After Rebirth, I’m No Longer Her Mother
Chapter 1
A shrill scream sliced through the air of the hospital room. Tiffany stared, disbelief etched on her face, at the baby beside her.
“This… this… this baby is so ugly!”
Her eyes were red-rimmed, tears streaming down her cheeks. She looked at me, pleading.
“Claire, what am I going to do? She’s ugly, and a girl! What kind of future does she even have?”
My mind went blank for a second. I looked around, the realization hitting me like a ton of bricks: I was reborn.
In my past life, my best friend, Tiffany, had gotten pregnant out of wedlock. The father disappeared, leaving her alone. She’d said the baby was a precious life, deserving a chance in the world.
But after the birth, seeing the baby’s less-than-perfect features and her gender, Tiffany completely changed her tune. She didn’t want anything to do with her.
I tried to reason with her, telling her not to judge based on looks, not to be prejudiced against girls. But she wouldn’t listen.
In the end, I took pity on the child and adopted her.
But she was a handful. She cried constantly, day and night. She was sickly, falling ill frequently.
She was sick several times in the first month I had her.
I poured my heart and soul into raising her, without complaint or regret.
Yet, when Tiffany ran me over, leaving me critically injured in the ICU, my adopted daughter snuck into the room and pulled out my oxygen tube.
She even signed a statement of forgiveness for Tiffany.
Because the one who hit me was my best friend.
“Claire, if my parents knew I was pregnant and had an ugly baby girl, they’d kill me!”
“But your parents are gone, and you’re alone. Why don’t you let me adopt Rory? She can keep you company, you’ll have each other, and I’ll feel better.”
Rory. That was the name Tiffany had chosen for her child. Before the birth, she’d been convinced she was having a boy, already picking out a name.
Seeing my silence, she tugged at my sleeve.
I snapped back to reality, a cold laugh escaping my lips. I yanked my arm away. “Why would I adopt your ugly spawn?”
Tiffany was stunned. Samantha, another friend sitting nearby, jumped up, indignant.
“Claire, what are you saying? Tiffany is only trying to help you, and you’re being so cruel!”
Her righteous anger almost made me forget she was also complicit.
In my past life, I raised Rory to fifteen years old before I met someone. He was kind and wonderful, proposing to me.
He didn’t mind that I had an adopted child and promised to love Rory as his own.
We were planning our wedding.
But when I told Tiffany and Samantha, both of them vehemently opposed it.
Tiffany accused me of being heartless, believing a man’s lies, saying that once I had my own children, I’d neglect Rory.
Samantha, calmly dropped a bomb. “If Claire gets married, Rory won’t get any of the inheritance, right?”
I was so naive back then. I focused on reassuring Tiffany that I’d always love Rory, never noticing Samantha’s words.
That’s how Tiffany, fueled by Samantha’s words, deliberately ran me over the day before my wedding.
Samantha continued her tirade: “Claire, how can you be so heartless? You’re not even willing to adopt a child, and you’re not short of money! Besides, you’re alone; you and Rory could rely on each other! Can’t you be a little more compassionate?!”
I looked at Samantha coldly. “You’re so compassionate, then you adopt her! Let her rely on you. Wouldn’t that be better?”
Samantha instinctively retorted, “What are you talking about? A little girl… I can rely on her for…”
She cut herself off, realizing her mistake, her voice trailing off nervously.
My mockery deepened. Her hypocrisy was blatant.
Tiffany’s eyes reddened. “Claire, if you don’t want to adopt her, fine. No need to attack Samantha. I’m not the type to beg.”
I scoffed. “I hope not.”
Tiffany’s parents had died when I was young, leaving me a substantial inheritance.
In my previous life, Rory’s constant illnesses drained my time and money. I took her to countless hospitals, both domestically and internationally, desperate to heal her.
By the time Tiffany killed me, Rory was fifteen, old enough to know right from wrong.
Suffice it to say, I raised a viper.
After leaving the hospital, I went home and slept soundly.
In my past life, Rory cried incessantly from the moment I adopted her. I was woken up dozens of times every night, always comforting and tending to her needs. My twenties were spent looking like I was forty or fifty.
Thinking back, I was a complete idiot!
But since fate had given me a second chance, I’d see how Tiffany and Rory would fare without me.
The irony of the situation, was that only minutes earlier Tiffany declared she wouldn’t be clingy; The next morning, she sent me a message.
“Claire, are you awake? I want chicken soup. Go buy a chicken and make some for me and send it to the hospital.”
A sardonic smile curled my lips. I blocked her number.
She’d gotten used to bossing me around.
In my past life, after Tiffany gave birth, she didn’t dare tell her parents. I took care of her postpartum care, making sure she ate well, staying up late learning how to prepare nutritious meals.
This time, forget about it!
I turned off my phone and went to work.
Entering my office, I saw Samantha talking to someone.
Upon seeing me, she spoke in a sarcastic tone. “Oh, look who it is, our fake do-gooder!”
Curious colleagues asked what she meant by “fake do-gooder.”
Samantha explained, “Didn’t Claire donate 500,000 to an orphanage recently? The director even came to the company to thank her.”
“We all thought she was such a kind person. But then Tiffany had her baby.”
“As you know, Tiffany is young and inexperienced, so she asked Claire for help. But Claire not only refused but also called Tiffany’s baby ugly!”
The colleagues’ eyes widened, one exclaiming, “No way! Claire really said that? How can she judge someone’s appearance like that?!”
Samantha sneered, “Exactly! She pretended to be so close to Tiffany, so kind. Turns out… years of friendship went down the drain!”
I walked calmly to Samantha. “Does it taste good?”
Samantha was taken aback. “What?”
“Years of friendship, fed to you, does it taste good?”
“Oh, sorry, Samantha, comparing you to a dog insults dogs.”
Samantha exploded, pointing at me, “Claire, who do you think you are? You pretended to be so close to me and Tiffany, but when things get tough, you show your true colors. You’re so fake and disgusting!”
Fake?
Tiffany and Samantha and I had known each other for years. After college, I even recommended them for jobs at my company.
I treated them generously, showering them with expensive skincare, makeup, clothes, and bags.
Samantha married early, and cried to me about her parents’ favoritism towards sons, and lack of dowry. She worried about being looked down upon by her in-laws, so I bought her a car outright.
They would send me links to whatever they wanted, and I’d pay for it.
I was an idiot, acting like an ATM machine for them, only to end up dead.
Samantha’s chest heaved with rage, attracting the attention of other colleagues.
“Claire is a fake do-gooder! She made a big deal about the orphanage director’s visit, even getting it on the local news. But in reality, she’s a mean, nasty person!”
“She pretended to be so close to Tiffany, but as soon as Tiffany gave birth, she upset her so much that she was bedridden!”
“My poor Tiffany is worried about the coming cold weather and asked me to remind Claire to dress warmly!”
I did donate to the orphanage, anonymously, but Samantha found out by going through my phone.
I asked her to keep it quiet, but it spread throughout the office the next day, and the orphanage director unexpectedly showed up at my company.
From that day on, Samantha called me “Claire the saint” all day long.
Now, my colleagues were joining in, criticizing me.
“Claire, that wasn’t right. You shouldn’t call someone’s baby ugly.”
“You’re colleagues, and you and Tiffany were best friends. You should have helped her after she gave birth.”
Before I could respond, Samantha’s phone rang. It was her mother-in-law.
She answered, a furious older woman’s voice booming through the speaker.
“Samantha, are you trying to kill me?! You have a friend named Tiffany who brought an ugly baby to my house to have her postpartum care?!”
