Chapter 2
I suppressed the turbulent storm of emotions raging within me and called my parents, who were on their way to the hospital to see Skylar, telling them not to panic just yet.
No sooner had I hung up than Seraphina’s figure appeared at the ward door.
Eighteen years. The moment our eyes met, her brows furrowed slightly, and a hint of displeasure flashed in her gaze.
A maelstrom of emotions churned within me. I didn’t know how to even begin speaking to her.
Before I could even question why she faked her death and disappeared for eighteen years, Victor followed her in, his tone laced with mockery.
“Alex, really, what are you doing here? On such an important day as Leo’s coming-of-age party? Leo was just asking about you, saying he felt unsettled without you there.”
Seraphina’s face instantly darkened, and she looked at me with an accusing gaze.
“Alex, what is wrong with you? How dare you miss Leo’s coming-of-age party?”
“My faking my death back then was just to test your sincerity, to see if you’d take good care of Leo in my absence.”
“You did well for the first eighteen years, but now it seems you haven’t taken my words to heart.”
A test? My sincerity?
In that moment, I felt all my strength drain away. My heart was pricked by countless steel needles, the sharp pain spreading through me.
Her casual declaration of a “test” erased my eighteen years of walking on eggshells, erased all the sacrifices our entire family had made for her son.
Seraphina, you’re truly heartless!
Seeing my silence, Seraphina’s expression grew even uglier.
“I’m taking Leo and Victor on a trip abroad tomorrow. You stay home and reflect on your mistakes.”
With that, they turned and walked away, a united front, leaving me alone outside the cold hospital room, facing my sister’s closed door, a chill spreading through me.
I never imagined that after eighteen years, our first reunion would be like this.
I remembered when I first married her, how I’d come home dead drunk from work dinners.
Even though Seraphina would complain I wasn’t ambitious enough, she’d still clumsily get up in the middle of the night to make her homemade hangover remedy, carefully blowing on it to cool it before bringing it to my lips.
Her eyes red-rimmed, she’d say, “Honey, don’t push yourself so hard. From now on, I’ll shoulder this burden with you.”
She once said she’d love me for an eternity and give our child the happiest home.
But those sweet memories now felt like sharp knives, slicing my heart to bloody ribbons.