Love Began with the First Meeting novel Chapter 1002

The doctor left the manor soon after. Freya looked sad and worried as she stood by Ximena's bed. Aaron said, "I'm afraid that she won't wake up any time soon. You'd better stay here with her. There's something that I need to handle."

Freya nodded without asking any questions. She stared at Aaron's retreating back until he disappeared from her sight. She looked at Ximena's deathly pale face and felt a pang in her heart. She stretched her hand to stroke her daughter's face gently. Due to all the physical labor she had done through the years, her palms were very rough and had calluses. But because of her touch, the frown on her daughter's forehead smoothened a bit.

"Ximena," Freya choked on her sobs. "I don't want you to be like this..." Tears spilled over her eyes uncontrollably. Twenty seven years ago, she had been pregnant with Ximena in a very difficult circumstance. She had been in prison during that time, and that had been where she had given birth to her daughter. After realizing that she was pregnant, she had begun to act according to other people's wishes and learned to play up to the inmates in order to protect herself and her baby from violence. After her baby was born, the inmates felt Ximena's vitality, the aura of a new born baby.

She cried, chuckled and made baby noises in such a vibrant manner, which was completely different from the normal atmosphere in a prison. As a result of that, people in other prison cells had started envying them.

As these memories came back to her, Freya pursed her lips into a straight line, and salty tears rolled to the corners of her mouth, echoing the bitterness in her heart. At that time, she had tried her best to be in her best behavior in hopes of being released earlier because she didn't want her daughter to grow up in prison. Unfortunately, things hadn't worked out as she had hoped.

In the beginning, she had been grateful for what had happened. But when she later found out the truth, she had been furious. And finally, she had just become indifferent towards everything in her life. She figured that perhaps that's how people were supposed to live their lives after losing everything—just plain existence and nothing more.

"Ximena," Freya said softly while stroking her daughter's hand with her rough fingers, "I don't want you to learn anything about the past, even if you end up hating or blaming me for not telling you. If you find out everything that happened in the past, you will feel immense pain and you wouldn't know how to face the truth. Compared to that, I would rather you resent me. At least that way... you might forgive me sooner or later, instead of being immersed and locked by the stories of the past."

*

The abandoned construction site looked gloomy under the cloudy, hazy sky.

Hugo was in an ash black jacket, a pair of black suit pants, and a black trucker cap which concealed more than half his face. Only the lower part of his face was visible. He had a small stubble around his mouth, making him look dispirited.

By his side was a broken mat and a worn out quilt. It was a miserable scene to behold. He was sitting on a large piece of cardboard with his legs crossed. He had a laptop in his hand, which was connected to an unknown power source with a long electric wire. He looked at his laptop screen with a wild arrogant smile in his eyes.

His fingers were busy on the keyboard, creating a sound that echoed throughout the empty building. When he saw the amount of money that had been just added to his account, an evil grin appeared on his lips. Then he closed the laptop and put it on top of the cardboard. He grabbed the plastic bag beside him, which had some bread and water. He took the bread out of the bag and began eating.