Chapter 138: Mother & I

The bright smile on Esther’s face faded, replaced by lips drawn into a thin line. Her mother noticed it instantly.

“Sweetheart, are you okay?” her mother asked softly while tucking a strand of Esther’s hair behind her ear. Her fingers caught the faint oiliness of hair that was usually fragrant and well cared for, and she found herself wondering when the last time Esther had truly taken care of herself was.

Esther shook her head. “I… I’m not…” She could not bring herself to meet her mother’s eyes.

“What’s wrong, my love?”

Her mother cupped Esther’s face with both hands, leaving her no choice but to look up into her eyes. “How about this. You take a shower first. Wash your hair, soak in the tub with that lavender scent you love so much. While you’re at it, I’ll cook something for us to eat together.”

Esther was about to protest, but her mother stopped her before a single word could slip out. “I didn’t come all this way just to see you worn down like this, my love. Let’s celebrate me being here. Let’s make a good memory, okay?”

Hearing that, Esther fell silent and let her mother take control.

An hour later, after doing exactly as she was told, Esther felt like she had been reborn. Still, even after bathing and eating together, she refused when her mother asked her to go out.

From behind her bedroom door, Esther heard her father’s voice. It seemed he had come to visit her that same day. Through the closed door, she could hear her parents arguing heatedly. Especially when her father insisted on taking Esther out, and her mother firmly rejected the idea, reminding him that he had already tried forcing her once before.

“Listen, Zeref. You haven’t been able to make her talk for a whole week. I’m not letting you barge in and push her out of this room. That could shut her down all over again,” her mother said sharply.

Her father eventually gave in, and Esther felt deeply grateful for that.

After he left, she and her mother spent hours talking, though the conversation was mostly carried by her mother. Esther only replied when needed. Until one question finally slipped from her mother’s lips.

“And what about you, sweetheart?” she asked casually.

Esther knew better. That question was meant to dig into the reason behind her silence these past seven days.

She took a breath before answering. “You can see it yourself, Mother. I’m not okay.”

“Oh, my love…” Her mother moved closer, pulling Esther into a hug and rubbing her back gently. “You know you can tell me anything.”

At first, Esther wanted to keep it all to herself. But she knew holding everything in would not ease the weight in her chest. So after weighing it over, she decided to speak as neutrally as she could.

“Mother, do you still remember the siblings who worked at our ranch?”

“You mean Felix and his younger brother?”

“Yes. His brother’s name is Vinson.”

“Oh yes, I remember. Does your sadness have something to do with them?”

“It does, Mother. Very much so. You could say they were the beginning of everything.”

From that point on, the story poured out of Esther as if a dam had finally broken. She told her mother about Vinson, about the way he had tormented her since junior high, about how it all led to that reckless wager and the moment she agreed to it. Her mother’s expression darkened, especially when she realized the bet had involved another person’s feelings. Still, she did not interrupt. She let Esther speak. She listened as her daughter confessed how she had fallen in love with Gaara, the man who had been turned into a prize. She stayed silent until Esther reached the last memory, the final moment with Gaara, where her voice cracked and tears spilled freely.

When the story ended and Esther had calmed down, her mother loosened her embrace. “Oh, my poor child,” she murmured, brushing the tears from Esther’s cheeks.

“I’m glad you still remember what I once told you. But do you know how your father and I began?” she continued softly. “We met at university. At first, we only talked about books. Slowly, those conversations turned personal. Did you know, Esther, your mother was not someone who believed in love back then? I was cynical. Before I met your father, I was heartbroken and convinced that love did not exist at all.”

She laughed quietly and shook her head. “So when I met your father, I assumed love was nothing more than longing for something impossible.”

Esther frowned, trying to reconcile that story with the gentle, romantic woman she had always known.

“But what made your father different,” her mother went on, “was that he did not argue with me.” Esther gasped softly, and her mother smiled at her reaction. “Instead, he did something far more beautiful than words. He tried to understand me. He believed every person sees the world through their own lens, and that there is no right or wrong in that. He said I simply had not seen love from a brighter angle yet. Your father was a bit of a know it all,” she added with a fond smile. “But his persistence drew me in. And in the end, I learned this. Love is an abstract thing. Everyone understands it differently. And when it comes to love, the only thing you can truly use to define it is your own feelings.”

Esther sat frozen, the words sinking slowly into her chest.

“But Mother,” she whispered at last, “Gaara already hates me.”

“My dear, if Gaara truly hated you, he would never have chosen to stay by your side until the very end,” her mother said softly. “But instead, he showed you that he had fallen in love with you too. I don’t think it’s easy for a young man like Gaara to say romantic things. He doesn’t fall in love easily. And I believe what he feels for you won’t just disappear because of this. The real problem is that he is hurt. He’s hurting because he doesn’t know whether you truly love him, or if you were only pretending.”

“There’s no way I was pretending,” Esther protested weakly. “I already told him how I felt.”

“But he didn’t know you were being sincere,” her mother replied gently. “Because you said it before he knew the truth about the bet.”

How could Esther have been so blind. How could she have been this foolish. God, in Gaara’s eyes now, she must look like a skilled liar, someone who toyed with another person’s heart without mercy. And yet, Esther knew with absolute certainty that what she felt for Gaara was real. To hell with Vinson. Esther truly loved Gaara.

“I have to tell him…” Esther whispered.

Her mother nodded, her gaze warm and steady. “Yes, my love. Be honest. Go to him and tell him how you really feel.”