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

Chapter 44

As I walked out of the cemetery, I saw someone I hadn't expected—my dad. Jackson must have gone to see him, which is how he found out about my mom's camera. He must have also known that I was back.

With a somewhat tentative tone, he asked, "Have you eaten?"

I didn't respond immediately and asked, "What do you want from me?"

He hesitated for a moment before speaking, "Could you come home for a while?"

I couldn't hold back a sarcastic laugh. "You've always told me to stay away. I've followed your wishes, so why now, all of a sudden, do you want me to return?" His voice trembled as he said, "... Your sister is ill. She has cancer."

I froze for a moment, taken aback.

"I've tried everything... we've sold everything we can. You're her sister. Could you help her?"

His face was full of sorrow and regret.

"I know you resent me, but it wasn't what I wanted. It wasn't my choice to push you away..."

His eyes were filled with pain. "You're my daughter. How could I ever bear to send you away? I had my reasons."

quietly, knowing that our past was a tangled mess of misunderstandings.

how, on the day I received my college acceptance letter, I'd been so happy, eager to tell him that I was going to follow in my mother's footsteps and become a doctor.

will be going to college soon too. How

raised her to adulthood. Isn't that

know it's either her or me

closed the door softly and ran out, sitting on the street alone for the rest of the afternoon. That entire summer, I lived in a

report to college, I thought I had everything figured out. It felt like a new beginning, yet my world

so you sacrificed me. No matter how

his mouth, but I interrupted, "I don't resent you. I

and added, "But as a daughter, you're not a terrible father, but you're also not a

phone and transferred 300,000 yuan to him. Over the years, he'd sent money into my account from time

the money you gave me. The rest... let it be

coldly, "Please, don't come looking

I left the restaurant, I felt a wave of lightness wash over me. All the burdens that had weighed heavily on my heart seemed to lift and disappear, one

where Joseph had once bought my mother the bird-of-paradise flowers. The owner recognized me, but the

"Where are you moving

"We're closing down! I want

for a moment.

and wrapped