Chapter 1
I was holding the speech I’d painstakingly copied from the internet, planning to memorize it for Chloe’s wedding day.
Just then, Evelyn pushed open the door and sat beside me, a cup of tea in her hand. She hesitated, then finally spoke.
”Richard, it’s probably best if you don’t go to Chloe’s wedding. Maybe you should go somewhere else.”
The speech slid from my trembling fingers.
I stared at Evelyn, utterly bewildered.
”What did you say? Why?”
Evelyn frowned, looking at me. “Marcus is back in the States. He said he wants to attend his biological daughter’s wedding.
Chloe also said she wants her biological father to walk her down the aisle.”
Biological. That single word plunged me into an ice bath. My heart felt squeezed tight in a vice, stealing my breath.
Seeing my hesitation, Chloe, who had been hiding at the doorway, pushed the door open and walked over, trying to persuade me.
”Uncle Richard, he is my biological father, after all. A blood relative. I want my dad to walk me down the aisle.”
Uncle Richard? Before Marcus came back, she always affectionately called me “Dad Richard.”
What, now that her biological father is back, I’m just “Uncle”?
It was utterly ironic.
I sat there on the bed, dazed. I remembered when Marcus abandoned them, mother and daughter, to go develop his business overseas.
If I hadn’t been soft-hearted enough to take them in, would they be where they are today?
To make things official, I married Evelyn for my first marriage.
For these fifteen years, I treated Chloe with absolute devotion, just like my own flesh and blood.
Fearing Chloe might feel neglected, Evelyn and I never had our own children all these years.
But what did I get for all my sacrifices?
Just one phrase – “blood relative” – and all my fifteen years of effort were completely negated.
My heart was filled with unbearable bitterness, like I’d swallowed pure gall.
As I fell deeper into thought, Evelyn’s next words instantly enveloped me in a bone-chilling cold that penetrated my skin and sank deep into my bones.
”Richard, what about that designer suit you bought for Chloe’s wedding? Why don’t you give it to Marcus? You won’t need it anyway, right?”
”He can wear it to Chloe’s wedding.”
Chloe, standing by, seemed to suddenly remember something. She rushed to my closet and began rummaging through it.
She carelessly tossed my clothes and shoes all over the floor. “Uncle Richard, what about those black leather shoes I gave you? Give them to my dad too. They’ll go perfectly with the black suit.”
”My dad will look so good in them. He’ll have some face at my wedding.”
I stared at the mess on the floor, my clothes scattered and trampled underfoot by my daughter and wife.
It felt like my fifteen years of effort were being crushed, carelessly discarded.
Fifteen whole years, and I still hadn’t managed to warm the hearts of these two.
My heart felt like it had been stabbed, then twisted violently, a gut-wrenching agony.
Fifteen years ago, Marcus abandoned them, mother and daughter, to venture into business, vanishing into thin air.
Now he was back, and I, their free ATM and laborer, was expected to step aside immediately. They really had it all figured out.
I picked up the crumpled speech from the floor, balled it up, and tossed it into the trash.
Smiling, I said to them, “Alright, I’ll leave when the time comes. Don’t worry.”
Seeing me agree, the mother and daughter beamed with joy and walked away.
But I wasn’t just leaving; I was abandoning them completely.
I pulled out my phone and called the hotel. “Cancel the wedding banquet for seven days from now,” I said. “Change it to my sixtieth birthday celebration instead.”