They Hated My Departure의 모든 챕터: 챕터 1 - 챕터 9

“Yes!”I bit the inside of my cheek until it bled. The taste of copper filled my mouth.[Okay. Twenty-four-hour countdown starting now.]My wife, Laurel, noticed that I had not spoken for a while. She raised her hand to wipe away the tears at the corner of my eye.“Do you understand what you did wrong? Had you refrained from constantly fighting with Cameron for favor and had you not hurt him repeatedly, our family of three could have lived a good life together.”I slapped her hand away and said loudly, “You don’t get to talk about family! Cameron cut those brake lines. Noah died because of him!”She said nonchalantly, “Noah never died. The moment he was born, I handed him to Cameron, so stop blaming him for something he didn’t do.”My throat closed up. It took me several seconds to find my voice.“What did you just say?”She continued, “He’s my son. Why would I let him follow you around and haul corpses? Cameron is kind. Noah is better off growing up with him.”I stood frozen

As soon as I entered the event hall, all the reporters approached me.“You haven’t been seen in years. Everyone is really curious about how things stand between you, the biological son of the Xander family, and Cameron, the adopted one. Have you two made up yet?”My mother shoved a piece of paper into my hand and commanded in a low voice. “Read it exactly as written.”I lowered my head and glanced at the paper. [I was never kidnapped. I wandered off back then because I was being playful. Cameron’s mother took me in out of kindness. She treated me very well, and I owe her everything. After I came home, I was so jealous of Cameron that I bullied him constantly. I honestly don’t even deserve to be called a person. The reason I stayed away all these years is that I’ve been reflecting on my actions.]My father urged me, “Just read it already!”“You want us to reconcile?”I crumpled the paper before tearing it to shreds in front of everyone.“Why would I make up with the son of a ki

Maeve rushed to the door and ran downstairs.At the same moment, I fell from the upper floor and crashed heavily onto the ground.I landed with a loud thud. The crack of bones was lost in the dull thud of the impact. My arm twisted, and my head tilted to one side. Blood quickly pooled around me.The next second, my body felt light. I floated next to Maeve.“Maeve, don’t go down there!” Cameron said as he grabbed her arm.“Isn’t there an inflatable bounce pad from the event a few days ago downstairs? Jude is just trying to scare us,” he said confidently.Noah chimed in with a contemptuous expression, “Aunt Maeve, I was just playing down there a minute ago. No one would die from that fall. Jude did it on purpose. He just wants to trick you into getting all worked up.”I looked at Noah. My heart felt empty. He had not gone down to play at all today. He was lying for his beloved father, Cameron.When Laurel was pregnant with him, I had imagined what he would be like countless tim

Laurel and Maeve were soon forcibly separated and taken away by the police. The door to the holding cell slammed shut with a bang.Maeve sat on the floor with her back against the cold wall. She felt completely numb and emotionally dead.From the next cell, she could hear Laurel wailing and screaming all night long. Maeve closed her eyes. But her mind would not stop drifting back to the past.The first year I came home, she did not like me. Honestly, she was disgusted by me. She thought I was here to steal everything that should have been Cameron’s, so she tried to scare me off.But I was just too timid.If she raised her voice even a little, I would flinch.I would not even shut a door too loudly. I would always walk on eggshells and was afraid of bothering anyone.That made her feel like no matter what she did to me, she was the bad guy.Perhaps she felt pity towards me, or perhaps it was because we were blood-related. Either way, she slowly started to care about me.She

But my parents just stood there and stared at him as if they wanted to tear him apart.They had heard everything clearly in the study earlier.My mother broke down, covering her face, and collapsed to her knees.“This is all our fault. If we hadn’t been so greedy and wanted both sons with us, things wouldn’t have ended up like this.”My father stood to the side and slapped his own face repeatedly.“We were idiots. Why didn’t we believe Jude? Why did we believe whatever Cameron said?”They cried inconsolably. Noah had seen everything through the crack in the door. When he opened the door, his entire body was trembling.He cautiously approached Laurel.“Mom, is Jude... I mean, Dad... really dead?”Laurel turned and shoved him away. Her gaze was cold like a stranger’s.“Don’t you call him that. You called the man who ruined your father ‘Dad.’ You don’t deserve to be his child.”Noah was stunned.“I’m putting out a statement. From today on, you and I have no relationship.”Noa