A hint of struggle appeared in her eyes.
Alex’s heart skipped a beat. He thought he would finally receive so care, but seeing Mary stopping, he mocked himself.
’You are truly overestimating yourself.’
On the other hand, Adriana felt Mary was a hypocrite.
She obviously loved Alex more than all of them, and yet she was acting indifferent now.
Suddenly, Adam leaned toward Mary and whispered sothing in her ear.
Mary’s expression turned determined as she continued to extend her hand and held Alex’s hand,
"Who did it?"
With that, Mary withdrew her hand as if she was scalded. Adam patted her hand while Adriana scoffed.
Olivia frowned and turned toward Adriana with annoyance on her face,
"Hey, can you stop?"
Adriana rolled her eyes but decided to stay silent. She didn’t want to fight with any of her family mbers after her last fight.
Alex, on the other hand, stared at Mary with a stunned gaze before tears pooled in his eyes.
The warmth of Mary’s hand seed to have seeped into his heart.
Fighting back the lump ford in his throat, Alex said in a hoarse voice,
"Jasper did it."
Then, rembering Mary doesn’t know about Jasper, he was about to explain Jasper’s identity when Mary asked furiously,
"What? Why? And what about your father? Didn’t he take a stand for you? He let his youngest son bully you?"
Alex watched Mary in disbelief as her face turned red from anger.
His heart was beating rapidly.
From Mary’s reaction, two things were clear.
First, she cared about him. A lot more than he had expected her to.
Second, she knew about Jasper...even though she had left him even before Jasper was born.
If she knew about Jasper’s existence, it could an that for the past years, she was keeping an eye on him...
The realization hit him like a wave—Mary had been aware of his life all along.
The thought of her watching from afar, knowing everything yet never reaching out, sent a complicated mix of emotions swirling inside him.
He took a deep breath, struggling to steady his voice.
"Yes, he let it happen. He always has," Alex admitted bitterly.
"He never lifted a finger to stop Jasper. To him, I was just an obligation, sothing he had to deal with. Not a son. Never a son."
Mary’s hands clenched into fists on the table.
Her lips parted as if she wanted to say sothing, but no words ca out.
The frustration in her eyes was evident, a storm of emotions raging within her.
Adam, noticing her struggle, placed a firm hand on hers, grounding her.
"Mary," he said softly, a silent reminder to stay composed.
But Mary was far from composed. Her anger simred beneath the surface, and for the first ti that evening, Alex saw sothing raw and unfiltered in her expression—regret.
If only she had not stood on the sidelines and tried to communicate with her son.
Mary exhaled sharply as though she had been holding her breath.
Then, in a voice barely above a whisper, she said, "I should’ve taken you with ."
Alex’s heart clenched. His gaze snapped to hers, searching her face for any trace of insincerity, but all he saw was pain.
Real, tangible pain.
"Then why didn’t you?" His voice cracked despite his best efforts to sound indifferent. "Why did you leave there?"
Mary flinched as if struck.
"I—" she started, but then hesitated. Whatever she wanted to say remained unsaid.
Adam, ever the composed one, finally spoke, his voice calm yet firm.
"There were reasons, Alex. It wasn’t as simple as you think."
Alex let out a hollow laugh, shaking his head.
"Reasons? What reasons could possibly justify abandoning your own child? Leaving him with a family that never wanted him?"
Mary looked down at her lap, her shoulders trembling slightly.
For the first ti, she seed smaller, fragile in a way Alex had never imagined her to be.
Adriana, who had been watching the entire exchange, leaned back in her chair and sighed.
"Look, we can sit here and dig up the past all night, but what matters is that you’re here now, Alex. You’ve got a fresh start. So stop looking back."
Alex turned his gaze to her, unsure whether to feel grateful or irritated at her bluntness.
But deep down, he knew she had a point.
A fresh start.
That was the reason he was here, wasn’t it? To start over.
Taking a shaky breath, he finally nodded. "Okay."
Mary looked up at him, her eyes filled with sothing that almost resembled hope.
