"Eat! You said earlier you haven't eaten yet, right?" Reynald commanded.

Riana handed the baby to Reynald, and the man immediately received the baby gently. In truth, Riana's husband was a good man, but he was always incited by his mother to hate her.

Riana walked towards the dining table, noticing several dirty plates still scattered on the table with no one cleaning them up. It made her sigh deeply.

"I'll just eat first, then clean all this up," Riana thought to herself.

She smiled as she opened the lid to look for the food she had cooked earlier, assuming there would still be leftovers because her husband had told her to eat. Disappointment! That's what she felt right now when she opened the lid and found nothing there. Just a few dirty plates with not even a bit of leftover food visible.

Riana walked with her head down towards her silent husband. "There's not a single side dish for me to eat," Riana said sadly.

"Maybe Serly finished it earlier because she was very voracious," Reynald said nonchalantly.

"I haven't eaten," Riana whined.

"Just buy some side dishes outside to eat." Reynald handed a red-colored bill to Riana.

With sparkling eyes, the woman took the money given to her.

"For your mother only." Mayang's mother snatched the money that was already in Riana's hand.

"But, Mom. That money is for me to buy food," Riana said nervously.

"Didn't you eat a lot earlier?" Mayang's mother said sharply.

"I haven't-" Riana's words were cut off.

"Rey, add more, please. Mom and Serly are going out for a bit, so we're leaving Leo with you," Mayang's mother pleaded, making a pitiful face.

"Give that money to Riana, Mom. She said she hasn't eaten," Reynald requested.

"She has already eaten a lot, Rey! Don't you trust your mother?"

Reynald sighed heavily, choosing to remain silent, and gave the money as Mayang's mother requested. However, when he took out his wallet from his pants pocket, his mother took all the money inside.

"Thank you, Rey," Mayang's mother said happily.

Serly and Mayang immediately left without looking back. Meanwhile, Riana lowered her head sadly, her stomach was extremely hungry.

"Rey," Riana called softly.

"You see for yourself how your mother took all my money, so just eat whatever is there!" Reynald left Riana and went to his room.

Riana sighed heavily, looking at Leo who was playing on the floor with some toys. "Leo, Auntie is going to the kitchen for a moment. So wait here, just for a moment," Riana said.

The baby, who could only sit, seemed engrossed with the toys he was holding. Riana left him after ensuring that there were no objects that could hurt or be swallowed by the baby. Then she walked to the kitchen to find anything that could be eaten now. Her stomach was in great pain because she hadn't eaten anything since morning. Moreover, it was already late in the afternoon.

"What can I eat?" Riana murmured to herself.

Riana opened all the cabinets, hoping to find some noodles or eggs. However, there was nothing. Only leftover plain rice remained; even the oil and onions were gone, and only some salt and MSG were left.

"Should I make fried rice? Plain fried rice without onions or oil, just make it as spicy as possible."

Riana walked to the side of her house to ask her neighbor for chili, then returned to the kitchen to fry the rice without oil. It didn't take long for her dish to be ready. The woman brought a plate of fried rice to where Leo was. She intended to eat while watching Leo so that she could eat comfortably without worrying about the baby.

"Mmm, it's very delicious," she murmured.

After just a few bites, Leo started crying loudly. Riana placed her plate on the living room table. "What's wrong, sweetheart? Why are you crying?"

Riana carried Leo and noticed an unpleasant smell coming from him. "Oh, you've pooped, huh?" Riana chuckled.

She hurriedly took Leo to the back to clean his diaper. Just as Riana left, Reynald came out of his room upon hearing Leo crying.

"There's fried rice." Reynald approached Riana's fried rice and started eating it. After one bite, he vomited it out.

Crash! The sound of a plate being thrown loudly echoed and reached Riana's location. The woman rushed to the source of the sound and was shocked to see her plate of fried rice scattered on the floor.

"Why did you... my fried rice..." Riana couldn't continue her sentence.

"Why? Because your fried rice is not delicious at all, that's why I threw it away!" grumbled Reynald.

"But I only ate a few bites!" Riana said with tears held back.

"Just make it again! What's so difficult about it?" Reynald returned to his room, taking Leo with him.

Brak, the door was slammed shut. Riana sat down on the floor, feeling weak, and stared at her ruined fried rice. "This was the leftover rice, and now I have to cook again, but we don't have any rice left," Riana whispered.

The woman let her tears flow, unable to hold them back any longer. This time, she was extremely hungry. If only she had money, maybe she could eat outside instead of begging for food from her mother-in-law or her indifferent husband. Riana chose to clean up the broken glass while occasionally glancing sadly. Her stomach was in great pain, her body still trembling from not having eaten anything.

After she felt it was clean enough, Riana curled up on her sofa to lie down. She no longer had the energy to stand; luckily, Leo had been taken by her husband into the bedroom, so she didn't have to worry about the baby. Moreover, Leo often cried, which would surely exhaust her or even make her faint.

...

...

"Sleeping so comfortably, huh! Meanwhile, her husband is busy taking care of Leo, who is crying!" grumbled Mayang.

"Just pour some water on her, Auntie," suggested Serly.

Mayang hurriedly went to the back to get a bucket of water and poured it on Riana.

"Who?!" Riana exclaimed in surprise.

"Get up quickly and calm down Leo, who is crying!" commanded Mayang.

"Useless wife!" cursed Serly.

Riana's patience ran out as she continued to hear the insults being thrown at her.

"Why is it always me who has to take care of your child? Aren't you his mother? Where is your responsibility as a mother? Don't just be able to conceive, but not willing to take care of him! Oh, right. I forgot, your child is the result of an affair," retorted Riana.

"Riana!" Sally shouted angrily.

"What?!" Riana refused to back down.

"Riana, don't talk nonsense like that!" said Reynald.

"But it's true what I said! Everyone knows that Serly got pregnant out of wedlock, you just don't want to admit it!"