Chapter 8 No.8

After some time, she heard the roar of a car engine outside. Ethan and Chloe were gone.

Ava calmly got up and curled up on her bed, hugging herself tightly.

The next morning, she received a call from her mother. After a moment's hesitation, she answered.

Her mother's furious voice erupted from the phone. "You've really brought shame upon us! Climbing into your guardian's bed! Do you have no decency?"

A deep sense of sorrow washed over Ava. After her parents' divorce, her mother had remarried and always called her a burden.

She rarely cared about her. The only two times she had actively shown "concern" were to berate her. Once for her confession, and now for this.

Why? Ava asked, her voice trembling. "Why do you just assume it was me?"

Her mother was silent for a moment, then replied with disgust, "If you jeopardize my position in the Hayes family, you can just go find your father."

The line went dead. Ava stared at the black screen, her expression vacant.

She bit her lip hard, refusing to let the tears fall.

The daughter her mother despised would be leaving the Hayes family in four days.

For the next few days, Ethan didn't come home. Ava was busy with her preparations for going abroad and paid them no mind.

The minute before Ethan's birthday, she opened her messaging app and clicked on his contact, which was pinned to the top. She stared at it for a long time, then closed the window.

This was the first time in ten years she hadn't wished him a happy birthday.

The next morning, she received a flight reminder. Twelve hours until departure.

She opened her social media and saw Chloe's new post. It was a picture of her and Ethan holding hands on a beach lined with roses.

Then, she received a message from Chloe.

Ethan wants to spend his birthday with just me. I hope you won't disturb us.

It was accompanied by a short video. Ethan was lying on a waterbed in a bathrobe. Chloe's shoulders were covered in tell-tale red marks.

Ava's lips curved into a wry smile. She silently closed the app and began to clear out everything that belonged to her.

Four hours until departure. She took out her sketchbook and tore up every drawing of him.

Three hours until departure. She threw away every last thing in the house that was hers.

Two hours until departure. She placed the chinchilla night lamp on the coffee table in the living room, right on top of a framed photo of Ethan and Chloe.

When she was eight, he had been her light. From now on, she would be her own light. Her own sunflower.

One hour until departure. On the back of the painting she had made of him and Chloe, she wrote a message.

Happy Birthday. And goodbye. I wish you a happy life-one that no longer includes me.

She deleted Ethan and Chloe's contacts, deactivated her accounts, and factory reset her phone.

She took one last look at the home she had lived in for ten years and headed straight for the airport.

As the plane took off, the starry sky illuminated the city lights below, and also the path ahead of her.

She would never look back.