Eight Years Gone

Charlie bawled out sobbing in pain.

Howard was stunned. He was about to comfort Charlie when the phone rang.

"Howard, where are you? Jason is crying looking for you. He won't stop crying…"

Cheryl Smalls' voice rang out from the phone, and a child crying could be heard in the background.

Howard softened his tone and replied, "Tell Jason that I'll be back soon."

He hung up and let go of Charlie impatiently.

"I have things to deal with. You and Charlie should wait here for me. Don't go anywhere."

Behind us stood a huge arcade. Howard led his friends inside in a rush, clearly going in to placate Cheryl and her son.

After all, back then, all it took was a call from Cheryl for him to abandon me, who was pregnant and in an accident.

Charlie's school activity was not over yet, but the incident he had just endured left his condition visibly worsened, so I immediately asked the person in charge to allow him to leave.

Returning to our temporary lodging, I coaxed him to sleep when I received a call from a friend.

"Howard Quinn is looking into you. Should I stop him?"

"No, it's fine."

Our trip to Kappa City was only for seven days. After those seven days, Howard and I would lead our own lives, like parallel lines, never crossing each other again.

After the call, the doorbell rang.

"Nina, let's talk."

Howard stood in front of the door with a delicately decorated cake. He openly took in the 'simple' place, not hiding his disdain and condescension.

"You're staying in this place? This is smaller than a bedroom in the Quinn family. Is this what you call happy?"

His condescending gaze somehow brought me back to eight years ago when he was casually chatting with his friends.

"Nina Jerome is great, but she's pretentious. She needs people to coax her."

"It's only normal for men to play along, right? She'd argue with me about every little thing."

"Since she doesn't like the luxury lifestyle the Quinn family could afford, you could let her suffer a little so that she'll learn her lesson. She needs to understand that in this family, pleasing men is the most important thing."

In that family, I was like a caged bird. I could only be the obedient, docile partner. If I were to cross the line, I would be killed heartlessly.

After eight years, Howard seemed to think that I had completely learned my lesson. He looked at me with delight, but his joy was soon crushed.

I calmly threw the cake he brought into the bin.

Howard continued, "Charlie is my son. Even if you don't care about yourself, you should care about his future, right? Are you going to let him follow in your footsteps, being a cleaner for the rest of his life, being looked down upon?"

I interrupted him, which caught him by surprise, "This cake was meant for Cheryl, right? Charlie inherited my genes. He's allergic to mangoes."

The first time I was sent to the emergency hospital after accidentally eating mango, Howard was so worried that he did not sleep the entire night. He cried for half an hour when I woke up.

However, later, when Cheryl appeared, there would always be mango in the house.

Cheryl was the one who liked cake with fruits. Not me.

"I'm sorry…"

Howard felt a little sheepish, starting to remember bits and pieces of the past. However, soon, he blamed it all on me.

"If you hadn't left when you were pregnant, I wouldn't have lost eight years with my son! If he had always been with me, I would surely remember his preferences!"

He lashed out at me, "In the end, it's all your fault! You were selfish!"

Silence hung thick in the air.

Soon, he lost interest in maintaining pleasantries.

"Charlie is my son. I won't give him up. I'm going to give you time to think properly. I'll come and pick you up in two days."