Chapter 9
I sat in the waiting lounge, holding a wooden box in my arms.
It contained my mother’s ashes.
Going home to visit her grave was true, but it also meant moving her tomb.
I had received an offer from a foreign pharmaceutical company and was preparing to leave for work. I didn’t want to leave my mother in that filthy place anymore. As for the old house, I had sold it at a low price.
A lively jazz tune rang, Homer’s exclusive ringtone.
“Where are you?” Homer’s voice was as irritable as ever, tinged with a hint of anxiety.
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“Did you get the package?” Before I left, I had sent the ring Homer gave me back to him through a local courier. Judging by the time, he should have received it by now.
“What’s the meaning of this, Wynette? Are you trying to piss me off? I’m giving you 30 minutes. If you’re not here by then, don’t bother graduating.”
“I won’t go. Homer, you ruined my hand back then and destroyed my future. Why would I stay by your side?”
Today, I wasn’t wearing a wrist brace, and the scar on my wrist was clearly visible.
It was from the time Homer slashed my wrist with a knife when he found out I wanted to apply to medical school. He said it was the price I had to pay for disobedience, that I
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could only stay by his side. I wanted to call the police, but I was threatened.
At the time, I really wanted to end it all with him, but I promised my mother I would live a good life, so with a teacher’s help, I managed to escape. How could I ever fall for such a scum?
“I never liked you,” I said, each word deliberate.
Homer roared, “Impossible. I have money, power, and I’ve been so good to you. How could you not like me? You even went with me to try on wedding dresses.”
I laughed, “Homer, when you treated me like a toy, when you made me beg for death yet couldn’t die, did you ever think that one day you would fall in love with me? No. With someone like you, to talk about love is an
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insult to the word itself. How come Isana didn’t kill you? Do you know how much I wished for your death?”
Surprisingly, Homer wasn’t angry. Instead, he begged me.
“I was wrong, okay? I noticed you in high school. I just went about it the wrong way. You see, even if we can’t have kids, I don’t mind. I just want you.”
His words came so easily, so casually, that they made me sick.
“I can’t have kids because of you, right? If you hadn’t made me have an ectopic pregnancy, I wouldn’t have had to have fallopian tubes removed.”
my
Homer fell silent. After a long pause, he smiled and threatened, “Wynette, do you
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think you can really get rid of me? Do you think I didn’t know where you went to college back then?”
Of course, I knew. I hadn’t really escaped from him back then.
I also knew that if he wanted to, he could find me in a heartbeat.
“That’s why I’ve worked hard for four years and landed an offer from a foreign pharmaceutical company!”
“You dare…”
Ignoring Homer’s shouting, I threw away the SIM card and strode toward the boarding gate, ready to embrace my new future.
The End.
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