My Brother Never Gave Me a Home Chapter 12
“What you’ve done. It’s just to soothe your own guilt. It has nothing to do with me.”
“I won’t come back just because you did something. All I know is that I’m happy now.”
“Mr. Ashford. Not every life needs a perfect ending. I have no obligation to split the love I pour into my parents just to satisfy your moral or family guilt.”
“I don’t need more love. And I don’t want to love anyone else.”
“Some relationships don’t need to cross paths again. Like us. You live your life. I live mine. We’re both doing
fine. That’s what’s best. That’s what I’ve always wanted.”
“So please. Stop coming into my life. Thank you.”
I didn’t stick around to watch his disappointment and pain.
Closed the apartment door. Crisp. Clean.
Returned to my unfinished lab work.
After that, I didn’t see Leo again.
But his name kept surfacing. His company’s name.
On campus. In the research group.
Until my senior year. The year I started grad school.
A lawyer called.
Something about an inheritance to transfer.
I thought it was a prank.
Until the police showed up at the lab. With the lawyer.
They handed me a death certificate. Two months old.
And a will.
“Mr. Leo Ashford was in a car accident two months ago. On his way back from visiting a family grave. He
was rushed to the ICU. Fought for two days. Didn’t make it.”
“He left a will before he died. Ashford Group and all his personal assets go to you. He told us not to contact you until now. Said he didn’t want to affect your exams.”
“He asked that you handle his final arrangements. That you bury him beside your biological parents.”
It hit me like an electric current.
Half my body went numb.
I held his ashes.
When I signed the papers, a tear dropped onto the urn.
After I buried him beside our parents, I crashed.
Sick for a week.
That whole week, I dreamed.
Dreams from when we were small. All of us together.
Dreams from when I was older. The moments we’d shared.
Until the very last dream.
White-haired me. Waving goodbye to them.
Like I’d truly lived a whole life with them.
When I woke, the sickness was gone.
I went back to school. Back to the lab. Back to my research.
Hired professionals to run the company.
Every year, I put the dividends toward school projects.
Some toward charity. Some to support my parents.
Years later, I stood at the top of my field.
Still chasing the passion and the dream I’d always loved.
Looking back, all of it had been bricks.
Bricks that built the resilient life I was meant to live.
I took a bottle of wine to that grave.
Visited them all.
When I left, a cool breeze swept through the trees.
Three butterflies landed on my shoulder.
I didn’t move.
Just stood there. Still. Bathing in the sun.
One by one, they fluttered away.
I ran toward my parents. Waiting for me in the distance.
Toward the open tree-lined road, I shouted.
“I’m good. And I’ll be even better.”
