Chapter 261: Let’s Both Let Go

Jenna's hand froze mid-air. She turned to look at Ethan.

Ethan nodded, his fingers gently squeezing the back of her hand.

"I'll head back first."

He turned and tiptoed away, disappearing down the corridor.

Jenna took a deep breath, placed her hand on the doorknob, and carefully pushed the door open just a crack.

She slipped inside and softly closed it behind her.

Hazel sat on the edge of the bed, her back to the door, shoulders trembling slightly. Her sobs were muffled, as if she was afraid of being heard.

But the more she tried to suppress them, the harder it became. The sounds escaped from deep in her throat, one after another—like tears held back for decades finally breaking through the dam.

Jenna's nose tingled. She walked over quietly and sat down beside her grandmother.

"Grandma."

Hazel's shoulders stiffened. She hurriedly raised her handkerchief to wipe the tears from her face, scrubbing at them carelessly before turning her head.

"Why did you come in?"

Jenna reached out and gently covered her grandmother's hand with her own.

"Grandma, did you see something?"

Hazel didn't answer. She kept her head lowered, staring at the crumpled handkerchief in her lap as tears fell one after another.

Jenna squeezed her hand. "Did you go to my room earlier? Did you see that video?"

After a long silence, Hazel slowly nodded.

"I went to bring you some water. The door wasn't closed all the way. I heard voices, so I... I looked."

Her voice suddenly caught.

"I heard her speak."

Tears flooded from Hazel's eyes again. She turned to look at Jenna, her tear-streaked face filled with indescribable complexity.

"That foolish child." Her grandmother's voice shook badly. "How could she think I was still angry with her? How could I be angry with her?"

Jenna's eyes reddened too.

Jenna put her arm around Hazel's shoulders and drew her closer.

"She married the wrong man, but she was still my daughter. I yelled at her, I slammed the table, I stopped talking to her—that was because I was angry, not because I disowned her. She was my child. How could I truly disown her? After everything that happened to her, after all she suffered, I dreamed about her every night. I wanted her to come home, wanted her to bring you back, wanted her to stand in front of me and call me Mom just one more time. But I couldn't swallow my pride, and she wouldn't come back. We kept putting it off until the very end, until I never even got to see her one last time."

Hazel suddenly raised her handkerchief to cover her mouth, her shoulders shaking violently.

"It's not that I refused to see her. How could I refuse? I waited for her every single day. But she never came. She must have thought I blamed her, thought I didn't want her anymore. She died believing I didn't want her."

Jenna wrapped her arms tightly around Hazel, pulling her small, frail body into her embrace.

"Grandma..." Jenna's voice choked.

"Before Mom died, she said she was sorry. She knew she was wrong. She regretted it. She didn't ask for your forgiveness—she only hoped you would be well."

Hazel said nothing. She buried her face in Jenna's shoulder and cried until her whole body trembled.

After a long while, Hazel's crying gradually subsided.

She lifted her head, wiped her face with the handkerchief, and took a deep breath.

"She didn't need to ask for my forgiveness. I never truly blamed her."

"Your grandfather didn't either. When he was dying in the hospital, barely able to draw his last breath, he still grabbed my hand and told me to bring your mother home. He said she was the one he couldn't stop worrying about. He told me not to hold a grudge against her. He said children make mistakes, but in the end, they always come home."

Tears slid down Hazel's face again, but this time, the corners of her mouth curved slightly.

"Your grandfather adored her. He scolded her the loudest, but his heart was softer than anyone's. How could she think her father wouldn't see her? That foolish child. So foolish."

Jenna held Hazel's shoulders, patting her gently.

"Grandma, Mom didn't leave those words to make us suffer forever. She said she didn't hurt anymore, and she wasn't afraid. She was just worried you wouldn't let it go, worried you'd keep it bottled up inside until it made you sick. We all need to move forward now."

Hazel wiped her tears with the handkerchief and nodded firmly.

"You're right. She's not hurting anymore, and here I am, still clinging to the past. If she's watching from heaven, she'll worry again."

Jenna patted the back of her grandmother's hand, holding that small, thin hand in her palm and gently stroking it.

"Grandma, we're going back to Silverpeak City tomorrow. Once we're back, let's live well and stop dwelling on these things."

Hazel murmured her agreement, then gripped Jenna's hand and squeezed it tightly.

The next morning, Jenna went to the police station to complete the final procedures.

Signing documents, pressing fingerprints, retrieving materials that had been held as evidence—one by one, it felt like she was smoothing out the tangled mess of the past into a clean sheet of paper, stamped with the word closed.

She took the last document from the archives window and was about to turn and leave when a commotion echoed from the end of the corridor.

"Move it! Stop dragging your feet!"

Jenna looked up and saw two female officers escorting someone out from the direction of the interrogation room.

It was Jennifer.

She wore a drab gray detention uniform, her hair hanging in a disheveled mess, shackles on both her wrists and ankles.

A few steps behind her, Edward hurried out.

Edward looked up and saw Jenna.

In an instant, his steps halted. He stood frozen in place, his lips moving, but no words came out.

Jennifer stopped too.

She followed Edward's gaze and turned her head. When she saw Jenna, her expression twisted.

She lunged toward Jenna. The two female officers reacted quickly, grabbing her arms. She struggled, her handcuffs clanging loudly.

"Jenna! Jenna, you came to gloat again, didn't you? You're happy now, aren't you? You think you've won? You think you've won?! You'll die a miserable death! All of you will die miserable deaths!"

"You stole everything from me! You stole my Edward! You stole everything that was mine! Jenna, I hate you! I'll haunt you even as a ghost!"

One of the female officers tightened her grip and gave Jenna an apologetic nod. "Sorry about this. She's lost her mind. She's been like this for a while now—lucid one moment, incoherent the next. She keeps saying the same few things over and over. We're taking her to a psychiatric facility now. Once the evaluation results come back, we'll see how to proceed."