"Don't speak carelessly, she knows nothing yet," Kate warned the two masseuses at the door.

In the blink of an eye, Natalie had been staying at Kate's for a week. Kate had scrapped all her plans to go out, opting instead to have her weekly yoga and beauty treatments at home. The instructors and beauticians would come over with their gear, and if Natalie showed any interest, she was invited to join. Today was their weekly massage session, so Kate had the masseuses come over.

"What are we not supposed to know, and who are we not supposed to tell?" Natalie suddenly appeared behind Kate, catching her mid-conversation.

"Oh, it's nothing, just that their massage parlor changed owners," Kate swiftly concocted a story, turning around with a smile to ease the awkwardness.

Natalie noticed Kate's index and middle fingers tapping on the doorknob. Years of companionship told her that Kate was lying. 

Not wanting to expose her in front of others, she casually remarked, "Oh, that's no issue, as long as the service remains unchanged." 

She then greeted the masseuses with a friendly, "Hi, long time no see."

Back before Natalie had withdrawn from the public eye, they had started using services from this massage parlor. However, since marrying into the Sterling family, the in-laws had denied her such luxuries, cloaking their prohibition with the excuse: 'One should not be touched by outsiders.'

Soon, soft snores came from Kate's direction, a sound Natalie wasn't used to hearing since she usually fell asleep first.

Now, with a mind full of concerns, she pondered what could be happening. 'Surely it involves me. If something had happened to my son, Kate wouldn't keep it from me. But what else could there be that she believes I couldn't handle?' During the two-hour massage, this question haunted Natalie's thoughts.

After the masseuses had left, and with Kate still lost in slumber, Natalie tore open a bag of chips and headed to the living room to find a light movie to distract her from keeping wondering about it. 

But as the TV flickered on, the news headline about her husband assaulted her eyes: Matthew Sterling had declared Natalie an unfit mother at the premiere of his new film. 

The screen showed Matthew walking the red carpet with the lead actress, the very girl he had taken home that day, cradling Natalie's son in her arms.

"An unfit mother?" Natalie screamed in a hoarse roar. The chips she had just swallowed felt like blades slicing through her throat. 

"Because of your oligospermia, I endured quite a bit of disdain and mockery from your family during the first few years of marriage ." Her left hand clenched the chip bag tightly, smashing it against the coffee table. 

"Over the course of five years, I did ten times IVF. Each time, I ended up having a miscarriage due to issues with sperm quality, most in the first trimester, two in the third. And you still call me an unfit mother?" Her eyes seemed to bore into the TV, seething at the sight of her increasingly bald and portly husband. 

Her grief was so profound that she didn't even notice her injured hand...

"Oh shit," she cursed when the pain finally registered, and she saw her blood on the sofa and floor. 

Natalie hastily got up, cleaned the blood in the bathroom, and wrapped a clean towel around her hand.

These methodical actions brought calm to her agitated mind, and she realized that her husband's public declaration was a calculated maneuver. Given her current financial situation, coupled with public doubts about her parenting abilities, if she were to seek a divorce, the court would surely award custody to the father. He was sure that she could not bear to part with her child. Therefore, she dared not initiate a divorce, instead swallowing her pride and silently witnessing his outrageous behavior.

But this time, she silently vowed, "Just you wait."

"Nat, Nat, are you okay?" Kate woke up to the commotion downstairs. 

Not hearing a response, Kate quickly donned her robe and rushed downstairs. She caught Natalie coming out of the bathroom, her left hand wrapped in a towel. 

Her gaze then fell upon the blood-stained sofa and the TV still broadcasting the entertainment channel. 

She walked over, turned off the set with the remote, and turned to Natalie, "You know now, don't you?"

Natalie nodded, her voice steady with resolve, "I'm ready."

With a heart full of empathy, Kate walked over and embraced Natalie tightly.