She Quit Her Family and Found Herself novel Chapter 31

Hulda tapped on the image to enlarge it. It was glaringly obvious that the photo had been taken in their house.

She immediately recognized the spot on the sofa where Sylvie was sitting with Miles—it was the exact place she sat every night, waiting for Herbert to come home.

The flowers on the coffee table in front of them were the ones she had bought just a few days ago.

Her fingers trembled slightly. She tried to swipe back out of the image but accidentally tapped Miles's profile picture instead, instantly taking her to his social media feed.

Row after row of photos filled her screen. Different times, different places, but Sylvie was in every single one of them.

Hulda had always been an open-minded mother. She never actively pried into her son's privacy. In her memory, Miles had never been the type of kid who liked posting his life online.

Whenever she took him out to play or baked his favorite treats, she would ask if he wanted to post a picture.

His answer was always the same: "No, that's childish."

Hulda had never overthought it. She respected his boundaries. Back then, she even thought his little-adult demeanor was endearing.

She genuinely believed he just didn't like social media, which was why she had never seen a single post from him.

Scrolling down, photo by photo, she reached the one-year mark.

That meant Miles had known Sylvie for an entire year. Over the past twelve months, they had met countless times. They went on outings, ate at nice restaurants, did science experiments at home...

Everything a son should do with his mother, Miles had done with Sylvie.

The difference was, when Hulda did those things with him, Herbert was never around.

But whenever he was with Sylvie, his father was always patiently by their side.

It turned out Miles didn't hate posting on social media. He had just set every single post to be hidden from her.

Now, for some unknown reason, that restriction was lifted. She could see them, which could only mean one thing—he didn't need her as a mother anymore.

She gently tapped the 'like' button. Then, she scrolled back to the top and 'liked' the post Miles had just made: "Me and my favorite mom."

After that, she closed the app, set her phone down, and walked over to the study window.

Outside the gates of Jadecrest Villas, a black sedan was slowly driving away.

The light that had flashed across her window came from its headlights.

Even though it was purely accidental, Hulda silently mouthed a 'thank you'.

Thank you to that faint ray of light for pulling her out just when she was about to drown in self-doubt.

Inside the car, Dylan eased off the gas, craning his neck to check the rearview mirror, repeatedly glancing back at the villa they had just passed.

"Keep your eyes on the road," Caspian said from the backseat. His eyes were closed, his brow slightly furrowed, clearly displeased with his driver's sudden distraction.