บททั้งหมดของ The Unwanted Passenger: บทที่ 1 - บทที่ 8

By the time Sue and our daughter Tina returned, two weeks had passed. The quiet house suddenly turned chaotic.Tina poked her head into the kitchen and started complaining.“Dad, didn’t I say I want steak for lunch this afternoon? Did you not see my text? It’s already midday, and you haven’t even started cooking.”Over the years, I've been doing almost everything at home. Having married Sue for so many years, she had never set foot into the kitchen.I doted on Tina to the heavens, too.“Cook it yourself if you want to eat it. You’re 18 years old, for goodness’ sake.”My tone was flat, but her eyes widened nonetheless.Sue flung her handbag on the couch. “We waited for you for so long! Why didn’t you buy another ticket and join us?”There was reproach in her voice, as though it was all my fault.My heart sank as I sighed, feeling exhausted. “Were you genuinely waiting for me?”Over the past two weeks, the mother-daughter pair didn’t bother blocking me from all their posts on

My mom pointed at my nose and started yelling. She was so furious, her lips started trembling and she blacked out there and then.Sue and Clement started panicking and getting flustered.Clement grabbed my collar and yelled, “Harley! How could you say something like that to anger Mom? How are you going to make up for it if anything happens to her?”Sue hurriedly called for an ambulance and looked at me with eyes filled with disappointment.“Harley, are you bent on destroying the family’s peace?” When the ambulance arrived, they shifted my mom into the vehicle and left with her for the hospital.I splashed cold water on my face and saw that a faint handprint had appeared on my cheek. By the time I rushed to the hospital, my mom was already in the emergency room.Sue kept patting Clement on the back. “Mom will be fine. Don’t worry.”Clement’s head was hung low as he sobbed. “Harley could have just said no if he didn’t want me to have the property. Why did he have to say that and

Sue and Clement were chatting and laughing away.They didn't realize that Harley wasn't with them.It was only right before they sent Tina into the school and when they were preparing to take a photo at the school entrance that Tina finally asked, “Mom, where did Dad go?”Sue stood stunned for a while. She looked around and realized that indeed, Clement was gone. Her brows furrowed, and she instinctively pulled out her phone to make a call.Clement stopped her. “Sue, isn’t Harley going for a business trip today?”Sue said irritably, “I just told him to make sure he finishes up his work on time so that he can attend Tina’s first day at school. He promised.”Clement sighed. “I didn’t expect him to leave without saying a word. It’s Tina’s first day at her university. Let’s not ruin her day.”Somehow, Clement’s words only made the annoyance in her heart grow. She put her phone aside and said to Tina, “Your dad is probably overseas for a business trip.”Tina looked extremely upset a

Yet, everything made sense when she thought back on Harley’s recent strange behavior.He no longer questioned her about her relationship with Clement, nor did he show any concern for Tina’s studies. He wasn’t speaking much, either.Sue felt a huge weight on her chest, making it difficult to breathe.She suddenly realized that Harley had never told her about his business trip itinerary, either. In his previous business trips, he never failed to tell her that.Yet this time, he didn’t.Sue took a deep breath and immediately called Harley.She didn’t expect her call to be blocked.Sue’s heart had never beaten so fast before. She held her breath and hurriedly called Clement.“Can you contact your brother?”Clement immediately tried calling Harley as well, but similarly, he was unable to get through.“Sue, what happened to Harley? He blocked me.”It finally dawned upon Sue that Harley was serious about getting a divorce.She asked Tina to call Harley as well.She thought that H