Chapter 17 — Mother's Boundaries

It begins to become a path laid out before our eyes. When I returned to the living room, Luc Minh Vien was carrying An An. He held me much more firmly than two days ago. An An opened her eyes, her small hand grabbed his collar. He lowered his head to look at her, with a pain in his eyes that was hard to put into words. "I won't let them take her away." I said: "You don't listen to guarantees right now." "You just look at me for what to do." His throat was tight. "What do you want me to do?" I pulled the drawer, took out a pen and paper. "First, my parents and my sister are not allowed to enter this house without your consent." "Second, no one is allowed to arbitrarily come into contact with her." An An's papers, do not arbitrarily do the procedures for her." "Third, visits must be scheduled in advance at a time and place, the child must not leave your sight." "Fourth, if they come to your unit again, come to your house, or go online to fabricate things, I am responsible for stopping it immediately and clarifying publicly." "Fifth, I will continue to take care of An An's daily care for four hours at night, and must not use the excuse of work to push it all to you and your mother." Luc Minh Vien looked at it. that piece of paper, his face became whiter inch by inch. I asked: "Do you sign?" He held the pen and did not move it for a long time. The faint expectation in my heart also cooled little by little. Just as I was about to take the paper back, he said in a low voice: "I'll sign." Pen tip lowered. The three words Luc Minh Vien were written very slowly. It was as if every stroke cut between him and his family of origin. After signing, he pushed the paper to me. "You can do it." I put the paper away. "I hope you remember." That night, Luc Minh Vien sent a very long message to Luc Kien Quoc. He didn't let me see it. But after sending it, he put the phone on the coffee table and turned on do not disturb mode. At ten o'clock at night, he still took care of An An as usual. My mother finally got a full night's sleep. I lay in bed, but couldn't sleep. I always felt like it wouldn't end that simply. The next morning, this premonition came true. Luc Minh Vien had just left home to go to work when I received a text message. The message came from an unknown number. "Hello, Ms. Tham." "Under Mr. Luc Kien Quoc's mandate, we now want to discuss with you about your long-term obstruction of grandparents visiting their underage granddaughter." I looked at that text and laughed coldly. They acted quickly. Immediately after that, the email also popped up with a new message. In the attached file is a so-called settlement proposal. I opened it, the first article was written. "Every week the baby is taken by the male side's family to the old house to stay for two days, to foster intimacy." The second article read. "The female side must not use the reason of breastfeeding or young age to refuse reasonable visitation." The third article is even funnier. "If the female side's emotions are continuously unstable, the male side can consider asking to change the child's primary caregiver." I read each line, my fingertips getting colder and colder. They don't want to visit their children. They want to use me to force me to bow my head. I forwarded the email to my classmates. A classmate quickly called. "Don't be afraid, this type of scare is a big part." "But you have to pay attention, they might create evidence that you're emotionally unstable." As soon as she finished speaking, the doorbell rang again. My heart tightened and I opened the video doorbell. Outside the door stood two strange women. One of them smiled at the camera. "Hello, we are community family mediation volunteers." "Someone reported that your postpartum feelings were unusual and unsuitable for taking care of a newborn alone." I held the phone and suddenly understood the true intention of the email sent by Luc Kien Quoc. 19I did not open the door. Two women stood outside the door, smiles on their faces very professionally. But every word they said was as if it had been written. Unusual postpartum emotions. Not suitable for care

Take care of newborn babies alone. This hat is down, light, but enough to make people nauseous. I asked the video doorbell: "Who reported?" One woman said: "The specific situation is not convenient to disclose." I said: "Then it's not convenient for me to open the door." She was stunned for a moment. The older woman immediately continued. "Miss Tham, we just came to the house to find out the situation." "Don't have any opposing emotions." I smiled. "I just finished my period, there is a newborn in the house." "You didn't make an appointment, didn't show your business card, just based on a statement, someone told me you wanted me to open the door." "If I don't open it, it's a protest." "If I open it, will people still say that I'm excited?" The faces of the two people outside the door were the same. a bit stiff. I didn't give them a chance to continue talking. Right in front of them, I called the community office. After connecting the phone, I directly asked if a family mediation volunteer could be arranged to come to the house. The other party questioned for a while, and their voice quickly became serious. "Miss Tham, we are not arranging anyone to come to your house today." "If someone contacts you in the name of the community, please ask the other person to present documents." "If necessary, you can call the police." I turned on the speakerphone. The two people outside the door were clearly panicked. The older person immediately explained.