The Stand-In Girl He Couldn’t Keep Chapter 09
Two days later, my mom asked me to come have dinner with her.
I rushed to the hospital straight after work, only to find her eyes red and swollen. A sudden wave of worry washed over me.
“Mom, what’s wrong? Did something happen?”
She gently stroked my hair, her expression full of tenderness. “I’m fine, sweetheart. Don’t worry. I just watched a couple of episodes of a drama earlier. The story was too sad, so I ended up crying.”
Relieved, I tried to cheer her up. “You should watch more cheerful shows. Stop watching those tragic melodramas. Feeling sad isn’t good for your recovery either.”
She smiled warmly. “Alright. I’ll listen to you.”
At the time, I had absolutely no idea that this would be the last time I would ever see Mom alive.
***
By the time I rushed back to the hospital again, Mom had already closed her eyes forever.
She had swallowed an entire bottle of sleeping pills. By the time they found her, she was already gone.
I collapsed to my knees beside the hospital bed, clutching her icy hand as I cried so hard I could barely breathe.
There was a letter left for me on the bedside table.
My hands trembled violently as I unfolded it. “Ellie, my baby girl, I’m so sorry. I’ve been a burden to you for so long, making your life so hard.
“Don’t be sad because I’m gone. Taking medicine every day has been painful for me, too. To me, death is a kind of relief.”
“Leave Steven. Go live the free life that belongs to you.
“I will pray for you from the other world, watching over you so you can be happy and safe forever.”
I pressed the letter tightly against my chest, crying out for her over and over again, but no one answered.
“Ms. Bouchard, a young girl came to see your mother the other day. She said a lot of terrible things.”
“Mrs. Bouchard didn’t want you to worry, so she told me not to tell you.”
“I’m sorry. If I’d known she would do something like this, I never would’ve helped keep it from you.”
From the caregiver’s words, I learned that Sophia had been to the hospital.
Mom had always believed Steven and I were in a relationship.
But Sophia had brutally shattered that lie.
She told Mom that Steven only treated me as a toy, a tool for sex he kept around because he was bored.
Mom couldn’t bear to keep burdening me. She couldn’t stand the thought of me continuing to be controlled by Steven for money. So she chose to end her own life.