Chapter 34 .25 YEAR'S LATER
25 YEAR'S LATER
I’m sitting at this party… but my heart isn’t here either.
There is light everywhere. The music is so loud that people can barely hear themselves, yet to me, all of it feels hollow. This grand party, these wealthy faces, this glamour everything looks perfect on the surface.
I can feel the attention in the room shifting again and again. Not toward me… but toward my son, Jacob.
Girls keep approaching him. I notice everything one smiling shyly, another confidently offering her hand for a dance, someone else stepping a little too close, leaving behind her expensive perfume, hoping he’ll notice.
But he doesn’t.
He doesn’t even look at them.
To the world, this might look like arrogance. To me, it looks like distance. Detachment. A wall he has built around himself so tightly that no one can enter.
The heir of the Wilson family.
That’s all people see when they look at him power, money, authority, legacy. No one ever wonders what weight that name puts on his shoulders. No one asks what my son hides behind that cold expression.
My eyes keep drifting toward him, no matter how much I try to stay present.
Beside me, my husband leans in and says something softly. His hand rests over mine, I give him a gentle smile. To anyone watching us, we probably look happy and we are. He has always cared for me, always tried to protect me from pain. Maybe that’s why there’s a calm on my face, something different from the rest of this restless crowd.
But my heart suddenly feels heavy.
I look at Jacob again.
He’s standing so tall, yet so alone.
I see his jaw tighten, the familiar sign that he’s suppressing something. Emotions, pain, thoughts everything he never lets the world see.
People call him angry, Ruthless, Cold-hearted.
And sometimes… I wonder if they’re right.
He’s just like his father strong, In business, in choices, in how he deals with people, he leaves no room for weakness. But what the world doesn’t see is how much that strength costs him.
When he glances in my direction and our eyes almost meet, my heart aches.
I know he feels it too, the unspoken sadness, the distance between us. I know he thinks he’s disappointing me. I wish I could tell him that he isn’t. That all I see is my son struggling to carry more than he should.
But he has turned himself into stone.
He doesn’t let any woman come close. He doesn’t let anyone see that something inside him is breaking too.
The music grows louder. I notice another girl approach him, smiling brightly. I can almost hear her hopeful voice even from here, “Dance?”
Jacob’s reply is “No.”
She steps back immediately.
I tighten my fingers slightly around my husband’s hand, Maybe I haven’t failed as a mother But tonight, watching my son stand alone in a room full of people, I wonder if he thinks he has failed me.
I am standing beside Michael, and the restlessness is clearly visible in my eyes. Maybe he senses my worry, because he softly says, “Don’t worry, Sara.”
His voice is calm, but my heart isn’t. I speak in a heavy, emotional tone, my eyes fixed on Jacob, “Look at my child… he is so lonely. He doesn’t talk to anyone, he has no friends, and he isn’t ready for marriage.”
With those words, it feels as if the burden in my heart finally pours out. Michael looks at me, stays quiet for a few moments, then says, “Sara, I understand your concern… but I understand him too. He is my son. Just like me.”
He pauses, as if drifting into old memories. Then, in a softer voice, he continues, “I was the same once. Lonely, silent, closed off within myself. But then one day… you came into my life.”
He looks at me, confidence shining in his eyes. “Just wait and see, one day, someone will come into his life too. Someone who will absorb all his sadness and worries within herself.”
Hearing his words, I take a deep breath. My heart finds a little comfort, yet a mother’s heart never truly rests. I say quietly, “Let’s go home… Ira must be alone.”
The moment I say this, the color drains from Michael’s face. His lips part as if he wants to say something, but he remains silent. His silence hurts me. I speak in a slightly sharper tone, “She’s just a child… our child. You still haven’t changed, even after all these years.”
Saying this, I turn around and start walking away, my heart heavy. Just then, my eyes fall on Jacob. He notices me leaving and starts walking toward me.
He is just about to reach me when suddenly..
A girl collides with him.
She is a waitress. The glass slips from her hand, and all the juice spills straight onto Jacob’s clothes. For a moment, the entire atmosphere freezes. It feels as if the music stops, conversations fall silent.
The waitress’s face turns pale. She becomes terribly frightened, her hands trembling.
“I… I’m sorry, sir…” she says nervously.
Jacob’s face hardens. Anger flashes in his eyes as he glares at the girl, as if she has committed a grave mistake. Even his silence feels terrifying.
I look at that girl.
She looks extremely unattractive, her clothes make her appear poor, and there is clear fear visible in her eyes. Her hands are trembling, as if she can’t even hold herself together.
Suddenly, the manager rushes toward her with angry steps and shouts, “Hey girl! Don’t you have any manners? You’ve ruined the guest’s clothes!”
His voice echoes through the entire hall. Hearing this, the girl becomes even more frightened. Tears start rolling down her cheeks. She lowers her head, as if crushed under the weight of her mistake.
Then Jacob steps forward.
His voice is calm, but firm. “It’s okay… please continue.”
As soon as he says this, the manager falls silent. The girl lets out a small breath of relief, though her face is still wet with tears.
Jacob then walks back to me. At the same time, Michael comes and stands beside me. But suddenly, anger rises inside me toward both of them. Pain and resentment surge together in my heart.
Without thinking, I grab Jacob’s hand and say in a firm tone, “Let’s go home.”
Jacob looks at me. Without asking a single question, he softly replies, “Okay, Mom.”
He keeps holding my hand, walks me to the car, opens the door, and helps me sit inside. Then he takes the driver’s seat and starts driving.
Michael begins walking toward the car from behind. I immediately say, “Drive.”
Jacob presses the accelerator without hesitation. The car moves forward.
Michael calls out to me from behind, but I don’t listen… or maybe I simply don’t want to.
TO BE COUNTINUE...!!!