Chapter 6
Chapter 6
My funeral was in four days, the same day as my seventh–day memorial
I floated through the air, watching my mother numbly prepare everything. The elderly bury the young, and in the blink of an eye, they had aged years.
My twenty–eight years were reduced to a tiny urn, nothing more than ashes.
Robin Bright lay in our room for four days. He examined every detail of our home, every corner marked by my presence. He didn’t eat, didn’t drink, and held my diary in his hands, feeling the weight of my pain during those last days.
Ifwasn’t until the day of my funeral that he finally left the house.
eyes were bloodshot, his beard unkempt, looking like a homeless man
He wanted to attend my funeral
My mother refused him. “Leave! Robin Bright, you’re the executioner. None of us welcome you here!”
That was the first time I’d ever seen my usually gentle mother so angry.
Robin knelt outside the funeral home, repeatedly bowing his head. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Eden, I really know I was wrong.”
“Mom, please, let me see Eden one last time.”
My mother’s response was cold. “The person Eden would least want to see is you.”
Guests murmured among themselves. “So it’s him, the man who didn’t even notice his wife was depressed, while he was busy taking care of his female patients. What a jerk.”
“I don’t see a patient there, I see a mistress.”
“I heard that back then, when this man had depression and wanted to kill himself, it was his wife who saved him.”
No one would let Robin in
He continued to bow outside the funeral home, his forehead bruised and bloodied.
That day, the rain poured heavily, as if crying over the grievances of the past year.
Robin was no longer the polished, professional man I remembered. He was a mess in the rain, pleading again and again.
My mother, holding my portrait, gazed into the sky.
“Little one, in your next life, I won’t let you suffer like this again.”
My mother did meet with Robin once.
It was for Eve.
They were fighting for custody of Eve.
Robin didn’t want to give up. “Mom and Dad, Eve is my daughter too.”
My mother’s eyes were cold. “You don’t deserve to be Eve’s father.”
Robin, of course, was unwilling. Almost every night, he would remember me, remember how I held Eve, looking at him with surprise in my eyes.
“Honey, look, Eve can turn over now!”
“Eve was so well–behaved tonight. She didn’t make a sound.”
He had already left the mess behind, built his own little home. But he had ruined everything.
14:23
Butchered by Love
59.8%
Chapter 6
Eve smiled at me in my arms, her eyes full of innocence. I wiped away the tears at the corner of my eyes and forced a smile. “Eve, be good. Daddy will come home and celebrate your birthday with you soon.”
“In his eyes…”
“Mom, this is the last memory Eden left for me.”
At the court hearing, Robin’s expression and words moved some of the spectators.
But my mother pulled out my diary.
“Today marks the 41st day since Eve was born. Vera Hicks said she wasn’t feeling well, but Eve also had a fever.”
“Eve is eight months old now. Robin Bright went to see Vera Hicks again. Vera said she was scared, that someone was following her, but she hadn’t
p left the house.”
“Eve can call me ‘Mama‘ now. It’s wonderful. Thanks to Eve’s words, I feel like I can hang on a little longer.”
Until the last entry.
“Robin still hasn’t come back. He doesn’t want me anymore, and he doesn’t want Eve either. Today is Eve’s first birthday. I’m so glad Eve decided to come into this world, but I really can’t hold on anymore. Eve, grow up well. Mama will watch over you from heaven.”
One entry after another, one accusation after another. Robin collapsed into his chair, speechless.
The courtroom erupted in whispers.
I knelt down and looked at Robin’s red–rimmed eyes.
Robin, so you do regret it, don’t you? Do you care about this little family?
But it was too late.
In the end, Robin gave up the battle for Eve’s custody. The rights were granted to my mother.
They took Eve and left A City, returning to their hometown.
Robin sold our house and moved into a rental apartment. He could no longer continue as a psychologist. He switched jobs, working relentlessly every day.”
He occasionally went to see Eve, but he never showed his face.
When Eve turned eighteen, Robin took his own life, leaving all his savings to her.
Eve grew up healthy under the care of her maternal grandparents. She went by the name Eve Bruce, and she would forever remember that she had a mother named Eden Bruce.
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