Chapter 24
These days, Aria stayed at the hospital day and night, moving between various rooms, carefully tending to the Pierce family and Maxwell. She wiped Mr. Pierce’s body, fed Mrs. Pierce, and changed Connor’s bandages, each action careful and focused.
Watching Aria’s busy figure, the Fierce family felt their guilt grow even stronger.
Mr. Pierce tried to speak several times but didn’t know where to begin.
Finally, one afternoon, he caught Aria’s hand as she was about to leave the room and said with a rembling voice: “Aria, we know we were terribly wrong before. Please forgive us.”
Mrs. Pierce and Connor stood nearby, their eyes full of expectation.
Aria paused, a flash of pain crossing her eyes.
She took a deep breath and slowly said: “I don’t forgive you. I’ve been taking care of you these days only because you saved my life. But I won’t forget the pain you caused me. Those days of being ignored, those painful memories–they can’t just be forgotten.”
Hearing Aria’s words, the Pierce family felt as if they’d been struck by a heavy hammer.
Mrs. Pierce covered her face and wept, Mr. Pierce lowered his head, and Connor looked at Aria with a pained expression.
Aria looked at them and said each word deliberately: “After I finish taking care of you, we’ll have no relationship anymore. I’m begging you not to find me and to let me go completely. Don’t make me remember that unbearable past again.”
With that, Aria turned and walked out of the room.
Aria’s figure grew more distant with each step, and each step felt like it was treading on the Pierce
family’s broken hearts.
Mr. Pierce watched the direction she left, his hands hanging lifelessly at his sides. Memories of his coldness toward Aria flashed through his mind like a slideshow.
He remembered how Aria would longingly watch him play with Serena when she was little, and how he would impatiently send her away.
1912
Chapter 24
He remembered Aria’s birthdays when he never even offered a simple greeting, too busy planning extravagant parties for Serena.
Now, regret flooded over him like a tidal wave. His throat felt constricted, only able to produce a desperate, hoarse cry: “Aria…”
Mrs. Pierce collapsed to the floor, repeatedly pounding the ground, her sobs heartbreaking.
She recalled how when Aria was sick, she merely gave her some medicine before rushing off to care
for Serena.
Then there was that school event Aria had eagerly hoped she would attend, but she canceled because of Serena’s minor mood swing.
“How could I have been so heartless? Aria, Mom is so sorry…” Her voice was broken from excessive crying, her face covered in tears and mucus, completely immersed in endless self–blame and
suffering.
Connor leaned against the wall, slowly sliding down to sit, holding his head in his hands, staring blankly ahead.
He remembered helping Serena take away Aria’s beloved toys and mocking her weakness.
He remembered how at school, to avoid Aria “embarrassing him,” he deliberately distanced himself from her in front of classmates, isolating her.
These memories were like sharp blades, piercing his heart.
“Aria, your brother was wrong, I regret it so much. Please come back…”
His cries were filled with deep despair and helplessness, but all that answered him was the cold silence of the hospital corridor.
Their sobs intertwined, filling the entire hospital room.
Each of them was repenting for their past actions, but they also knew that the damage they had caused could not be easily erased.
Aria’s departure was like a wound that would never heal, leaving their hearts bleeding. They coukl only struggle in this abyss of pain, tasting the bitter fruit of their own making.
19.13
