It was our inevitable destiny to forget. Everything was like an unaligned drawing. Anything in the past could no longer return to the past. Everything slowly extended like this and staggered inch by inch. In the end, our lives might have been different.
*
"She's gone, right?" It was almost a statement, not a question. And she had no immediate response.
Shirley always wanted to be honest with her son, but she could not tell him that Molly had left.
Slowly, Richie walked towards Shirley, his feet dragging. Astonished by the brutal atmosphere surrounding her son, she was forced to walk backward, one step at a time, until she finally fell into an embrace with the familiar smell of tobacco.
Raising her head slightly, Shirley looked at Richie. Her expression was gloomy, while his cool and sculptured face was impassive. His cold eyes shifted to Brian and stared at him sharply as a falcon would.
It made Brian uncomfortable to have his father looking at him, so he clamped his teeth before inquiring, "Did she leave on her own accord, or did you send her away?"
"Is there a difference?" There was a subtle hint of annoyance behind Richie's calm tone. "After all, she's already left!"
"With my men in the hospital, it was impossible for her to leave the premises!" Brian retorted. His eyes had turned scarlet, and there was a danger that his wound could burst open if he continued to rage. The wound's moist appearance and the metallic smell of blood further added to an already bleak atmosphere.
"I sent her away, so what?" Richie said insolently. "If she didn't want to leave, how could I send her away?" He laughed grimly. His tone was frosty as he related what had happened. "I offered money for her exiting A City with the least hesitation. She accepted the check and understood the conditions." Eyes rolling in exasperation, Richie emphasized, "It was she who wanted to leave. Understand?"
"No!" Brian roared. The combination of panic and fury shook Brian's body, but he managed to stay on his feet. His cheeks already sunken from severe weight loss looked even thinner. Nightmares filled his thoughts, and after hearing what Richie said, they exploded all of a sudden. He gritted his teeth to hold back the pain and cried, "She promised to wait for me!"
There was an uncertain persistence in Brian's roar. He stared at his father as if he were looking at an enemy.
Ignoring the irreverent image of his son, Richie believed it was necessary for Brian to receive training in various aspects of life. "You should know better than anyone else if she was going to wait for you or not and whether she wanted to leave or not!" Richie said.
His words were like an arrow that shot straight through Brian's heart. And the pain was like nothing he had ever felt before. He had never known anything could be as painful as what he was feeling now. He had suffered many injuries in the past, but the pain he felt then was nothing compared to what he was going through now.
'Mol, you said that you would wait for me. Why didn't you wait for me!' Brian grieved.
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