I carefully placed the box of ashes and the upside-down portrait on the cabinet, then walked slowly, step by step, until I stood in front of Drew.
Without a flicker of hesitation, I picked up the pen and signed my name.
From the corner of my eye, I saw him scanning me coldly from head to toe. All I felt in return was a wave of disgust and a quiet sense of powerlessness.
As soon as I finished signing, he gave a mocking snort and tossed a bank card onto the floor.
"All your money’s in there, untouched. Take it as my gift for two years together. I was wrong about you."
I turned back and looked at him one final time.
I remembered just days ago when my mom was on the brink of death. She whispered that she wanted to see Drew and said she just wanted to know we were doing well.
By then, he had already lost all patience with me, ever since I begged him for help. Still, for my mom’s sake, I swallowed my pride and called him.
It wasn’t until the next morning that he finally answered. The moment he picked up, he snapped with biting sarcasm.
"Back to beg for money again? Go ahead. What is it this time?"
I choked back my anger and said quietly, "My mom’s not going to make it. Can you come to see her? Just once. Let her believe we’re okay. That’s all she wants."
What came next was a loud burst of laughter from his end.
"Nice upgrade to your little script. Do you really think that’ll make me feel sorry for you? That I’d suddenly throw money at you because you tugged a few heartstrings?"
"This drama’s not really my thing. Keep practicing. Maybe next time, come up with something actually touching. Who knows. I might even believe it."
Then he hung up. When I called again, I was already blocked.
He never showed up. Not even when my mom passed away.
I couldn’t forget the last thing she said to me.
She looked at me, her voice soft but filled with warmth.
"When the baby comes, I won’t be around to help with your postpartum care. Women really need rest after childbirth. I still wanted to remind him to take good care of you."
"A couple needs to understand each other. He’s a good boy. You two should live well together."
Even in her final breath, she still wished for me to have a good life with him.
But she didn’t know that just one day after I begged Drew for help, he dragged me to the hospital and forced an abortion on me.
He said he didn’t want a child to be used against him. Said he’d crush any hope I had left.
Fresh out of surgery, I had no time to breathe. Medical bills hounded me like shadows, and I threw myself into endless side jobs, day and night, without pause.
And what was Drew doing during that time? Drinking, partying with another woman, whining to his friends that I was using him?
I couldn’t even summon the strength to be angry anymore. All that remained was a bitter, ridiculous sense of absurdity.
I picked up the card because inside was the money my mom had spent her entire life saving. That money was hers. I had every right to take it back.
Drew let out a cold snort behind me as if mocking the way I stooped to retrieve it.
I said nothing. I pocketed the card and quietly began packing my things.
Five hundred thousand dollars, enough to buy my mom a proper urn and a grave where she could finally rest in peace.
The thought hit me like a blow, and a sharp sting rose in my nose.
I had never been someone who cried. Not when I was caring for her, not even when she passed.
Even now, I keep wondering if I had just tried a little harder, would things have turned out differently?
But the truth was, the pain had only just arrived. And it was only now that I began to realize, piece by piece, that my mom was truly gone.
Tears slid silently down my cheeks as my trembling hands struggled to keep packing, until, all of a sudden, the doorbell rang.
Drew went to answer it, and I slowly looked up.
The woman standing at the door looked familiar; it was the same young girl I’d seen at the dealership picking up her new car.
She beamed at Drew, her voice light and sweet.
"Brother, I was worried she might lose it and do something desperate, so I came to protect you. Poor people can be terrifying when they’re cornered. Did you finish signing the papers? I came to take you home."
Drew’s expression softened the instant he saw her.
