During the five days abroad, I constantly wondered why I had taken on such a self-torturing emotion.
It was five days, 120 hours. He never texted or called me.
But I picked up my phone thousands of times.
It was always an unequal relationship.
And things only got worse after Kay came back.
The flight was delayed again and again due to the heavy rain.
I changed my phone number and finally got to reach Jeff.
"Jeff, Spike is my younger brother."
There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line, and then he said, his voice indifferent, "Ella, think before you lie."
"I'm not lying." I tried to steady my breath. "A week ago, I made a reservation at a restaurant just to tell you that I had found my brother. I wanna talk to you about holding a..."
"You really have to go all out just to deal with Kay?" he interrupted me coldly. "Ella, be kind, OK? You're a mom, too, and you have a daughter. Don't you know how unfortunate it is for a girl to experience such a thing?
"The abuser should be punished by law, no matter how old he is, how good he is in school, and how bright the future is, still, it cannot hide the fact of his crime."
I listened to his increasingly angry tone, pinching my palm.