Chapter 5
During those days, I also kept meeting Brenda.
She started wearing heavier and heavier makeup, dressing more and more flamboyantly, and strutting around with a ridiculous glow on her face.
Every time she saw me, she only wanted one thing.
“Take a designer bag from Laura’s closet and give it to me,” she demanded one afternoon. “She doesn’t need them anymore now that she just stays home.”
I lowered my eyes and hid my disgust.
“Why not ask Molly? She has plenty.”
Brenda waved a dismissive hand. “No. She’s helping me take care of my grandson. I can’t upset her. Laura’s different. She only gave birth to a girl anyway, and then refused to have more kids. Taking one of her bags is basically emotional compensation for me.”
I smiled and said nothing.
By then, Brenda’s waist had grown noticeably thicker. The skin around her neck was rougher and darker than before. Her breathing was heavier too.
I was almost impressed by how diligently Uncle Wen was doing his job.
After she left, I texted him.
How’s it going?
He answered: Too easy. She took the bait fast. Greasy food, salty food, staying up late, drinking, smoking, gambling. At least six cans of Coke with extra sugar every day.
I thanked him.
He replied: You’re the one who’s suffered. Even I get angry hearing what she’s done to you.
That message made my eyes sting.
My boss and Uncle Wen—people outside my family—could see the injustice clearly.
Meanwhile, Wyatt’s family, who had taken my parents’ money and my labor and my years, had been plotting my death.
Human hearts really were the scariest thing in the world.
I spent that stretch of time rebuilding my rhythm at work while taking care of Lily with my parents after hours. From time to time, I still had to play my role around Molly and Brenda.
Wyatt, on the other hand, became more and more agitated.
Since Molly stopped responding to his burner account, he spent all day clinging to his phone.
One evening, Molly messaged my new account: That old hag definitely found out something. She even pretended to be you and told me not to see you for a while. Like I’m stupid enough to believe her.
I replied: Good girl. You’re smart.
She sent back a smug emoji and wrote: Of course. She has no idea I see you every day.
That made things much easier.
Not long after that, I went to see Brenda again.
I stood behind her and glanced at her phone screen.
She was searching: Can a woman over fifty still get pregnant?
I almost laughed.
When I asked what she was doing, she acted flustered.
A few seconds later, she turned to me and asked shyly, “Son, did you ever feel lonely growing up as an only child?”
I couldn’t help smiling.
Mother and son were exactly alike. Greedy, ridiculous, and always convinced the world existed to satisfy their desires.
By then, Brenda’s body had changed even more. She was visibly bloated. She wheezed when she sat down. Even standing up seemed harder.
Poor Uncle Wen, I thought. He really was working hard.
Back at home, Wyatt finally began to get suspicious.
One evening, while I was helping Lily change, he stared at me and asked, “That day when you had my phone… you really didn’t see anything strange?”
I said calmly, “No. You’ve asked me that a dozen times. Is there something strange I should have seen?”
He didn’t answer.
Then he asked, “Why are you coming home so late every day? I called the company. You weren’t working overtime today. And you weren’t with your parents either. Where are you going? Did you already find out something?”
Lily immediately clung to me in fear.
I rubbed her back and answered mildly, “Oh, are you talking about your mom wanting another baby?”
He froze.
I went on, “I’ve been meeting with her about that. Honestly, good for her. Everyone has the right to pursue love.”
Wyatt exploded.
“No!”
“If she has another child, who’s going to inherit her house?”
I blinked at him.
“You mean that crumbling old countryside shack?”
He choked and sat there fuming, then suddenly grabbed his phone.
“I have to call her.”
He dialed Brenda at once.
In Brenda’s eyes, of course, the caller was still me.
“Mom,” Wyatt said through my voice, “I heard you want another baby?”
Brenda’s tone was instantly hostile.
“What does that have to do with you?”
Wyatt suppressed his anger and said, “You’re not young anymore. If there isn’t some benefit for him, why would any man stay with you? If you have another child, won’t your assets go to that kid? What about my child?”
He still thought of himself as the center of the Wang family.
He had forgotten that right now he was speaking under my name.
Brenda exploded on the spot.
“You crazy jealous bitch! Just because no man wants you doesn’t mean you get to be bitter about me finding love! Your child is your problem. Even Wyatt doesn’t get to dream about my property. I’ll leave my assets to whoever I want—my man, my child, whoever I please. Who the hell are you to interfere?”
Then she launched into a stream of vulgar insults and hung up.
Wyatt stared at the dead line in disbelief.
A while later, he looked at me and muttered, “Why is my mom so…”
He probably wanted to say uncultured.
I smiled brightly, took Lily to bed, and left him sitting alone in the living room.
The next day after work, I invited Brenda out to dinner.
I ordered strong liquor, lamb tail, deep-fried pork belly, and all the greasiest, saltiest dishes on the menu.
By then, her face was puffier than ever. Dark patches were spreading under the heavy powder she slathered on.
Once she was drunk enough, I smiled and told her casually, “I transferred the house in my name to Lily.”
She shot upright.
Her face turned bright red.
“What did you say?”
Then she slammed the table.
“Then where is Kieran supposed to live? Are you insane? You gave the house to that useless little girl? What about my grandson?”
I shrugged.
“Do whatever you want. He’s not my biological child anyway.”
Her hand started shaking violently.
“What did you just say?”
I met her bloodshot eyes and said evenly, “I did a DNA test. Kieran isn’t mine.”
Her chopsticks clattered to the ground.
As she bent to pick them up, I quietly sent a message to Uncle Wen.
When she straightened again, her phone rang.
She answered, and I heard Uncle Wen’s gentle voice on the other end.
“Baby, I can’t marry you anymore.”
Brenda clutched her forehead.
“Why?”
He said calmly, “I just found out I’m HIV-positive. I have to start treatment. Don’t be too upset, okay? Maybe your health is good and you didn’t catch it.”
Brenda went paler and paler with every word.
Before he even finished speaking, she collapsed. Her body and phone hit the ground together.
She grabbed at my pant leg and gasped, “Call 911—”
I looked down at her thrashing without any expression at all.
She seemed to realize, in that moment, that something was wrong.
She fumbled desperately for her phone, trying to call for help herself.
I crouched beside her and whispered into her ear, “Mom, I’m Laura. Wyatt and I swapped bodies. Your son is trapped in mine right now. Everything you took from me, I’m taking back piece by piece.”
Her eyes bulged wider with every sentence.
Then her body jerked once, her gaze fixed on the ceiling, and she stopped moving.
Only then did I pick up the phone and slowly dial 911.
Diabetes. Hypertension. Heart disease. Endless sugar, salt, oil. Liquor, cigarettes, gambling, sleepless nights, and an emotional roller coaster with a man like Uncle Wen.
By the time panic hit her full force, her body had no room left to survive it.
When the paramedics arrived, they pronounced her dead at the scene.
I smiled faintly.
At that moment, in the eyes of the law, I was Wyatt.
Her only son.
So the Bluewater Gardens house was now mine to inherit.