Me After Meeting You

“I, on the other hand, couldn’t identify you at all.” Calvin’s mother eyes drooped as she played with her facemask. “I only realized it was you after Calvin told me that it was you who wanted to see me.”

“Sorry. I didn’t intentionally try to hide my identity from you, I was also very surprised by this coincidence.”

“Right, surprised. Who knows,” Calvin’s mother mumbled, only breaking out of her stupor after a while. “Alright. What happened to that family?”

Her voice wasn’t as cold as when she had answered the phone, but it was clear that she didn’t like them either. Amber explained what she knew, but when Calvin’s mother heard that Elly’s grandmother had died at Elly’s hands, Calvin’s mother only laughed coldly, as she said, “Truly, a just retribution!”

And when she heard Amber recount what Mark had said in the hospital, she laughed even more coldly. “He’s really gotten better at acting, hasn’t he? Being better to his daughter? If he had really wanted to do that, he would have done it before she became a victim. It’s more that he was desperate and just wanted to drag at least a few others down with him, right?”

Amber had to admit, as someone who had once shared a bed with Elly’s father, Calvin’s mother knew him very well.

Amber also didn’t know what to say because she could hear that Calvin’s mother didn’t need her acknowledgment.

After getting up to speed on the situation, Calvin’s mother finally asked about Elly. “Can her illness be treated?”

“That will depend on what happens in the future. Even if a patient suffering from mental illness is able to leave the hospital, there’ll be a long period during which she’ll need her family members support and accompaniment. This is necessary for her to slowly reintegrate into society and get back on track again.”

“And if not? Will she just stay crazy, as she is now?”

Amber remained silent, agreeing tacitly.

When Calvin’s mother saw Elly’s reaction, she took a cigarette out of her bag and lit it. Only after taking a few deep breaths did she say, “Actually, it’s fine even if she’s crazy. This way, at least she won’t know everything, so she won’t have to be pained by her father and her own actions.”

“Mrs. Kenric!” Amber frowned.

“Can you not bear to listen to my words?” Calvin’s mother glanced at her and smiled, beautiful in its own grimness. “I’m just telling the truth. How hard it is to live! You’re only free after you go crazy or die, just like that man. Hah, if he wanted to toss that girl to me and have me raise her, then why didn’t he do it fourteen years ago?

At that time, I would have taken her away with me even if I had to suffer a bit, but he waited until she was crazy and silly before throwing her to me. What kind of person does he think I am?!”

She was obviously emotionally agitated, and nothing Amber could say now would help. Instead, she chose to say nothing and listen passively.

Calvin’s mother, as expected, complained a great deal. The general gist of her words matched what Amber had gleaned from other sources. Elly’s father loved to gamble, and he did it so often that he even developed good acting skills from it. Thus, those who didn’t know the truth all thought that he was a good, honest, responsible man.

In truth, however, his actions were so vile that all his relatives kept him at arms lengt hand all his friends had severed their relationships. Calvin’s mother leaving him was not without cause, it hadn’t even been a month since Elly’s birth when debtors came to collect his debts.

However, what could he do with the little money she made? So, he had decided to prey upon Calvin. “He didn’t try to sell off his entire body, but he somehow found a connection to an organ buyer and wanted to sell off his organs, Amber.” As Calvin’s mother explained their history, tears started streaking down her face. “You’ve seen him, that despicable man. Do you believe that he could have done this?”

Amber shook her head. She couldn’t believe it, but she believed that Calvin’s mother had spoken the truth. Honestly, once she had found out that Calvin’s mother was also Elly’s mother, she had also realized that much of what she had heard in the town wasn’t necessarily true.

At the least, she had some prior knowledge about what kind of person Calvin’s mother had been during those few years of her highschool. If she were truly as promiscuous as the towns folk suggested, then she wouldn’t have struggled so hard by taking on multiple jobs at once just so that Calvin could receive a proper education.

Only, Amber never imagined that the truth would be far more horrifying and extreme than she could have ever anticipated.

Calvin’s mother gently wiped her tears, but she continued sobbing intermittently as she spoke to Amber. “Given how kind hearted society is these days, even if Elly had a mother who ran away and a useless father … As long as she could stand on her own two feet, then why would she be ostracized? Rather than being bullied, she must have been implicated, implicated by those actions of his, causing the other parents to sic their kids on her!”

Amber suddenly felt a chill creep down on her back upon realizing the implication behind Calvin’s mother words. She somewhat arduously asked, “That couldn’t be, right? Perhaps he became … better later on?”

“Better?” Calvin’s mother could only laugh at Amber’s response, her beautiful face turning somewhat sinister. “Then do you know why I had to remarry? Why, even though Calvin did so well on this country, I still sent him overseas? Because he found me! He asked me for money, and if I didn’t give him any, then he said that he would harm my precious child.

He’s crazy, he’s capable of doing anything! So why is the world so unfair? Why wasn’t he the one sent to a mental hospital? Why is he still alive, even after hurting so many people?!”

‘But wasn’t Calvin his son? Would that man really ruin his own son just for money?’

Amber had seen her fair share of ugliness, but even she couldn’t guarantee that there weren’t such parents in the world.