Paula hurried to the timber door when the bell rang, balancing the baby on her hip. "Coming!"

All the blood drained from her cheerful face when she saw the familiar figure standing at the entrance.

"Great, the baby's awake! Put some decent clothes on him. He's going to live with me from now on," Rose, the baby's biological mother, briefly announced.

Paula's hold on the baby tightened instinctively as she gawked at her. "W-What do you mean?"

"I found a lovely apartment in the city. My baby will be raised there, not among goats and pigs in this blasted countryside."

"B-But y-you can't take him away from me just like that!" Paula protested, stuttering like a fool.

Rose scoffed, tugging at her pearl necklace. "He's my baby, I can take him away whenever I please. You're his nanny. You're paid to take care of him in my absence. Now I'm here, so hand me the baby."

Her baby? Nonsense. Rose had visited her baby only once after giving birth to him and that was six months ago. She didn't even cradle the baby in her arms!

Paula was the one who fed the baby, played with him and sang lullabies in the dark. She lost her own baby before it was born and now God had gifted her this bundle of joy who she showered with love more than Rose ever did. She truly deserved to keep the baby, it was God's will.

So she devised a wicked plan, falsely assuming that God would forgive her.

Paula's entire demeanour changed as she welcomed Rose warmly, "Come in, you must be tired from the long journey. Have a seat and give me a few minutes. I'll put on the kettle and dress the baby in his smartest clothes."

Rose shrugged, oblivious to the myriad of conniving thoughts rushing in Paula's mind.

After heating the kettle brimming with water, Paula wordlessly carried the baby upstairs under the pretence of dressing him. She swung open the closet door and carefully tucked the baby in between the clothes. If Rose somehow escaped the clutches of Paula, she wouldn't know the baby's whereabouts. Later, Paula could grab the baby from this hiding place before Rose found him. However, Rose would get trapped in Paula's devious ploy before reaching to this extent, Paula would make certain of it.

Before solicitously closing the closet door, Paula tickled the baby's tiny chin and he gurgled. His wide eyes gleamed with pure laughter, undaunted by the impending doom on his mother. She affectionately cooed to him about her promise of being with him always and then hardening her heart, she proceeded towards the kitchen.

There she saw Rose slouching by the dining table with a cigarette in her hand. A cloud of smoke veiled her oval face. Under her indifferent scrutiny, Paula wore her mittens and grasped the hot handle of the kettle. This was it. She took a sharp breath. Her heart pounded wildly against her chest as she whirled around and threw the boiling water over Rose.

Paula expected a string of curses to follow, but instead, an agonizing scream tore through the house.

Rose started writhing violently on the floor, the pain blinding her. Before Paula could dodge her and dash upstairs, one flailing hand of Rose wrapped around her ankle and pulled her down. Paula's jaw miserably met the hard floor, but she abruptly twisted her leg free from Rose's vice-like grip. She quickly sprang to her feet and stomped on Rose's wrist, hearing a satisfying crack. Overwhelmed by a manic desire and unleashing fury, she seized a broom leaning on the nearby wall and viciously stabbed Rose. Once. Twice. Thrice. Blood splattered across her cheeks like rich paint on a smooth canvas.

Paula became hysterical, clawing at her hair and shrieking with laughter at the limp corpse- an empty shell of what used to be Rose.

Poor, dumb, young Rose.

Rose's death was inevitable for she was a bad mother. God would punish her in hell for trying to snatch the innocent baby from her, Paula thought as she airily stepped over the dead body. An exciting thrill surged through her, she had succeeded! Now she and the baby could continue living in peace and loving each other.

Picking up her skirt, Paula eagerly clambered up the stairs, frantically darted to the closet, feverishly flung open the door and thud. For a moment there was deafening silence and she froze in bewilderment. The lifeless body of the baby smothered in clothes fell on the carpeted floor like a fat raindrop on a soft leaf.

Suffocated to death because of little air and too much love.