Chapter 2

I bought a bottle of sleeping pills and made my way to Dad's old residence.

I hugged Dad's photo as I lay on the bed. I was just about to drink the sleeping pills when I paused.

I didn't want to make the police's work more difficult for them if they found my corpse, so I wrote a letter to inform everyone that I had taken my own life.

The sleeping pills tasted bitter, leaving a burning sensation in its wake as it flowed down my throat and into my stomach.

I was on the brink of losing consciousness.

I called out in my head, "I'm coming, Dad!"

I had no idea how much time had passed when I felt my stomach churning.

I felt terrible, and I jolted awake after being forced to vomit my guts out.

I excitedly bolted up into a sitting position when I realized that I was staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. I was just about to call out for Dad when I made eye contact with one of my mothers, Joanne Kerry.

Joanne stood before me, wearing a white coat. Her fingers were trembling slightly as she clutched the letter that I had left behind.

She threw the letter in my face, exclaiming, "You've got some nerve, Henry! How dare you force us to pay attention to you by taking your own life? Why didn't you go somewhere further if you wanted to die? Why did you pick that place? You tarnished your father's house."

I was at a loss for what to do as Joanne screamed at me.

Truth be told, Joanne was my favorite out of my four mothers. She was a medical specialist and was incredibly skilled in both holistic and modern medicine.

She used to share her medical knowledge with me, and she even taught me how to handle syringes. She was gentle and interesting, and I spent the most time with her.

At one point, I even believed that she was my biological mother. She also didn't pay as much attention to William when he first showed up, unlike my other mothers.

Instead, she said to me, "You're my only son, Henry. Your place in my heart will never change no matter who shows up."

However, everything changed when William suddenly fainted in front of everyone.

Joanne discovered a tiny puncture mark on the back of his head. When she asked William what was going on, he suddenly sank to his knees in front of me and exclaimed, "I'm sorry, Henry! I didn't tell Mom what happened. She found out by herself. Just stick me again!"

It was the first time I saw Joanne lose her temper.

Disappointment was written all across her face when she said, "I taught you these things so you could save lives, Henry. Not for you to kill other people!"

She refused to believe me, no matter how I tried to explain myself, because I was the only one in the family who knew how to insert the needle in that position.

"Calm down, Joanne."

Only then did I realize that Gloria was also in the room. She wore a grim expression as she said, "It seems that Henry is mentally unstable. Not only did he try to end his own life at home, but he also ingested sleeping pills in Isaac's residence. I suspect that—"

Joanne interrupted her, saying, "Don't tell me that you're going soft, Gloria. Have you forgotten how good of an actor he is?

"There's no way that he'll leave the four of us, not with how greedy and power-hungry he is. He must be putting on an act to catch our attention because it's William's birthday today."

The doubt on Gloria's face slowly faded away upon hearing Joanne's words. "You're right," she said.

Just then, their phones chimed at the same time.

They pulled out their phones and tapped on the notifications.

"Moms, when are you coming home? The other Moms are already here. It's my birthday today. I'm going to get angry if you don't come home soon."

William's childish whining echoed through the room.

Both Gloria and Joanne smiled at the same time. They carefully lifted their phones and sent voice messages to William to coax him.

It was a familiar sight.

They used to coax me like that in the past.

It turned out that Gloria and Joanne hadn't changed. It was just that they no longer had me in their hearts.

My heart turned hollow as I listened to them coo at William over and over again, calling him "my dear child".

I slowly moved toward the window. I was scared of pain, so I had wanted to end my life gently, but I couldn't wait anymore.

I climbed out of the window and threw myself over the windowsill right in front of them.

I said inwardly, "Goodbye, Gloria and Joanne!"