Next One Is a Babe

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What was the purpose of telling lies, then? Was Ian wrong to say that he didn’t want to do it?

Sean let out a long sigh. “Dad has been thinking about you all the years that you’ve been away from home. But I guess that’s the way you guys interact with each other—I don’t think it’s something he can change at this point. He’s worried that you won’t ever open up to him as well. When you participated in a talent show, he ordered all the company staff to vote for you, and he secretly hired some trolls to support you. He didn’t tell any of us about this. So, it’s not fair for you to say that he doesn’t care about you at all, Ian. He just doesn’t know how to express his love for you.”

Ian pressed his lips together without saying anything.

“You have your own way of thinking, so you shouldn’t let what I just said impact you too much. It all depends on you—you can do what you wish to, and no one has the right to intervene or criticize you,” Sean continued. Ian no longer responded after that. He simply turned and walked off.

The three of them were quiet on the way home. Every now and then, Cindy would turn to peek at Ian. His face didn’t seem too tense, but he didn’t look too pleased. Cindy felt rather sad herself—not because of Bryce’s condition, but because she was reminded of her own family matters. In the past, Anthony had also passed away from an illness, and he had also remained in the hospital for a long time before that. Cindy could understand the sense of helplessness that came with accompanying a patient but not being able to do anything.

Earlier, when Cindy saw Bryce lying on the bed, she had sudden flashbacks of the things that she had experienced in the past. Some farewells remained hard regardless of how much she tried to let go of it.

Ian’s situation was a little better than hers—at least he was never close to Bryce. He wouldn’t be impacted as strongly even if anything happened to Bryce. Anthony’s death had been a huge blow to Cindy in the past. Her situation was rather different—Anthony was the only one in the family who protected her, and her life became more miserable after he passed away.

Once the car stopped in front of their housing area, Ian turned to speak to Cindy and Aurora. “You guys can head home first. I’m going to buy some cigarettes,” he said. Purchasing cigarettes was just an excuse, and both Cindy and Aurora could tell. Despite this, they played along and got out of the car. “We’ll prepare lunch at home. You should come back soon,” Cindy said with a nod.

Ian didn’t respond, and Aurora and Cindy walked off toward their unit. It was already past lunchtime, so they didn’t bother to prepare multiple dishes. They simply prepared bowls of cold noodles. Everyone had a ball of fiery rage inside them today, so they figured it would be helpful to have something that would cool them down. It didn’t take much time to prepare cold noodles, so they were done before Ian got home.

Both Aurora and Cindy knew that Ian wasn’t very happy, so they didn’t call him to urge him to come home and just waited. Quite some time passed before Ian returned, but he seemed much more like himself when he came back. “I’m starving. Have you guys eaten?” he asked once he entered the house.