mom, please stop causing a scene. Let’s go home.”
After saying that, his gaze turned to Nana. He saw her delicate face filled with anger and her rapid breathing causing her chest to rise and fall irregularly.
“I’m sorry, Nana. I’ll bring you chicken soup tomorrow.”
Carl smiled bitterly, and when he lowered his head, he discovered that the chicken soup had spilled all over the floor.
“Is the chicken soup I made not good?”
He thought Nana was angry and threw the thermos to the ground directly.
Nana’s eyes flickered, understanding the meaning behind Carl’s question. She bit her lip and explained, “Your mother pushed the chicken soup to the ground. It has nothing to do with me.”
Hearing this, Carl paused. He knew that Mrs. Waters would cause trouble when she came.
“Mom, why are you making things difficult for Nana? Her incision hasn’t healed yet. How can you bear to do this?”
Carl’s anger burned inside him, but unfortunately, he couldn’t lay a hand on his own mother.
Mrs. Waters, however, stood righteously, holding her head high, and replied, “Because she doesn’t respect me! I asked her about the gender of the child, whether she had chosen a name, but she pretended not to hear!”
Mrs. Waters became more passionate as she spoke. Seeing Nana’s cold and silent face, she turned her head and interrogated Carl.
“Is the child a boy or a girl? When will he come out of the incubator?”
Carl’s mind buzzed, and he moved his lips, “It’s a daughter. The doctor said the child will need at least another month in the hospital.”
Upon hearing that Nana had given birth to a girl, the only trace of expectation on Mrs. Waters’ face vanished.
Turning her neck to the side, she sneered sarcastically, “So, you gave birth to a worthless girl.”
Nana could endure Mrs. Waters’ arrogance in front of her, but she couldn’t tolerate anyone insulting her child.
“You’re a woman yourself. By your logic, you’re also worthless!”
Nana didn’t give Mrs. Waters a good look and immediately retorted.
Upon hearing this, Mrs. Waters became even angrier, glaring at Nana and exploding, “How dare you insult me? Is it impressive to have a daughter? Where do you get the nerve to argue with me?”
“You shameless thing! You ran away with your ex-boyfriend while pregnant. Don’t even think about my son marrying you. You can forget about it for the rest of your life!”
“And I demand a paternity test for the child. I suspect she’s someone else’s, not my son’s!”
“Carl, don’t be a fool and be someone else’s scapegoat. I’ve said it before, Nana is fickle. She only came to you after being dumped by another man!”
…
Amidst the arguing and bickering, Mrs. Waters somewhat vented her anger and pulled Carl, preparing to leave.
“That’s enough! How long do you want to keep hurling insults like a vulgar woman?”
Carl’s lips trembled uncontrollably. Mrs. Waters’ insults towards Nana, uttered one by one, pierced his heart like a thousand arrows, causing him to lose control of his emotions.
It was rare to hear the son speak so loudly. Mrs. Waters was indeed taken aback.
“Carl, come home with me!”
Pausing for a moment, Mrs. Waters grabbed Carl’s hand and glared at Nana with disdain. “Wasting food on someone as indecisive as this is pointless even if you bring them home!”
Repeatedly provoked by Mrs. Waters, Nana’s vision blurred, and she roared with all her might, “Leave! All of you, leave my ward!”
Mrs. Waters paid no heed, slinging her purse over her shoulder and swaggering out the door.
Carl was forcefully dragged out by his mother, but after a few steps, he stopped and sternly said, “Mom, go home first. Don’t come to the hospital causing a scene again, or don’t blame me for being unfilial!”
This statement was Carl’s warning to his mother, and his patience was nearing its limit.
Relying on her position as the head of the family, Mrs. Waters didn’t care and sneered at her son, asking, “What? Do you want to sever ties with me? All for a woman who’s not loyal to you?”
Carl had indeed entertained similar thoughts. Mrs. Waters acted high and mighty every day, even insulting his hardworking fiancée who gave birth to their child out of wedlock.
He had had enough long ago, and his mental state was on the verge of collapse.
“Yes, I hope you don’t push me!” Carl responded, enunciating each word.
Mrs. Waters glared again, about to explode at her son, when suddenly she saw Jerry and Tracy approaching from the opposite direction.
The elderly couple had just prepared dinner and brought it to the hospital, never expecting to see Carl and Mrs. Waters at the door of the ward.
“You’re here again, bullying my daughter!”
Jerry was immediately furious, handing the thermal lunchbox to his wife and rushing over in a few steps.
Mrs. Waters, full of arrogance and looking down on Nana, naturally didn’t regard her parents highly either.
“Who’s bullying your daughter? I heard she had a worthless child, so I came to take a look!” she insulted Nana openly.
Hearing Mrs. Waters openly insulting their granddaughter, Jerry and Tracy were infuriated, grinding their teeth. And so, the three of them began arguing in the hallway.
The argument escalated from inside the room to outside, and Carl felt the urge to kill.
But the instigator was his own mother, so Carl couldn’t do anything about her. He could only try to stop the three from quarreling and repeatedly apologize to Jerry and Tracy.
“Sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Lawson. My mom has a bad temper and is unreasonable. Please don’t get into it with her.”
The elderly couple already had deep misunderstandings about Carl, and with Mrs. Waters appearing and stirring up trouble, they decided to take out their phones and prepare to call the police.
“Don’t say any more. The Waters family may have money, but our family isn’t one to be bullied easily. Let the police handle everything when they arrive!”
The corridor was filled with loud arguments, and Nana tightly clutched the bedsheets on her hospital bed.
Suddenly, she propped herself up, enduring the pain from her wound, step by step walking towards the outside.
“Mom and Dad, let them go. Don’t argue with that crazy woman!”
Nana leaned against the wall, the pain causing beads of sweat to drip down her forehead.
Seeing Nana coming out, Mrs. Waters glanced disdainfully and said, “Who are you calling a crazy woman?”
Mrs. Waters had initially intended to go back and humiliate Nana some more, but before she could take a step, she saw Nana sway and collapse to the ground.