99 Times Repeated, Not Once Did They Say I Love You Chapter 12

99 Times Repeated, Not Once Did They Say I Love You Chapter 12

After that, Silas didn’t come looking for me again.

Finals were closing in, and I put the whole thing out of my mind. But on the day I finished my exams and got ready to leave campus, I ran into my father at the front gate.

The moment he saw me, something lit up in his tired, dull eyes.

We went to a café near the university.

Once we’d sat down, he started. “We looked into everything that happened to you. Your mother cries every

day. She keeps saying she failed you.”

I lowered my head and stirred my coffee, watching the ripples spread across the surface.

But inside, I felt nothing.

I had cried in front of them once, too.

It was on the ninety-sixth attempt. They’d refused to throw me a birthday party yet again, and years of living

like a ghost finally broke me. I trashed the banquet hall, screamed until my lungs ached, and begged them to

see me.

Afterward, my mother blamed me for ruining Maeve’s happy day and slapped me across the face.

Her eyes, which could be so gentle when she wanted them to be, were as cold as ice.

When Maeve cried, the whole family gathered around to comfort her.

When I cried, all I got was that cold slap.

From then on, no matter how much it hurt, I never cried in front of them again.

So my mother’s tears couldn’t buy a shred of my sympathy.

When my father saw I was unmoved, he cleared his throat as if to cover his embarrassment, then slid a card

across the table.

“We didn’t know you suffered that much. Money is the only way we can think of to make it up to you.”

He hesitated, then went on. “And we’re planning to send Maeve abroad. She won’t be staying at the Lioraen house anymore.”

His voice softened. “Hazel, whatever happened, we’re still blood. We’re still family. Come home.”

I let out a short, mocking laugh.

“Send her abroad? And keep paying for her life over there? That’s the same as letting her go on being your daughter somewhere else. That’s what you call leaving home?”

Having it spelled out that plainly left him looking uncomfortable, but I kept going, my face blank.

“You always say we’re blood, so we’re family. But have you ever once treated me like family?”

“You knew Maeve’s mother ruined my life. You knew I suffered because of her. But because Maeve was the

child you raised, the one you couldn’t bear to let go, you ignored how I felt and kept her at home.”

“Silas blamed me for coming back and ruining your happy family of four. Neither of you ever corrected him,

because deep down, you thought the same thing.”

I looked him straight in the eye. “You’re the ones who brought me back. So why am I the one who’s supposed

to apologize for existing?”

His head snapped up, and something complicated flickered in his eyes. It might have been shock, or regret,

or both.

I didn’t care which.

I pulled the card toward me.

“I’ll take the money. You owe me that.”

Then I met his eyes calmly. “Consider it a buyout of whatever blood ties are left between us. After this, don’t

come looking for me again.”