After some time, Molly had collected herself and made her way to the bed. She was wondering how she would deal with the fact that she had to be alone with Brian tonight. Her train of thought was broken by the sound of Brian coming out of the bathroom. He seemed so clean and fresh post-bathing. Slung on his body was a white bathrobe and his hair was wet and combed neatly backwards making his angular face even sharper than it already was. Molly was blushing again. He slowly went up to her and said flatly, "Go to sleep, don't wait up." Molly was a bit hurt at this words but she was more caught up on the fact that she was hurt. Why would she be hurt? She lowered her head hastily in embarrassment and didn't respond. As if he couldn't see her embarrassment, Brian continued, "I need to catch up on work as there are some urgent concerns I need to take care of. So I'm gonna be late, you can go ahead and sleep now."
Molly wasn't really sure what he meant. But since she knew Brian very well, she just didn't ask anymore. She knew Brian had to have his way and she didn't really want to know what Brian's attention was on, so she just nodded her head in assent. Brian walked out of the bedroom and went to his study silently.
Molly was left all alone in the bedroom. It was strange but apart from the moments of disappointment or embarrassment, she ultimately just felt empty. She was unsure about everything that she was sure of, ironically enough. She bit her lips and sipped her milk while her mind wandered off. When she had finished off her milk, she stood up robotically and headed to the bathroom for a shower.
The moon had gradually made its way to the center of the sky, which reflected softy on the window. Everything was a peaceful calm and a blaring quiet. It was easy to get lost in one's mind on nights like this.
Molly lay in their bed that smelled of Brian's familiar scent. She lay wide awake, unable to sleep as her eyes stared blankly at the ceiling and her mind still racing.
Edgar, Eric, Spark and Brian... Her mind constantly thought of these four men in her life. She remembered all the days she had spent with each of them in different ways—either the first intimacy she had ever felt toward a man, or the rescue when she was in the devastating terror, or the warm company in her infinite loneliness, or the struggle and desperation as she gave up on her eyes... Everything she went through in life had something to do with these four men. Her life was so deeply ingrained by these four men. They were stamped in her heart. She was a simple girl who had ordinary dreams—the kind that most girls had. But she couldn't even have that and it was mostly because of these four men. Her mind just kept racing—there were so many things to think about what with her roller coaster of a life.
She remained soundless and lay in complete stillness as her mind ran through some memories, her eyes fixed on the dim light above while her ears held on to the sound of the clock ticking.
'Molly, there's no recipe for forgiveness. Now that you've decided, you're at the point of no return. There's no point in going back, you just have to make it through and continue moving forward, ' Molly thought to herself, 'It doesn't matter if you're hurt or if he doesn't love you back or if you're afraid even to be loved, or what anyone else thought of you. The point is there's nothing you can do now. You made your choice when you decided to keep Mark so you have to take your responsibilities as his mother. No matter what you went through, you just have to keep reminding yourself that Mark gave you happiness. There's not a day that you regretted having him even in the rough days. You always thought he was the calm after the storm.'
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