Chapter14
Charles left, taking Aaron with him.
He doesn’t say a word, but Aaron seems to sense it. Before they depart, he clings to my leg, refusing to let go.
He cries terribly, his voice sharp and hoarse, his face flushed, gasping for breath as if he might faint at any moment.
“I’m not leaving! Let go of me! I want Mommy-”
He struggles desperately, pleading with me,
“Please don’t abandon me, Mommy!”
“I’ll be good and obedient from now on. I won’t make you sad anymore! Don’t send me away!”
“Dad, you’re a liar! You said Mommy would forgive me! Big liar! Bad guy! Go away!”
“Mommy–Mommy-”
The car door slams shut, and I see Aaron crying, pressing his face against the window, desperately pounding on it, looking at me with
such sorrow.
Charles yanks him away, holding him tight, and commands the driver
Chapter14
in a low voice, “Drive!”
He doesn’t look back at me, not once.
Doris stands beside me, watching with wide eyes.
“What’s wrong?” I ask gently, looking down at her.
“They won’t come back, right?”
“Hmm, they won’t.”
“Mommy, are you sad?”
I smile and stroke her hair.
“Doris, everything will pass.”
“Just remember, no matter how painful things get, as long as you keep moving forward and don’t look back, you’ll always get through.”
I have moved on quite a bit, but Charles and Aaron seem to be standing still.
But it doesn’t matter; we are never on the same path, so there is no need for me to wait for them.
That night, I have a dream.
In my dream, I return to a few years ago when Aaron had just been born.
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I was so exhausted from taking care of him that I had fallen asleep on the couch without realizing it.
In my hazy state, it was Charles, coming home late from work, who picked me up, carried me upstairs, and gently laid me on the bed.
He brushed my hair from my forehead and gave me a soft kiss.
“Goodnight, my wife.”
At that moment, I truly thought I could spend my life with him.
But later, I realized that a lifetime was far too long; no one could accompany anyone for their entire journey.
He was merely a passerby, a splash of vibrant color in my otherwise calm life.
But that’s all it was.
Charles, you and I had already reached our end a long time ago.
