Chapter 109 Chapter 109
Chapter 109 Chapter 109
Serenity bit her lip. Lines that were meant to be sweet now caused her nothing but distress. She wondered. Is writing this too selfish right now? It feels like I’m using our feelings to tie him down, to keep him from leaving. Should love be a rope that binds someone away from their own reunion?
She looked out the window as darkness swallowed the garden. Vince’s birthday should have been a happy day, but instead, it had become the start of a brutal psychological struggle between the present and the past, between love and one's roots.
—
As the morning sun filtered through the window, Vince stepped downstairs, his face still showing traces of fatigue after a sleepless night of overthinking. He looked around for a familiar face but saw only Briona busy in the kitchen.
"Aunt Briona, good morning," Vince greeted, his tone calmer after last night’s emotional storm.
Briona turned and gave him a kind smile. "Good morning, Vince. Come have some breakfast; I’ve just finished making it."
"Thank you. Where is Serenity?" he asked, his eyes instinctively drifting toward the door.
"She went to school. She said she has a very important presentation. She asked me to give you this." Briona placed a small, carefully wrapped gift in front of him.
Vince unwrapped the paper. Inside was the handmade bracelet along with the card written in Serenity’s neat handwriting. Reading the words, From now on, we will always be together, his heart suddenly softened. He smiled to himself, feeling an immense sense of relief. He hurried through his breakfast; it seemed the small gift had given him the strength to face the new day at school.
In stark contrast to the tidy and warm atmosphere of Mr. Caleb’s house, Maggie’s hotel room was a complete mess. Clothes were strewn about, and suitcases sat half-open, reflecting the owner’s frayed state of mind.
Ashton walked in and sighed at the sight of his mother sitting listlessly amidst the chaos. "Mom, at least you should wash the clothes you’ve worn. Why haven't you cleaned up at all? It worries me when you’re like this." He spoke while picking up the items off the floor.
Maggie didn't look at her son, her eyes glued to her silent phone. "Did Vince call you?"
"He hasn't called since yesterday," Ashton replied sadly.
Maggie grabbed her son’s hand. "Then you call him. He won't answer my calls, but he will answer yours. Please call him, I’m begging you."
Ashton stopped what he was doing, his voice pained. "Mom, let it go. I don't think anything will come of it. Our departure for Japan is coming up soon. The things you’re focused on here won't delay the trip. Mom, are you even listening to me?"
Maggie’s voice broke. "How many times must I let go? How can I endure another separation? Why have I worked so hard for ten years to build a career in Japan?"
She picked up an old photograph of Vince and Ashton as small children, smiling brightly together. She stroked Vince’s face in the photo, tears streaming down. "Ashton, you’ve been with me since you were little. Have you ever regretted that?"
Ashton sat down beside her and answered softly, "Of course not, Mom."
"When you were small, we couldn't pay the rent, so we had to live with relatives. We moved from place to place so many times; you endured so much with me." She recounted the memories, her voice trembling with each painful thought. "Sometimes I would ask you if you were jealous of your brother, wondering if he was living a good life back there."
"Mom, that’s in the past. We’ve moved past it all," Ashton reassured her.
Maggie shook her head, a stubborn resolve visible in her eyes. "I know it wasn't fair to you or to Vince. But I never accept defeat. I hope to give you both the very best. I want to make up for all the poverty of the past with the wealth I have now."
Ashton put his arm around his mother’s shoulder, trying to bring her back to reality. "You don't need to suffer like this. I’ve grown up now; I can protect you. Besides, there’s Professor Travis. He’s been waiting for you all these years."
Maggie laughed bitterly. "I know. The reason I haven't accepted him all these years is that all my love was reserved for you and Vince. I spent my youth running from poverty to find the power to reclaim my son, but now that I have the means, Vince rejects me. It turns out money can buy a plane ticket to Japan, but it cannot buy a way back into the heart of a child who has been hurt for too long."
Ashton wasn't jealous of his brother; he never had been. He understood that while he had his mother by his side to share the hunger and the cold of those days in exile, Vince had grown up in a magnificent but lonely fortress, where love was priced according to family rules and expectations.
Ashton looked at the yellowed photograph in his mother’s hand. In it, the two brothers were laughing innocently, completely unaware of concepts like divorce or separation. He realized with a pang of sorrow that his mother was trying to use her current success to atone for the past, but she had forgotten that Vince didn't need a wealthy businesswoman. He only needed a mother who hadn't abandoned him ten years ago.
The upcoming trip to Japan would be just another escape if she couldn't let go of her obsession. There are wounds that time cannot heal; it only teaches us how to live with the pain. Maggie wanted Vince to go to Japan to ease her own guilt, but if he chose to go, his heart would only die once more in that strange, foreign land.