After the Last Tear: Rising from the Ashes of a Broken Marriage By Cassila K

Chapter 43

A few days later, Jackson's parents found me. They said Jackson was missing. I then learned that after Jackson returned home that day, he had flown into a rage and destroyed everything in the house. He claimed it was all his parents' fault. If they hadn't pressured Joseph, he wouldn't have gone to Congo (Kinshasa), wouldn't have met me, and wouldn't have died. He also wouldn't have suppressed his emotions so much, mistakenly thinking he loved Sara and missing out on me.

He then resigned from the hospital and disappeared without a trace.

"Zoey! How could you blame us for this?" Jackson's mother pleaded urgently. "As parents, all we wanted was for our son to make more money. Is that wrong? If we had let him stay at the hospital, none of this would have happened. He wouldn't have left, and everything would have been fine!"

"How can Jackson be angry at us for this? We're his parents! We've already lost one son; we can't lose another!" Jackson's father begged.

I couldn't take it anymore and threw my phone down. "Leave! You don't deserve to be parents!"

My heart felt heavy, and I wandered aimlessly until I returned to the same forest. I sat under a large tree, gazing at the dappled light on the ground, hugging my knees. Though Congo (Kinshasa) had only spoken to me once, I could sense how repressed Jackson had been in that family. The emergency contact he listed when he joined Doctors Without Borders had originally been his partner, but later, it had become me. He didn't want his family to know anything. In that broken family, a kind, gentle person like him had emerged.

A gust of wind blew, and a hard object fell from the tree, hitting me on the forehead. I looked down and saw a nameplate. Many people working in war zones carry such nameplates to help identify them in case of accidental death. I assumed it must have been left behind by a soldier. But when I turned it over, I saw the name "Joseph" engraved on it.

How could his nameplate be

soil with my hands, dirt and blood filling my fingernails. I kept digging until a bone appeared.

the remains tangled in the tree roots. In the

I found him! I

my head, as if saying, "Don't be angry at people who aren't

his skull tightly and whispered, "Okay,

absence, brought his ashes back

lost a lot of weight, his face pale, and he looked exhausted. He held two white chrysanthemums, which he placed at my mother's and Joseph's graves. He told

had deceived. She confessed that she hadn't traveled the world as she claimed. Instead, she had fabricated that persona to make Jackson long for her, and she had

me. Her voice was full of regret. "Jackson, I've apologized as you asked! You said we would

You lied to me, and I lied to you. We owe each other nothing. I only made you apologize because you hurt Zoey. From now on, we should never

her, and apologized to me. "About the

my head. "You don't have