Chapter 5
Was it worth it. Mom and Dad? Was it really worth it?
When I woke up again, the plane was about to land.
Turning on my phone, I saw over a hundred missed calls and countless messages.
I didn’t bother looking.
Among the sea of blonde–haired, blue–eyed strangers, I spotted my adoptive parents
immediately.
Beside them stood my gray haired grandparents.
Losing my parents had taken away my childhood refuge. But it had left an even deeper wound on these two elderly souls.
“Rozella, my good child, you’ve suffered so much…”
My grandmother cupped my face–one that looked so much like my mother’s–and burst into tears.
All the grievances I had endured came crashing down at once.
I threw myself into her arms and sobbed uncontrollably.
She gently patted my back. “It’s okay, sweetheart. Don’t be afraid. You’re home now….
They shielded me in their embrace, guiding me out of the airport.
We had barely taken a few steps when my adoptive father’s phone rang.
It was Adam’s parents.
He hesitated and looked at me. “Rozella, they’ve been calling nonstop. I don’t know what happened, so I didn’t
aluwer.
“But no matter what, we will always be your family.”
I nodded, took the phone, and answered.
No matter how Adam had treated me, his parents had done nothing wrong.
“Rozzella, where did you go? I’m so worried! Did Adam upset you? Come back, I’ll scold him for you, okay?”
Before 1 could reply, the phone was snatched away.
Adam’s voice, trendling with bitterness and desperation, came through
“Rozella?”
Chapter 5
“It’s me. Do you need something?”
He froze for a moment, then his voice trembled in disbelief. “You can really hear me now? Thank God. Before, I thought I was hallucinating.”
“I saw the recording you sent me. But, Rozella, that was a misunderstanding. Come back first. It’s been so many years, I really have a lot to tell you…”
I fell into puzzled silence.
After regaining my hearing, I finally realized–Adam had always seen me as an obstacle to his happiness.
When faced with his parents‘ forced marriage arrangement, even though I knew nothing about it, he didn’t hesitate to use an elopement–something that would deeply hurt me–as his way of resistance.
Now that I had voluntarily stepped aside, letting him and Catherine walk towards their so–called happiness, what was he up to now?
Was it like every time they flirted, they needed to call me or have me around to make it more exciting?
Did running away from a wedding also require me to be there, breaking down in tears, to better prove their love was “priceless“?
My silence only made his tone more anxious.
That recording was faked!”
Please, believe me. You can’t imagine how terrified I was when I saw the empty house and the ring on the coffee
table!”
His voice was full of emotion.
But I couldn’t hold back a sneer. “Adam, what? Running away from the wedding wasn’t thrilling enough without me as your contrast?”
“Or do you feel uncomfortable now that you no longer have me as your loyal little dog, wagging its tail and begging for scraps?”
“Didn’t you think the whole world was morally coercing you into marrying me? Now that I’m gone, no one will force you anymore.”
“You’re free now. Best wishes to you and Catherine–may you be inseparable.”
“Oh and that recording? I recorded it myself.
With that, I pulled the phone away from my ear.
On the other end. Adam’s desperate voice still rang out. “What wedding escape?!”
“Rozella, you misunderstood me. Let’s talk-
Chapter 5
I didn’t give him the chance to finish. I handed the phone back to my adoptive father.
The faces of the people around me looked terrible.
After all, that call had been enough for them to guess what had happened.
My grandmother said nothing, just patted my hand over and over, her tears streaming down.
My adoptive father cursed. “Bastard.”
I forced a smile. “It’s all in the past.”
The next morning, my grandparents made delicious soup dumplings.
As my grandmother braided my hair, she told me that these had been my mother’s favorite.
For the first time in a long while, I felt that my heart–scarred and battered by Adam–was slowly being nurtured back to life by love.
My grandfather was a quiet old man, but he watched me with a doting gaze.
We went to the British Museum together, where I saw many artifacts that had appeared in popular dramas.
I took pictures with them at the Tower of London, and no one called me childish anymore,
For the first time since my parents passed, I felt truly happy again.
I–changed my number, thinking that I had finally severed ties with Adam.
