I thanked him profusely, he didn’t say a word.
As I got out, he handed me a card.
“Sarah, you have other choices besides
Gary.”
“If you’ve made up your mind, contact me.”
I took the card, thanked him again, but I was
focused on my mother, and didn’t look
closely.
I rushed into the ER, but before I could ask, a
nurse wheeled out a body covered in a sheet.
“Where’s Ms. Zhao’s family?”
“The woman’s dead, and her daughter’s not
even here yet, unbelievable.
دو
Their words pierced my heart.
I pulled back the sheet, my mother’s face was
bruised, her body covered in wounds.
For ten years, I resented Gary for everything.
く
I even wished we’d all die together, but now
that she was really gone, all I felt was pain.
There was no one left, no funeral to plan.
I stayed by my father’s bedside for a while,
told him about my mother, about myself.
I spoke until dawn, then, looking at my father,
still unresponsive after ten years, I whispered,
“Dad, I’m tired.”
The next morning, my mother was cremated. I
took her ashes home.
And the divorce papers.
I walked into the house and saw Gary and his
harem at the dining table, laughing.
“Sign it.”
I threw the papers on the table.
“So you ran away to get this?”
“Sarah, you’ve gone too far!”
Hugging the urn, I said,
“Gary, let’s let each other go.”
“I don’t love you anymore.”
Before, I would argue with him, we even
fought.
I would accuse him of lying about loving me.
I held onto hope, hoping he’d forgive me,
hoping we could make it work.
If he liked wild women, I’d learn to please him
in bed.
If he liked innocent ones, I’d wear what he
liked to make him happy.
But one woman after another moved in, my
heart grew cold.
My attempts to please him became my
shame, his tools of humiliation.
“Oh look, what’s this…”
“Liam Stone?”
Lily picked up my dropped card and read the
name.
Liam Stone.
Gary’s lifelong rival, someone I’d never met.
Gary’s face darkened he slapped me
<
“You don’t love me anymore, because you
found someone else!?”
“Do you know who Liam Stone is!?”
My ears rang, I stumbled back. The urn
slipped from my hands, shattering.
The ashes scattered. I knelt down, trying to
gather them.
But it was useless.
Lily poured milk on the ashes, the others
followed suit. The ashes clumped together.
Aaah!”
My nerves snapped. I grabbed a chair and
swung at Lily.
Gary couldn’t react in time. Lily fell, clutching
her head.
“Gary…I hurt!”
Someone called an ambulance. Gary forced.
me to stay at the hospital.
“If she dies, you’re going with her!”
I was forced to donate blood to Lily, again
<
and again, until the doctors stopped me.
Gary let me go, saying I deserved it.
I hid in my father’s room for days.
“Sister, you’re here! Thanks to you, Gary’s so
nice to me now.”
“Is this your dad? Why doesn’t he move?”
Lily, spoiled and arrogant, fiddled with my
father’s oxygen tube.
“Don’t touch that!”
I pushed her away, she stumbled back.
Then, she pulled out the tube and played with
- it.
“Do you think Gary will blame me for this?”
Gary walked in.
He saw the scene, his eyes flickered to me.
After a long pause, he said.
“Lily’s young, she doesn’t know any better.
Your dad’s hopeless, ending it is best.” “I’ll give more money to your mother.”
The beeping continued, announcing my
<
father’s death.
I was frozen, numb with sorrow and relief.
Gary left, taking Lily with him.
Exhausted, I apologized to my father. I didn’t
know who owed whom anything anymore.
I took out the card and called the number.
“Mr. Stone, pick me up tonight.
Another cremation.
This time, I left my father’s ashes at the altar.
When I got home, Gary wasn’t there.
His girls nagged me about how angry Gary
was, how I was doomed.
I ignored them, opened my bedroom door.
“Take whatever you want.”
They rushed in, carrying everything away.
Only a few pictures of Gary and me remained,
forgotten.
I locked myself in my room until nightfall.
