Mom and Dad, Your Apology Came Too Late Chapter 07
The crowd around us kept growing, and I had no interest in arguing with my parents any longer.
I grabbed my adoptive father’s arm and headed home.
What I didn’t expect was that somehow, they found my address.
The look of surprise on my face made my mother smile smugly.
She waved a folder in her hand.
“You thought you could hide from us? If I want to find something, I always find it.”
Before I could stop her, she walked straight into the house.
Her eyes swept across the room, and disgust immediately crept onto her face.
“This place…”
She wrinkled her nose. “It’s tiny. And it reeks. Where’s that butcher? Not home?”
The contempt in her voice made my jaw tighten.
I forced myself to stay calm and said, “If you don’t have anything important to say, I’d like you to leave.”
“Your brother knows we’ve found you. He was crying and begging us to bring you home.”
She covered her nose with a handkerchief.
“Actually, don’t bother packing. Anything that’s been kept in a place like this doesn’t belong in my house anyway.”
I took a slow breath and looked her in the eye.
“Then I won’t be coming either.”
I smiled faintly.
“I’m one of the things in this house.”
My father immediately stepped in.
“Sam’s missed you all these years. Your mother has too.”
He sighed.
“You know what she’s like. She talks tough, but she cares.”
I couldn’t help laughing.
“Does he miss me?”
I met his gaze.
“Or does he miss my paintings?”
As far as I knew, Samuel hadn’t produced a single notable work in years.
He’d been living off the reputation built from the paintings he’d taken from my studio.
My mother’s expression darkened instantly.
“He is your only brother.”
Her voice sharpened.
“Anything you do for him is only right.”
How absurd.
Even now, she was still lying to herself.
Samuel was not my brother.
He never had been.
My mother took a deep breath and smoothed her expression back into one of practiced composure.
“There’s a major international competition coming up.”
She folded her arms.
“Because of what happened, Sam has spent years dealing with criticism and rumors.”
She looked at me as though what she was asking were perfectly reasonable.
“Paint one more piece for him. Then record a public apology video.”
Her tone softened.
“If you do that, we’ll still be a family. I’ll pretend none of this ever happened.”
I had long since stopped expecting anything from her.
Yet hearing those words still left a hollow ache in my chest.
Even now, she believed I had faked my depression and had been the one hurting Samuel.
At that moment, hurried footsteps came running from outside.
“Son!”
My adoptive father came charging through the front door, waving a butcher’s cleaver and looking ready for war.
“Are these two geezers bothering you again?”
He pointed the cleaver at my parents.
“The lady next door said there was some fancy luxury car parked outside our house, so I dropped everything and came straight back!”
I hurried to stop him before he did something reckless,
My mother’s face had gone completely white.
She kept backing away.
“Y-you can’t be serious! You can’t threaten people like that! This is a civilized society!”
My adoptive father wasn’t listening.