Adam gave him a nod of approval. "Good. Now, let’s eat."
And just like that, the tension, though not completely gone, eased slightly.
Alex sat back in his chair, staring at his plate, his appetite nonexistent.
But for the first ti in a long ti, he wasn’t completely alone.
Maybe—just maybe—this place could be different.
......................................
The next day.
Olivia dragged Alex to et Aurora.
She didn’t know why Aurora wanted Alex to stay with them, however, she figured that Aurora might have her own reason.
Maybe Alex rescued Aurora, and Aurora wanted to repay Alex, so she invited Alex back to the Waters Family.
"Aurora, look who I have brought. Alex!"
Aurora, who was in a coma, was stunned.
Alex? The male lead?
"We had dinner yesterday, and he agreed to live with us. Oh right! Do you know? We are going to shift into a penthouse.
"Penthouse?" Alex questioned. From what he knew, the Waters Family was poor.
Olivia puffed her chest and explained,
"It’s Emily, Aurora’s godmother. She is a wealthy lady and asked us to move into one of the penthouses."
"A wealthy godmother? Don’t you think she might be trying to scam you?" Alex’s words were laced with suspicion.
"Bro, she has gifted us $400,000 worth of gold. If scamr are like that then I would like to be scamd." Olivia rolled her eyes.
Even though she wasn’t fond of Alex, she did feel a hint of pity.
Though they weren’t rich and had often struggled to get by, at least they were never beaten, and they had parents who took a stand for them whenever they were bullied.
"Exactly my point. Why would a wealthy woman like Emily suddenly be so generous? People don’t just give away thousands of dollars without expecting sothing in return."
"She’s not just anyone," Olivia said. "She’s Aurora’s godmother. And she has no ulterior motives."
Alex arched a skeptical brow. "And you’re sure of that?"
Olivia held his gaze steadily. "Yes."
Alex sighed and turned to look at Aurora.
Out of all the siblings of the Waters Family, Alex had a good impression of Aurora.
Reason?
It was because of her wish that he got the chance to live with Mary.
It was because of her wish that he was able to escape his toxic family.
He didn’t know her motive, but he did feel she was kind.
Seeing her lying on the hospital bed with a pale face and her red hair braided. Her skin was as white as snow, and lying there with an oxygen pipe in her mouth, she looked fragile.
He had his own question, but Aurora wasn’t in the state to answer.
Olivia babbled about various things to Aurora.
Alex couldn’t help but say,
"She can’t hear you...she is in a coma."
"She can." Olivia said firmly, "Before going into a coma, she had asked to recite the syllabus to her and talk with her since she will be bored if she is all by herself."
Alex blinked in confusion.
"How did she know she would go into a coma?"
Olivia thought for a while before replying,
"Let’s say she had a dream and sensed that she would go into a coma."
Alex frowned, his skepticism returning.
"Sensing things? You an like so kind of premonition?"
Olivia nodded.
"Kind of. She told that if sothing ever happened to her, I should keep talking to her. That she’d still be able to hear us, even if she couldn’t respond."
Alex glanced at Aurora again, taking in her fragile state.
Despite his doubts, sothing about Olivia’s conviction made him uneasy.
If Aurora had known sothing was going to happen to her, then what else did she know?
"And what exactly happened to her?" he asked, his voice quieter this ti.
Olivia’s expression slowly turned serious as she recounted,
"At first, she was fine. She was diagnosed with wilms tumor and was admitted in the hospital so that her dication could be started."
Alex’s heart dropped.
Wilms tumor? To such a young child?
For a mont, his heart ached for the beautiful young teenager on the hospital bed.
"Then, in the fourth week, she started to feel sleepy. Out of 24 hours, she would sleep for 14 to 15 hours. We thought sothing was wrong with her and asked the doctor to check her.
The doctors couldn’t figure out why. There was nothing physically wrong with her, but she would continue to feel sleepy. Then one day, she fell into a coma."
Alex’s jaw tightened.
"That doesn’t make sense. If there’s nothing wrong, she should be awake."
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