He should be able to find the person waiting for him in heaven without attachments. His final smile was satisfied and peaceful.
She took out a yellowed photograph from her pocket. The photo showed an intimate couple, not facing each other, but the light in their eyes revealed they saw only each other.
Gently wiping away the rain on her fingertips, she recalled the perfect couple and could vaguely see the shadows of her and Owen. These were her parents, whom she only learned about twenty years later, and who had now gone far away from her. She had never called them mom and dad.
—Child, don’t hate your mother. She loved you so much…
The voice of the person sleeping beneath the tombstone echoed in her ears.
—Your mother had a congenital heart disease; the doctor had warned her not to give birth, as it would cost her life. But she was willing to exchange her own life for your birth, and in the end, she won the bet…
Her fingertips caressed the photo of the smiling woman, her crystal-clear eyes filled with unrepentant love. This was her mother, remembered only as a sweat-soaked back in her memories.
She hated herself, questioning why she had forgotten her mother’s appearance and the love and gentleness she had given. Why was only the hatred remembered?
Biting her lower lip until a metallic taste spread across her tongue, a soft breeze brushed her face, reminiscent of the dying man’s gentle caress.
—Child, I know I shouldn’t disturb your peaceful life anymore, but I can’t let you carry an unreal hatred towards your mother for a lifetime. You should hate me; I never fulfilled a father’s responsibility and wasn’t by her side on the night you were born. Until many years later, I finally understood…
This man, until his last moment, never explained his past hardships, taking all the blame upon himself.
In his emaciated cheek and distant eyes, she saw a father’s love and guilt toward his daughter. She knew he hoped she would call him dad, but she could never do so, even at the moment he closed his eyes forever. Though her heart was full of things to say, she left only regret to gnaw at her.
