Chapter 8
On the third morning, as I was making breakfast for the children. someone from the clinic arrived with the news that a person had fallen off a cliff. “He was picking herbs by the edge of the cliff. He said they were for Ms. Parrish’s cough.”
I dropped the spatula in my hand, jumped onto my bike, and raced toward the clinic. “Antonio, I knew it was you.
When I pushed open the door to the emergency room, I saw his hand slip from the edge of the hospital bed. The faded red string bracelet around hist wrist made my heart ache.
“He said there are still some things left in the cabin. If Ms. Parrish is willing. he hoped you could bring them to the children at school.”
A spring breeze lifted the notebooks on the desk, flipping through the pages of an essay where one of the children had written, “Ms. Parrish’s loved one must have turned into a star. Otherwise, why does she always smile when she looks at the sky?”
In the distance, the new volunteer teachers were singing, their voices. reaching far–just like the final words in his last letter. “The heavens have finally forgiven me and let me rest in the closest place to you.”
The end.
***
Antonio’s POV
Grace’s words that day filled me with a deep sense of shame.
When I got home. I locked myself in my room for an entire week.
I knew clearly that I had gone terribly wrong. I had been waiting for Grace to grow up, while I was being distracted.
Every time I helped Sofia, her thoughtfulness and Zoe’s cheerful, sweet nature made me forget that I already had a fiancée.
Then I suddenly realized I couldn’t live without Grace.
I went back to the hotel, hoping to explain everything to her. She would surely forgive me.
But it was too late. Grace was gone. She had left me.
I searched everywhere for Grace, but no one knew where she had gone. Finally, the professor, seeing how pitiful I looked, had someone send me a letter. When I opened it, there was just one word, “Away.”
At first, I naively thought Grace was just hiding and didn’t want to see
- me.
But then my parents called. They told me Grace had already gone to my family to call off the engagement. Everyone had kept it from me and lied
to me.
That night. I got wasted at home. In my haze, I was hugged by a soft body.
Drunk, I lost control and let my desires get the best of me.
The next morning, when I opened my eyes, reality hit me hard. The person lying beside me was Sofia.
Under pressure from the Jenkins family, I quickly married Sofia after leaving the military. The wedding day was rainy, and the ring that Ben handed me came with the share certificate of the Jenkins Group. Under
110T
Chapter B
the bright lights of the stage, Zoe clung to my leg and called me Daddy.
Under the influence of Ben, my position in the Jenkins Group steadily rose. But deep down. I knew I was just their puppet.
Later, through some connections in the Jenkins Group, I learned that Grace was teaching in a remote region. That was when I finally understood the meaning behind the one word in the professor’s letter.
I often wondered if I could give up everything now and go find Grace.
But each time. I could only bitterly laugh at myself.
By now, Grace probably wouldn’t even want to look at me.
As my influence within the Jenkins Group grew, more of its internal secrets began to surface.
So. I secretly started gathering evidence and handed it to the authorities. At the same time, I bribed the media to spread rumors about the Jenkins Group’s involvement in criminal activities.
That night, when the sirens echoed through the Jenkins Group building, Ben fainted when he realized it was me who had turned myself in. Meanwhile, Sofia was arrested by the police while trying to escape.
And, of course, I couldn’t get away with all the dirty work I’d done for the Jenkins Group over the years.
In court, I confessed to the crimes the Jenkins Group had committed over the years.
Sitting in the defendant’s seat, Sofia glared at me with red eyes. If the officers hadn’t been holding her back, she would’ve torn me to pieces.
