They Chose the Nanny, I Chose to Stop Funding Them Chapter 14
Aside from hiking, I would also go camping with my friends, and we’d chat and sing under the stars as we enjoyed ourselves. We also went to plays and movies together and shared our joys and sorrows with each other.
It made me feel incredibly happy and relaxed whenever I was with them.
Around that time, someone also began pursuing me romantically. He was one of my business partners, and he was kind, mature, stable, gentle, and thoughtful.
He knew about my past and understood my pain, and he never forced me to do the things that I didn’t like. He respected me, my career, and my opinions, and he would always comfort me when I was down or tired, and help me when I encountered any difficulties.
We got along very well. We didn’t make any grand declarations of love to each other, but we kept each other company in a steady and ever-blossoming companionship.
I knew then that this was the kind of relationship I wanted.
Meanwhile, back in the village, my parents still lived in the empty house, spending their twilight years in loneliness.
Their health was deteriorating, and they relied on medication every day.
They rarely ever left the house, and none of their friends or relatives visited anymore either. They mostly spent the majority of their days sitting on the couch, going through old photos of me as a child, remembering the love and care I’d shown them over the years, and descending into endless regret.
Once, when Sonya went to visit them, she found them sitting on the couch, clutching my childhood photo and crying their eyes out.
Mom held Sonya’s hand and choked out, “I regret it so much. If only I’d never pressured Jen or hurt her like that, she wouldn’t be ignoring us like now, and we wouldn’t be living such a miserable life.
“If only I could turn back time, I would love her and cherish her more than I ever did and never make the same stupid mistakes again.”
However, there was no going back. The past could never be undone.
They sat in their house and guarded their endless regret as they watched the seasons change outside the window. The house eventually grew cold and desolate, and they just wasted away their twilight years day by day.
I would occasionally hear updates about them from Sonya-that their health was deteriorating and they were still consumed by regret.
I didn’t feel any love or hatred toward them. It was a neutral feeling, like I was just hearing about people I didn’t really care about anymore.
My so-called reconciliation with my family didn’t mean that I’d forgiven them for the pain and hurt they’d inflicted on me. But rather, I was just forgiving myself and letting go of the past, preventing their mistakes from affecting my future.
The hurt from the past had transformed into fuel for my growth now, teaching me how to love myself, how to be strong, and how to be independent.
I bade goodbye to the shadows of the past, held my head high, and stepped into a bright and radiant new life that now belonged wholly to me.
I was only going to live for myself for the rest of my life. I would live up to the times, live up to myself, and live the life that I truly desired.
