NOVEL NEXT Chapter 477.
Chapter 477. Reunion. (4/4)
“Huh? What? A few days?” Aurelia sounded quite shocked by my sudden revelation.
“Yes, I’m just a passing traveler who met your daughter purely by chance. But that is irrelevant. Deal with your family problems yourself. I’m tired and leaving now. My job’s done, the rest is up to you two. Good luck with that.”
“Wait!”
When I turned to leave again, this time, I was stopped not by Dawn, but by Aurelia’s hand on my left shoulder. She still had one hand on the back of Dawn’s head while she tenderly ran her right hand through her long hair.
“Haaaah. What is it now? Surely you’re not planning to have me stick around to continue playing family counselor for the two of you, right?”
“No, it’s just… if what my daughter said was true… then… I owe you... an apology.”
“If you want to do that, you can save it for later. Not that I care for an apology either way. The one you should be apologizing to right now isn’t me.” I raised my index finger and said as I pointed at who she should really be apologizing to, “It’s her you should apologize to.”
“You’re… right.” Her voice quivered as her gaze lowered to her daughter’s head buried in her bosom. Her hand slid off my shoulder powerlessly returning to behind Dawn’s back.
“Dawn… I’m sorry… I’ve completely… let you down... all these years... I don’t even have the right… to be called your mother. You must hate having such a… disappointment of a mother.” It was nothing by self-deprecating words out of her mouth.
Dawn raised her arms up and wrapped them tightly around Aurelia. Buried in her chest, she took in a deep breath while silently shaking her head.
“I alway… always wanted to see mom... for such a long time. I’ve just been afraid to. I thought yuh might hate that yuh had me. That I was a mistake. I was afraid I’d only be a bother if I tried to meet yuh.”
“I’d never hate my daughter. The only person I hate is myself for how pathetic I am. I love you, Dawn. You’re not some mistake. But the longer I waited, the harder it was to bring myself to try and see you again. The guilt just built up more and more and I thought you wouldn’t want to see or ever accept someone you don’t know as your mother.”
When a gust of wind suddenly picked up, I quickly bent over and retrieved Dawn’s sun hat that had fallen to the ground to prevent it from being blown away. When I wordlessly placed it back on top of Dawn’s head, Aurelia asked emotionally, “This old sun hat…”
“It’s... Mom’s.”
“You’ve kept it… for all these years?”
“Mmm. It’s one of the... few momentos I had.”
“It’s over two decades old… and filled with holes… you should have just gotten a new one...”
“It’s… important to me. Wearing it felt like... it kept me connected to Mom.”
Tears welled up in Aurelia’s half-open eyes and relentlessly trickled down her cheeks without any sign of stopping. She had a pained frown as the corners of her lips quivered beyond her control. She was overwhelmed by too many emotions. More so than her daughter.
When Dawn heard the sound of teardrops landing on her sun hat she tilted her head up from her mother’s bosom to peek at her face.
“I’m... sorry. I’m… sorry, Dawn. For putting you through all this… I’m sorry.”
“Don’t cry… Mom. I’m fine. It’s really okay.”
Suddenly the roles had been reversed and it was the daughter trying to coax her mother to stop crying.
Though Dawn had been on the verge of tears just now, she’d held them back and stopped them from spilling out in the end. She likely didn’t want the first thing her mother saw of her to be her crying.
“It’s not fine at all. I don’t have any way to ever make up for all the lost time. I can’t see you growing up again. I can’t ever get that time back. Almost two decades… what was I doing? Why couldn’t I… just work up the courage?” Aurelia’s remorseful tears continued to flow as she sniffled and pulled up her runny nose.
“There’s still plenty of time. We can just start over as a family starting today. Dad and… Mom can even get back together.”
“Together… with your father? That’s… a bit difficult.” Aurelia winced when Dawn brought up the subject of her father.
“Why? What’s so difficult? Do yuh hate Dad?”
“No… I don’t... it’s just… there’s no way... he’d ever want to see me again... after I left him the way I did. If anyone hates anyone, your father must hate me.”
“He definitely would want to see yuh! He still loves Mom for sure! He does his best to not show it… but he definitely misses... Mom. I… want Dad and Mom... to get back together again... so he won’t be lonely anymore.” Dawn had struggled greatly to let out the selfish request she’d always wanted to say to her mother.
While the two of them had their touching reunion I was trying to find a good chance to slip away undetected. I didn’t want to be caught and interrupt them when they were finally able to open up with each other.
I’d been slowly taking a step back every now and then putting distance between us and I was almost at the entrance to the hospital. The reason I placed the sun hat on Dawn’s head was to block off her view of me as I retreated.
Don’t drag me into any more of this cliche shit. As heartwarming a sight it was in the beginning, I could only tolerate so much before my stomach began to turn. It was just uncomfortable for me to stick around any longer.
Thankfully, everyone’s eyes had been on the mother-daughter pair and they’d forgotten about me.
Just when I was looking for the gap I needed to enter the building without anyone’s notice, the sound of a lone person clapping began. I looked over to where it came from. It was just a random sickly-looking old woman who’d been watching the touching reunion. She was crying.
Soon after she started clapping, another person followed suit.
Then another.
And another.
Before I knew it, thunderous applause.
People rooting for the two and encouraging Aurelia to give it a shot.
Aurelia was brought back to reality and became conscious of where she currently was and how she’d just broken down. Her eyes darted about flustered as she covered her eyes and tried to embarrassedly wipe away her tears.
It was the perfect opportunity. Under the cheers and commotion brought on by the spectators, I stepped inside the entrance and breathed out a sigh of relief.
That relief only lasted a second before my skin crawled uncomfortably from the thought of the applause in the background. The development was definitely not something a devil could stomach easily. Despite being the one who’d arranged it, happily ever after endings and whatnot were not my cup of tea.
Members of communities being openly supportive of one another when they were complete strangers was something I didn’t understand. That sort of stuff always made me feel out of place. I didn’t belong in such foreign environments. It was too blindingly bright for some as antisocial as me. I couldn’t help but see it as being fake and artificial.
This sort of stuff just doesn’t suit my character.
Well, my role here was over with this.
I’d finished acting my part.
I’d silently left the stage and completed what I set out to do.
Since Dawn was in Aurelia’s hands, she’d be able to stay at her place today and they could use the time to catch up.
Since I was done, it was about time for me to set off.
Though Wisteria would return to Dawn’s place tonight, we wouldn’t. Wisteria would drop Rosa off at our destination before she headed back though and I’d meet Rosa there.
We’d be camping out again tonight.
I made my way to another exit inside the hospital and returned to my motorcycle in the parking lot where I’d left it. I’d arrived with Dawn but departed alone leaving her behind so she’d have the rest of the day to bond with her mother. That wasn’t something I should intrude on.