At that moment, I cried as well, but what I said cut straight to the heart.
“Mom, what gives you the right to hit Evren?”
Those broken pieces of memory stopped on the small picture I was holding.
After divorcing Evren that year, I had burned every single thing tied to him, yet I hadn’t realized one had still escaped the fire.
Just as I was ready to throw it into the trash, someone suddenly knocked on the door.
I figured it was Thelma Wagner, who always came by around this time every year, so I opened it right away.
What I hadn’t expected was to see Leah standing there, holding Evren’s arm.
Her smile was bright. “Paisley, long time no see! So many years have passed, and you haven’t changed at all.”
“Evren couldn’t refuse me. We just stopped in unexpectedly, hope we’re not disturbing you?”
I looked at the two of them calmly. “I’m not letting you come in. What do you want?”
A faint pause crossed Leah’s smile as she looked somewhat pitifully at the man beside her.
“She only wanted to see you, and she even brought a gift, nothing else in mind.”
After speaking, Evren set what he was holding down on the cabinet by the entryway.
Right away, Leah began introducing it with bright enthusiasm.
“These skincare products are the ones I’ve really liked lately. I happened to have an extra set at home. We used to share things like this all the time, so I thought I’d bring it over to you.”
Dropping my eyes for a quick look, I saw it was the same brand my housekeeper uses.
“That picture…”
Tears suddenly welled in Leah’s eyes.
“Paisley, after so many years, you still haven’t moved on, have you?”
I crushed the photo in my hand and tossed it easily into the trash. “Not that serious.”
She looked like she wanted to take my hand, but stopped partway.
“I know there’s still resentment in your heart. If you and Evren were still together, today would mark your wedding anniversary.”
“About what happened back then, I really didn’t have a choice. If you truly don’t mind anymore, let us buy you dinner. And if you ever need help with anything in your life, just tell us, we’re old friends after all.”
I was just about to turn them down right away when the candle in front of the memorial tablet suddenly crackled with a loud pop.
I gave a faint smile and changed my mind in an instant.
“All right.”
Leah spoke more than she used to. Her small gestures had also become more frequent.
As she talked about her and Evren’s trip to Turkey last month, she leaned over at a red light to apply her lip balm to his mouth.
“Every autumn and winter, I always have to remind you, last time you kissed too hard, you even bled a little, can’t you ever remember?”
Evren caught her wandering hand and looked slightly impatient. “Stop it.”
“Oh, I almost forgot, Paisley is here too.”
“Paisley, you don’t mind, do you? Evren and I have always been like this…”
I cut her off calmly. “Of course not.”
“I even saw the two of you rolling around in bed back then, so how could I care about something this small now?”
The car went completely silent. At last, quiet settled in.
As I turned my eyes to the view outside the window, I thought that if my mother were still alive, she would probably be stunned by how much everything had changed.
Back then, when Dad insisted on divorcing her for Riley, it almost drove her mad.
And when I secretly became Evren’s wife, that was what took her life.
At first, my anger was only toward my father and Riley.
They were the ones who betrayed my mother, forcing her to turn from a confident, unbreakable woman into a fragile, bitter person who lost control over the smallest things.
Time had been especially harsh on her, slowly taking away every bit of life she still had left.
