Sabrina’s POV
“Put on new clothes for Charlie; Hazel and I will take him out.”
Nicholas’s deep baritone voice sounded firmly to me as I was dressing Charlie this morning.
After not sleeping at home all night, Nicholas returned with Hazel, who was now waiting on the first floor.
“Yes. Will you be home in the evening?” I asked my husband.
While wearing his black tuxedo, Nicholas answered, “Yes, so that Hazel can be satisfied playing with Charlie all day.”
I was silent for a moment, feeling that my days were now very stressful. In addition to having less time with my husband, I might often be lonely because Charlie would also spend time with Hazel.
“Mommy… where am I going? Why are you wearing new clothes?”
Charlie’s tiny voice made me smile softly, especially since my little boy was pouting at me.
“Charlie is coming with Daddy today, honey. Remember… no naughty behavior, no crying, and no screaming. Understand?” I said softly while holding out my little finger, “Promise Charlie that you will be a good boy.”
With an enthusiastic face, Charlie intertwined my little finger. “Promise!”
Charlie’s appearance was neat; he was wearing his new clothes, as well as his favorite red shoes and a beret that made the boy even cuter.
“Okay, now come on, Mommy, carry him. Let’s go downstairs, okay?” I said, kissing Charlie’s cheek.
The little boy chuckled. “Yes, Mommy…”
The two of us walked out of the room. From the second-floor hallway, I could see Hazel already down there, looking forward to it.
I felt uncertain when I saw the woman, but I immediately brushed it off. After all, Hazel was Charlie’s biological mother. I had no right to stop them both.
“Mommy, why is that auntie here?! Huh, Charlie doesn’t like it!” the child screamed, immediately sulking when we arrived on the first floor.
I smiled thinly while rubbing the little one’s back. “Honey, she’s not an auntie, but your mother.”
Hazel immediately walked over to me. She stroked Charlie’s brown hair gently.
“Charlie, come with Mommy, honey. Mommy is your biological mother, the one who gave birth to you,” Hazel said, coaxing Charlie.
“I don’t want to! Don’t force me!” The child stomped his feet in my arms.
Charlie’s tiny hands gripped my neck even tighter while he screamed to reject Hazel’s invitation.
Not having the heart to see my tantruming stepchild, I took a step back while hugging Charlie.
“Hazel, let Charlie calm down first… He does have difficulty getting close to new people,” I said, trying to explain. I felt bad for Hazel.
“But I’m his mother, his real mother!” Hazel said in disbelief. “Give him to me, Sabrina! You have no right to forbid me from being with Charlie!”
Hazel was stubborn. She suddenly took Charlie from my arms in a hurry.
Charlie’s wails echoed as Hazel carried him. The child cried, pushing Hazel’s face with his little hands.
“Naughty! I don’t want to be with you! I want to be with Mommy! Mommy, help me, huwaa… Mommy!” Charlie rebelled violently in Hazel’s arms.
“Charlie, I’m your real mother, not her!” Hazel screamed, sounding angry and impatient. She really wasn’t used to taking care of a child.
“Mommy wants it, huwaa Mommy…!” Charlie’s cries became louder.
I couldn’t bear to see Charlie’s cries so hard. I grabbed Charlie’s tiny body from Hazel’s arms.
In my tight embrace, Charlie’s cries began to subside. His tiny hands gripped the back of the white dress I was wearing.
“Calm down, honey, Mommy’s already carrying you,” I whispered to calm Charlie down.
The child sobbed and slowly began to calm down. I turned to look at Hazel, who was now tightening her jaw in annoyance.
“Charlie is indeed a bit difficult to persuade; we have to do it slowly so he doesn’t get angry,” I slowly tried to make Hazel understand.
Hazel’s facial expression looked gloomy, annoyed to see her son liking me more than her.
“You’re just his stepmother, Sabrina. Don’t think that because you’re the one taking care of him, you can get him,” Hazel shouted. The angry expression suddenly turned sad when she saw Nicholas appear.
“It’s not like that, Hazel… But—”
“What’s going on?”
Nicholas’s firm voice made me turn around. However, I was slower than Hazel, who rushed to Nicholas and grabbed her ex-husband’s arm with a sad face.
“Sabrina forbade me from holding our child, Nicholas,” Hazel cried. “Even though I am Charlie’s biological mother, I miss my child so much. But why, Sabrina…”
Hazel cried, covering her mouth, while I stared at her with wide eyes, not expecting Hazel to create drama like this.
“Sabrina,” Nicholas hissed, staring at her sharply.
I shook my head quickly in denial.
“N-not like that, Nicholas! Charlie was crying and didn’t want to go with Hazel. I was just trying to calm him down; I didn’t forbid him at all!”
“Liar! You clearly took him from me first and made Charlie refuse to come with me!” Hazel said, tears streaming down her face. “What did I do wrong to you, Sabrina?”
Hazel’s charade cornered me, even though I had no intention at all of doing what the woman said.
Nicholas’s black eyes turned bright as he looked at me. The man snatched Charlie from my arms, his angry face clearly painted.
I grabbed my husband’s hand. “Nicholas, I didn’t do anything like what Hazel said!”
“You have no rights whatsoever regarding my child, Sabrina! So, stop your nonsense!” Nicholas hissed, letting go of my hand just like that.
“But Nicholas—”
My words were swallowed again when my husband turned his gaze away from me. Nicholas carried Charlie and took him out of the house, leaving me and Hazel in the living room.
After they left, Hazel smiled lopsidedly and raised one of her eyebrows in front of me.
“Sorry, Sabrina, but it looks like your position will be eliminated soon,” Hazel whispered softly and clearly. “You better get ready because Nicholas and Charlie will come back to me!”
I was silent, with teary eyes looking at her.
Hazel turned her body and waved her hand, leaving me alone in the room.
“Bye, Sabrina!” Hazel said clearly in a mocking tone.
I stared at the door of the house, which was already tightly closed. What Hazel did really made me anxious. How could she set me and Nicholas against each other?
But what made me even sadder was that Nicholas didn’t believe me at all. I sat on the sofa and hid my face in my palms. I couldn’t hold back the sadness anymore.
I patted my tight chest until suddenly I felt something warm flowing from my nose.
“B-blood,” I softly wiped it and cried desperately. “Why…”
A severe headache attacked me, and the blood in my nose wouldn’t stop flowing.
I slowly got up from sitting, my trembling legs unable to support me.
“Help me…!” I screamed, trying to call the maid in my house.
I limped towards the wall before all my vision went dark, and my body staggered and fell.
A maid who had just emerged from the kitchen screamed when she saw me lying on the floor because I was already weak.
“Gosh, Mrs. Sabrina!”
