“I’m sorry, Frederick!”
With that, Sasha started crying.
Frederick slowed to a halt and stared at her while panting heavily, his eyes turning red immediately.
“You… you’re still alive? Why didn’t you… why didn’t you tell me? Don’t you know how depressed I was for the past few years?” he asked, his voice shaking uncontrollably.
As onlookers watched in much shock and disbelief, Frederick began to sob like a child, despite being over seventy years old.
Sasha’s fingers dug into her palms painfully.
She looked up to meet his eyes pleadingly. “Yes, Frederick, it’s all my fault. Please don’t be too hard on yourself.”
She offered him her hands, as though she was waiting for him to punish her.
Frederick simply stared at her wordlessly, the lump in his throat making it hard for him to say anything.
It reminded him of the older times, where she would stand before him and let him scold her as he wished whenever she made a mistake.
He used to be decisive in his punishments, but as he stared at his long-lost daughter-in-law crying before him, he found himself hesitating.
He let his tears flow freely as he struggled to find words to expressed just how relieved he was to see her again.
A few minutes later, a nursing home employee appeared by his side and helped him into the building as Sasha followed them in silence.
She had spent countless hours pondering over what she should say in the event she met him, and she had been sure that a simple apology would be sufficient.
A lot of time had passed since then, and now she had kids to inform him about.
I’m going to tell Sebastian that he has a daughter too. Maybe I should just come clean with Frederick too?
“When did you come back? Where have you been the past few years? How were things there?” Frederick asked after he had a sip of tea to sooth his emotions.
Sasha looked up with a start. “I’ve been back for a while, Frederick. I thought you knew everything?”
“Of course I didn’t! I just found out five minutes ago that you’re still alive! How am I supposed to know where you went or when you came back?” Frederick exclaimed.
Sasha fell silent.
He didn’t know about my return?
Didn’t Sebastian bring me back just to meet him? Why doesn’t he know anything?
Something smelled fishy to Sasha, and Frederick’s bewildered expression resurfaced in her mind all of a sudden.
He looked like he really didn’t know that I am alive…
What did he say? ‘You’re still alive?’
Did that guy hide the truth from his own father?
Why would he do that?
Just… why?
Her heart sank further into her stomach the more she thought about it.
“What’s wrong, Sasha? You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to,” Frederick said with a wave of his hand upon noticing how uncomfortable she looked.
However, he froze when Sasha’s made eye contact with him all of a sudden.
“Frederick… Sebastian brought me back.”
“What? Sebastian?”
“Yeah. He found me in Clear, and he told me that he’s going to bring me back to meet you. Didn’t he tell you that, Frederick?”
Her voice grew softer as she spoke, and Frederick could only stare at her in disbelief.
He was indeed kept in the dark by Sebastian, but something seemed off about Sasha, and he decided to tell a white lie. “He did tell me, but I didn’t take him seriously… “
“Stop lying, Frederick. You always look to the left and clench your fists whenever you do that. Why didn’t he tell you?”
Frederick fell silent.
His speculation as Sebastian’s father was that his son wanted to cut off all the ties Sasha had with the Hayes family before he knew of her return.
“Everything’s alright, Sasha. I’ll protect you no matter what happens,” Frederick said gently.
“Haha!”
Much to his surprise, Sasha threw her head back and started to chuckle.
