Later, I picked up a photo from the floor. She was beautiful, bright, and she looked a little like me. That was when I finally understood. Between her and me, I was never the one he chose. I was just the substitute. The one he could touch, the one he could use, the one he didn’t have to hold back with.
From that moment, whatever feelings I had left for him burned away. But I still stayed. Why? Because my father was still in that hospital, because I needed him alive. So I played my role, quiet and obedient, and I endured everything Argus wanted but couldn’t do to Celine. I told myself it was temporary. Once my father got better, I would leave and never look back.
But in the end… all I got was his body. Cold. Gone.
And then Argus still asked me, “Do you even know what you did wrong?”
I stared at that message for a long time. Did I? Was it wrong to exist in his life? Without thinking, I opened his social feed. Beach, ocean, sunset, and him smiling freely beside Celine, so relaxed, like nothing ever happened. Like my father’s death meant nothing.
My chest tightened. Everything he had now felt like it was built on top of my father’s life.