Her words were like a magic spell. Maria didn't use them often, but whenever she did, Hamilton would immediately soften, overcome with guilt.
But this time, he just felt annoyed.
"If that's what you want to think, there's nothing I can do!"
With that, Hamilton stood up to go upstairs.
Maria quickly wrapped her arms around him from behind. "Hamilton, you know I love you. Are you going to leave me?"
"I'm just tired. Can't you just let me rest?"
"I... I can stay with you."
"No, thanks."
"Then I won't bother you. I'll... I'll sleep in the guest room."
Hamilton said nothing more and went upstairs.
Watching him leave her behind without a second thought, Maria bit her lip in frustration. She knew it. As soon as Natalie came back and started showing up everywhere, Hamilton's attitude towards her would change.
No, she had to find a way to force Natalie to leave.
The next day, Maria woke up early and went to the kitchen to make breakfast herself.
When Hamilton came downstairs, she was just setting the table.
"Hamilton, I don't have any work today. How about I come to the office with you?"
Seeing Maria in an apron, bringing out plates of food, gave him a moment of familiarity. He remembered how Natalie would occasionally cook and then demand his praise.
Her cooking wasn't actually that good, but he was never allowed to say so and always had to finish everything.
"You should spend more time with your daughter," he said coolly.
Maria's smile faltered slightly. "Alright. Queena said she wants to go to the amusement park, so I'll take her today."
Hamilton sat down, and Maria placed a plate in front of him, handing him a fork.
Maria gave an awkward laugh. "You have such a great sense of humor."
Alma snorted and walked inside.
Maria knew Alma disliked her and had warned her more than once that she would never approve of Hamilton marrying her.
When she entered the dining room, she saw Alma talking to Hamilton. Not daring to interrupt, she excused herself to go wake up her daughter.
"When did she and her daughter move in? Why didn't I know about this?" Alma asked with a frown.
"Mom, please stay out of my business."
"Your ex-wife was so perfect — of course you had to let her go. What a brilliant move. And now you had to go and get involved with... this."
"Mom!"
"Fine, I won't bother." Alma glared at her son. Then her eyes fell on the tablet, and she started commenting on the photos. When she swiped to a particular picture, she let out a small gasp. "Who is this chubby little girl? She looks exactly like you did when you were a kid."

Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: The Year I Was the Other Woman To Myself
Hello! This series has been requested a lot on Reddit, but we’re unable to post the link there ourselves. If you have a Reddit account, we would truly appreciate it if you could help us share the link to this novel to increase its readership. As a thank-you, we will increase the number of free chapters available each day. Thank you so much for your support!...