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.

But the life swap showed her the outside world, and she could never be content to return to her former life.

As for me, I had lost twenty years of my father’s and mother’s love because of all of this.

My foster parents were also brought to court. Through Luke's investigation and evidence collection, it was proven that they had been abusing me all along—trafficking and mistreating children.

When the court verdict was delivered, my foster mother’s face was filled with regret.

"Coco, please save me! I didn’t mean it!" she begged.

"At least I didn’t abandon you! At least I raised you!" She cried, shouting that I should help her.

She was restrained by law enforcement officers, still calling out for my help.

I looked at her coldly. She wasn’t sorry for what she had done; she was simply afraid of the consequences.

Mom squeezed my hand. "It’s okay, Mom’s here."

After twenty years, we were finally reunited as a family.