Chapter 17
Louisa continued making a fuss for a long time, but the security guards eventually escorted her out. However, she continued crying loudly on the way out.
Ruben turned to look at Estelle apologetically. “I-”
“Don’t say a single word,” she said, interrupting him as she got up and headed out of the room. “Even hearing your voice makes me want to puke.”
Ruben looked shocked and in despair. His expression was quite similar to that of Louisa before she got forcefully dragged away.
Estelle never went home that night. Ruben finally found her by the riverside.
“It’s cold out here. Let’s go home.”
“Home? There’s no home that belongs to the both of us,” Estelle said, looking at the reflection of the moon on the waters. “Please, Ruben, I’m begging you to let me go. Leave this place and leave me alone. Please take pity on me and stop torturing me every day.
“I’ve given you nearly half of my life to stay in this relationship. It’s taken a toll on me, so what more do you want? Do I have to die for real before you’d finally let me go?”
Ruben’s eyes turned red immediately. His lips trembled as he said, “Estelle…”
“Ruben, please give me a way out of this mess. If I’m forced to face you for the rest of my life, then I would rather jump now and drown in the river so I’d never have to see you again!”
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry,” Ruben cried, rushing up to her to hug her. He burst into tears and said, “It’s all my fault! But I can’t let you go. I can’t live without you!”
Estelle looked at him for a long, long while. Then, she finally chuckled coldly and pushed him away.
“You keep telling me that you love me, but the truth is, you’re still only just thinking about yourself and nobody else.”
Estelle turned to leave. However, she suddenly got a call from Cassie.
“Estie, there’s something important I need to tell you. Your phone number from before had been removed from service, and the hospital couldn’t get you, so they got me instead.
“Your birth mother… She’s on her deathbed. And she wishes to see you for the last time.”
Estelle froze in place.
Even though Estelle knew that going back to her own country meant risking all of her freedom, since this was Ruben’s territory after all, she still caught the earliest flight home.
Both Ruben and Asher accompanied her back too.
Estelle hadn’t seen her birth mother, Darlene Bowman, in at least a dozen years. She still remembered Darlene as she was when she was five years old. Back then, Darlene used to always hit her and starve her at home. Gradually, Estelle lost so much weight that she just looked like a walking carcass. She was now standing outside the ward door, but she didn’t dare to enter.
“I’ll go in with you, Estelle,” Ruben said, gently holding her hand.
“Get lost,” Estelle snapped back, pushing him away. “Stay outside and don’t come in.”
Then, she pushed the door open and went in.
Darlene heard footsteps and tried her best to open her eyes. “Y–You’re really here… Actually there’s nothing much for me to say… I just wanted to thank you.”
Estelle stared at Darlene in confusion. She had never wanted her mother’s gratitude from the start. She had just wanted her to be free.
“You don’t need to thank me. Saving you was saving myself.”
The ward door opened again, and this time, the daughter of Darlene’s current husband walked in. The ward was a small one to start with, and Estelle was forced into the corner because she had barely any space.
Estelle had always been treated as small and insignificant when it came to her mother’s family.
She decided to turn and leave the ward. However, Darlene suddenly called out loudly to her. “Ingrid! I’m so sorry, Ingrid! I’ve always used you as a venting outlet for my anger all these years and never treated you well.”
Estelle paused in her footsteps. “There’s no need to apologize.”
She could understand the pain that Darlene was going through. The only way she could start anew in her life was if she forgot every bit of that life she led
so that the bad memories wouldn’t resurface.
Outside the door, Asher stared at Estelle in great shock. “W–What did that old lady just call her? Ingrid?”
Ruben sighed. “Yes. Estelle’s old name was Ingrid Charter. She gave herself a new name and used her mother’s last name to be Estelle Bowinan now.” Asher grabbed Ruben’s shoulders tightly and asked, “Does she have a huge scar on her right ankle?”
Chapter
Ruben was shocked. “How did you know?”
Asher staggered backward, suddenly losing all of his energy. He stumbled backward and fell back onto a chair.
To think that his life savior, the person he’d been searching for years, had been right by his side all along.
He had dreamed of the many scenarios that could happen when he finally reunited with her. He promised himself that he would give her only the best things the world had to offer and fulfill every one of her wishes.
But now, Asher didn’t just give her nothing–he’d even gone ahead and did something that she absolutely loathed.
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