CHAPTER 386: CHAPTER 386: THE ART OF PLAYING DEAD

The atmosphere in the kitchen had dropped to zero degrees, and Mama Bennett felt uneasy. After pondering for a while, she started to chatter about the conversation she had with Honey a few days ago.

"One of Honey’s classmates has a two-year-old brother who just learned to eat. He feels his parents prefer his sister, not him, so he deliberately makes a mess. During a meal, he poured a bowl of noodles on his own head and laughed while slurping the noodles off his face. I heard that his mother was so angry she shouted about jumping off a building, and the father, having no other choice, hurriedly called the grandparents to come over to look after the kids late at night."

Mama Bennett laughed as she spoke, as if she could see the kid’s funny antics.

Owen Fulton recalled this incident and laughed along, "Our Seth and Honey are such understanding kids. They know to yield to each other even at such a young age. In most households, the situation would be chaos."

"Yes, Seth has been very mature since he was little." Mama Bennett felt sentimental thinking about Seth’s childhood.

Owen, unaware of past events, curiously asked, "Really? Did Honey and Seth never fight when they were young?"

Mama Bennett’s expression turned a bit uneasy, thinking, Owen really had to bring it up today.

Ruby Sullivan already had an unexplainable anger inside her. She knew nothing of what Mama Bennett was saying. Clearly, she was the closest person to her daughter, yet now, she didn’t even have time to listen to her daughter’s talk!

Why was she working so hard on Nirvana anyway? To satisfy her own sense of achievement, or to give her children a better life? Or was all of this just her willful nonsense?

Ruby Sullivan felt like her head was about to explode. Her brows furrowed more tightly, and suddenly she felt a pain in her hand. The kitchen knife sliced into her nail, cutting a piece deeply, and instantly her whole finger was stained red.

Feeling the pain, she hurriedly rinsed her hand with cold water, and Mama Bennett rushed out to find a band-aid.

Moments later, Ethan Sterling and the kids rushed into the kitchen, asking what happened to her.

Feeling uncomfortable, Ruby replied with a bit of annoyance, "It’s nothing, just cut my hand."

Ethan took her hand to check the wound, and once out of the water, her finger was immediately stained with blood again. He frowned, "Let me take you to the hospital to have it treated. It’s cut in deep, and it will heal slowly without treatment." Ten fingers are connected to the heart, and finger injuries hurt the most. Just looking at it, he felt a subtle pain.

Ruby was pricked by the concern in his eyes and jerked her hand back, shouting somewhat out of control, "I said it’s fine." Why are you pretending to care in front of the kids?

"Ruby Sullivan, you’re injured. Can you not get emotional right now?" Ethan couldn’t stand her maintaining distance even in such a moment. Isn’t it supposed to be a clean break and sunny skies ahead? He, Ethan Sterling, was not a shameless man!

He wanted to stick around because he believed she still had feelings for him!

Honey was frightened by their arguing and couldn’t help but hide behind her brother, pleading softly, "Dad, Mom, don’t argue. I’m scared."

Seth tugged at Ethan’s pants, "Dad, you should step out for now." Although he couldn’t see clearly how badly Mom’s hand was injured, a cut from chopping vegetables shouldn’t need a trip to the hospital. Just applying some medicine would do. Dad staying here would only worsen Mom’s mood.

Mama Bennett came in with a medical kit. Even without hearing the argument, she could tell from their expressions that another conflict had arisen. She pretended to know nothing, took Ruby’s hand to check, "It’s okay, I’ll spray some Sylvana Baiyao and put on a band-aid." She said cheerfully, signaling Ethan with a look.

Ethan was helpless, looking at her forlorn and confused look, feeling both heartache and anger. He sighed and said, "Let Mama Bennett take care of the rest."

"Yes, you go outside and play with the kids. Owen and I can handle this." Mama Bennett agreed.

Ruby moved her bandaged finger, "It’s okay, I can manage." She didn’t look at them and continued to cut the meat.

Ethan had no choice but to take the kids outside. However, both he and the kids felt a bit downcast.

In the kitchen, Mama Bennett and Owen dared not chat any further and focused solely on assisting properly.

Two hours later, several dishes were laid out on the table, including the braised pork and lotus root pork rib soup that Honey and Seth wanted, crab roe tofu, stir-fried greens, and a plate of non-spicy sautéed cabbage. Finally, a small pot of five-vegetable porridge, with rice cooked until disintegrated, was served.

This porridge was best served freshly cooked, but considering Ethan’s stomach issues, Ruby had cooked the vegetable strips in the porridge.

She put down the porridge pot but didn’t sit down, "You guys eat. I’m not hungry." Then she went to rest in her room.

She felt extremely suffocated in her chest.

In the dining room, Mama Bennett worriedly asked, "Did something happen today?"

Ethan knew that her mood had been low all day, but he didn’t think it would be so serious that she wouldn’t even eat. On second thought, he guessed it might be because of Nirvana.

"The company might be having problems. Let her cool down a bit."

Hearing this, Honey and Seth suppressed their desire to check on their mom. However, even though the dishes were delicious, they ate without much appetite.

Until it was time for the little ones to sleep, Ruby Sullivan hadn’t come out of her room, and no one went to disturb her.

After calming the kids down and putting them to sleep, Ethan hesitated for a moment and instead of leaving directly, he went to Ruby Sullivan’s bedroom.

Though it had been his room before, he knocked on the door before entering.

Ruby wasn’t asleep; she wasn’t sleepy at all. After bathing, she lay on the bed in a daze.

During her student years, she had a set of self-recovery techniques known as playing dead.

If she encountered something particularly upsetting, she would lie in bed pretending to be dead, remaining motionless except for going to the bathroom or drinking water, pretending she was dead. A dead person has no emotions, so during her time pretending to be dead, she naturally emptied her mind.

Many people felt that escaping doesn’t help, but she believed that occasionally avoiding reality, giving herself a buffer, was quite necessary.

However, after Honey was born, she never used this self-recovery method again. She didn’t have the time to escape.

But today, lying in bed, she suddenly very much wanted to pretend she was a dead person.

Ruby heard the knock on the door, turned her head to look at the entrance, guessing that the person forcibly dragging her back to reality was probably Mama Bennett.

She indeed shouldn’t have spoken to Mama Bennett like that today. She knew Mama Bennett was someone she shouldn’t doubt.

She let out a long breath, wearily asking, "Is something wrong?" Although she knew she was in the wrong, she didn’t have the mood to apologize yet.

"Are you okay?"

Surprisingly, it was Ethan’s voice. Ruby furrowed her brow but soon relaxed her mind, "Come in."

Ethan hadn’t expected her to let him in, but since she said so, he pushed the door open and entered.

"Lock the door," Ruby instructed.