Mrs. Dragon asked me if I wanted to return to the mansion, but I said no. Anywhere would be better than there.
And the last person I wanted to see right now was Henry.
She took me to one of their beach houses and employed a cook, a nurse, a cleaner, and a driver for me. She made sure I was well taken care of and didn't lack anything.
I begged her never to tell her son that I was pregnant with his child.
*********
I gave birth to another son seven months later. My baby was very healthy, and this time there was no Monica to steal him away from me or to lie that I had given birth to a stillborn child.
I thanked Mrs. Dragon for taking care of me and my baby and for keeping our secret.
I told her that I would like to relocate to another country.
I knew this was going to be very hard on her.
She cried and begged me to change my mind, but my mind was already made up.
She finally came to terms with things and respected my decision.
She gave me a large amount of money and told me to leave the past behind and to be happy with my son as soon as I got to Australia.
I thanked her and left the country immediately, as if I could no longer wait even a second to be out of there.
**********
Five years later, I got promoted at my workplace and was transferred to our head branch in the United States.
Great. I never wanted to set foot in this country again. But here I was, standing on the very soil I promised never to return to.
I tilted my dark shades a bit to see better and flipped my hair from left to right.
I was back for real, but this time I would never leave again.
The fact was that I had no other choice but to accept this transfer; otherwise, I would be fired immediately.
Mrs. Dragon was the first person I called to tell her I was back in the country. She was genuinely happy for me.
We always talked on the phone. Sometimes she would send money to her grandson, King, back in Australia.
King was turning five today. There was no time to prepare for a birthday celebration.
Speaking of geniuses in the world, King was one of them.
I was so grateful every day when I woke up in the morning and saw my lovely, beautiful son beside me. Words could never express how happy I felt inside.
This boy finally brought joy and laughter into my life.
As long as I had King, nothing would ever shake or break me. I had already seen and witnessed life's very worst. Nothing could shake me anymore.
Four days later, I took King to his new school and then started heading to work.
Surprisingly, I bumped into the nurse who had taken care of me while I was pregnant at Mrs. Dragon's beach house.
We exchanged pleasantries. She seemed a little upset with me for running off immediately after giving birth.
I apologized and told her that I had relocated to Australia but was back now because of my job.
"And where are your kids?" she asked.
I smiled and replied, "Oh, you mean my son? He's in school. He's a big boy now. His name is King Swift."
I refused to let my son identify himself as a Dragon. He bears the same surname as me. I had given myself that name immediately after relocating to Australia. I'm now known as Andrea Swift, not Andrea Dragon.
"So what about your other children? What happened to them? Why are you only talking about one of them as if something happened to the rest?"
As confused as I was, I couldn't bring myself to ask this woman what she was yapping about. I knew it was all gibberish. All I wanted right now was to somehow find a way to escape at once.
What children is she talking about? I never told her about my son who was stolen from me.
I made up my mind that I would leave without saying a word to her. I didn't care if she felt disrespected by my action. It's better to leave this place than to have her remind me of the old grudge I had buried deep inside my heart.
But what she said next broke the camel's back and left me totally dumbfounded.
"You know I was present in the delivery room the day you had your babies. I even heard the doctor tell your mother that you should never be allowed to conceive any more children because your body was too weak to birth another child.
I remember vividly everything that happened that day. We were all surprised at how you managed to give birth to three babies at once without a C-section. You had triplets.
You had two boys and a girl that very day, and after that, you disappeared, and I never saw you again," she said.
Did I say nothing would ever break me again as long as I had my son King with me? Well, this news certainly did.
In just a matter of minutes, my whole world collapsed right in front of me.
"No, not again. Why me?" I screamed. "Why is the universe toying with my emotions like this? Don't I ever deserve a break from all this, like every other normal human being?" I could feel my legs getting weaker. They finally gave way, and then I found myself collapsing to the ground.
The nurse tried to console me, but I was inconsolable. She was surprised and asked if she had said something wrong.
It felt like the world was spinning. The throbbing in my heart, the sudden headache. My whole body felt like a trailer had hit me.
I thought I had seen it all. But I guess the universe is only getting started with me.
"So I was given only one child out of all the children I bore that day? Is that really what you're trying to say?" I finally let those words escape my lips.
The nurse held her mouth to keep from screaming. She couldn't believe what she had just heard.
"You mean out of the three children you had, only one was given to you?" She held her mouth again. "What about your mother?
Even though you don't remember anything from that night because you were very weak, I'm sure your mom would know what happened to your babies," she said as she quickly glanced at her watch and screamed.
"I'm already late. I need to pick up my mom from the airport," she said.
She told me to be strong for King's sake and that I should ask my mom what had happened to my children, and then she left in a hurry.
It finally dawned on me that my mother-in-law had been at the center of it all. I was just too blind to see it. I remember now. She is definitely the fleeing woman I met at Monica's hospital.
She lied to me, deceived me, and even set me up. But what did I ever do to her? All I did was love her and take her as the mother I never had. Why is she taking all my babies away from me?