Until I Let Go

I nearly collapsed to the floor as I felt all the strength drain from my body. The cigarette butt had burned my palm until the flesh was raw and bloody.

Mom and Drake stood exactly where they were, neither of them moving an inch. Both wore the same tired expression on their faces.

Only my five-year-old son, Andy, took a step forward and looked down at me expressionlessly.

"Mommy, you can't die from hurting yourself with a cigarette butt. Aunt Elise was right. Watching you constantly threaten to kill yourself is really annoying."

Then, he pointed toward the window and continued, "This is the eighteenth floor. If you really want to die, you might as well just jump from here."

At that moment, my entire body went rigid.

It felt as though a hammer had slammed into my heart so hard that I even forgot to breathe.

Before I could react, Mom hurriedly covered Andy's mouth and said, "What are you saying? Apologize to your mother right now." Then, she lowered her voice and added, "Otherwise, she'll go crazy again and start causing trouble for Elise."

After saying that, she turned toward me and forced an awkward smile. "Layla, Andy is still young. He doesn't know any better. He just repeats whatever he hears. I was the one who said those things, not Elise. If you're really angry, just take it out on me, okay?"

As if suddenly realizing what he had done, Andy hurried over and cautiously tugged at the hem of my clothes.

"I'm sorry, Mommy. I didn't mean it like that."

I stared blankly at the two of them, hearing voices around me. It took several seconds before I could finally make sense of who they belonged to.

The person on the left was my son, and the person on the right was my mother.

Suddenly, I found it almost funny.

My own son had suggested that I kill myself, while my own mother was willing to take all the blame upon herself. All of it, just to protect some homewrecker.

Before the corners of my lips could even lift, I burst into tears.

I couldn't listen anymore.

Staggering, I braced myself against the wall and tried standing up. At that moment, I just wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible.

However, the moment I moved, Drake immediately grabbed my wrist from behind.