My Birthday, My Downfall novel Chapter 19

I saw Xena again outside Mom's hospital room. When I came back from buying food, I saw a familiar figure lingering by the door. As I got closer, I realized it was her.

She had lost a lot of weight, her eye sockets sunken, and she no longer had the beauty she once did. Dressed in ill-fitting, cheap cotton clothing, she looked like a child wearing an adult's clothes by mistake.

"What are you doing here?" I asked cautiously, watching her closely.

"I'm here to see Mom," she replied, her gaze drifting, looking uneasy.

"You don’t need to. Leave." I said firmly.

As I tried to pass her, she grabbed my arm. "Coco, please help me! Can you give me a letter of forgiveness?"

"Dream on!" I shook her hand off coldly.

Xena seemed to be triggered by my response. Her eyes grew filled with hatred.

"Coco! I’m like this because of you! If you hadn’t gone back to the Hall family, I wouldn’t have ended up like this!"

"You took everything from me!" she screamed.

I smiled sarcastically. Xena was indeed a typical member of the Smith family. She never blamed herself, always blaming others — this trait clearly ran in the family.

"Why couldn’t you just stay in the Smith family? They treated you so well!" I said, mocking her.

"My mother was right; she should have killed you when you were born—"

Her bitter expression froze, and she suddenly bent down, clutching her stomach, the look of resentment transforming into one of pain.

I finally noticed how pale her face was, devoid of any color.

"What’s wrong with you?" I took a cautious step back, wary that she might be faking it.

But then, blood started dripping onto the floor, breaking my thoughts.

"Nurse! Nurse!" I shouted.

Medical staff quickly arrived. As they took Xena’s clothes off, I saw countless wounds on her arms. She had been suffering from uremia for a while, and because she had hoped to get my kidney, she had refused proper treatment.

Now, she could no longer afford dialysis, and her pregnancy, already fragile, ended in a miscarriage.

Soon, she was taken back to prison.

With Mom’s recovery progressing quickly, she would be out of the hospital and home in just a month or two.