Home / The Seat Left Empty / Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

All Chapters of The Seat Left Empty: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

10 Chapters

Chapter 1

I pushed the door open and walked in. "What are you doing here, Lilian?"Jasper Anderson carried Xander Reid down the award stage as his hand carefully shielded the back of his smaller head. Dakota Reid walked next to Jasper, and her lipstick was a little smudged. It was a closed-door family tournament. If it were not for Sadie Anderson's performance being in the same art center, I would not have bumped into them. In the front row, Beatrice Anderson was holding a bouquet of flowers. Ten minutes ago, she had just told me that Jasper was at the airport. Kai Anderson was holding his phone up to record the ceremony. On his phone screen, the video stopped when Xander called Jasper "Daddy." Kai had told me that Jasper was stuck on the highway. Vincent John was waiting at the registration counter. On his phone screen was a photo of the meeting room that he had sent me. Beatrice stood up first. "Jasper worries that you'll overthink when you see Dakota. That's why he aske

Chapter 2

"Mommy, why did Daddy call Xander his baby?"Three days later, Sadie ran out with a brand new audio story player.That day, Jasper got Vincent to send it over as a gift to make it up to Sadie. The pink device had Sadie's name engraved on it. On the card, Jasper had written: To Daddy's favorite little swan.It was the same brand that Xander was using. Jasper had activated the device with his family account, yet he had forgotten to sign it out of his cloud account. The first time Sadie connected the device to the internet, ninety-nine personal voice messages were downloaded from his cloud storage. [Xander, be good and sleep now. When you wake up, Daddy will bring you to the beach.][Don't be afraid of thunderstorms, Daddy's here.]The next recording was a birthday song that Jasper sang off-key. The first voice recording was from three years ago. That day, Sadie was having a high fever. She called him and begged him to tell her a bedtime story. He said that he was in a bu

Chapter 3

"Mommy, why are we being cut off from the photo?"A week later, I returned from the dance studio. Beatrice was sitting in the living room with Dakota and Xander. Next to her was a stack of old photo albums from the Anderson family home. Those photos were developed from film. When Sadie was three, we took a family portrait using an old film camera. After the photography studio was moved, the film negatives were lost. This was the only photo we had left. I asked why they were here. Beatrice tossed her spare key onto the table. "This is my son's house. Do I have to get your permission to take a few photos?" Jasper walked out of his study. "Dakota wants to make a birthday album. She'll leave in thirty minutes." Sadie ran out from the kitchen as she held two cut-up photos.There was half of my face in one torn photo, and another one of Sadie wearing a white dress while holding Jasper's hand. However, she was cut off at her shoulder. This was our only formal family portra

Chapter 4

On Xander's eighth birthday, Jasper rented out a children's theater in the south of our city. The video of the photo collage they put together for Xander was playing on repeat on the big screen. In the photo, he was accompanying Xander as Xander learned to walk. There were photos of them at the beach too. It was as if Jasper had always been there in Xander's childhood. Jasper promised to spend ten minutes cutting the cake before personally taking Sadie to her extra dance practice. When I was signing my contract with the ballet company, Melanie called me. "Sadie hasn't arrived yet. If she's late, she'll miss the group practice."The driver said that Jasper asked him to wait outside of the theater, but that Sadie was unwilling to go on her own. "She said Mr. Anderson has promised to send her there personally." I rushed to the theater, but I did not immediately head in. The side door was cracked open a little. I stood behind the curtains, but Jasper did not see me. The

Chapter 5

When Jasper arrived at the hospital, Sadie was already wheeled out of the emergency department. Kai and Vincent rushed over as well. One of them stayed by Sadie's side as the other handled the hospital admission and payment procedures. Sadie received six stitches on her head, and her left arm was fractured. The doctor said that, before the impact, I had thrown myself onto her to protect her. Jasper squatted down before her wheelchair. He reached out, yet he did not dare to touch the blood on her face. "Daddy, you heard your phone ringing earlier, right?""I didn't hear it."It was too loud at the birthday party. Please give me another chance, alright?"Sadie stared at him. "I said Mommy's bleeding a lot.""I thought you just said that so I would go over to fetch you.""So you heard it."A nurse ran over with a document. "Are you Lilian's next of kin?"The surgery has already started. She suffers from internal bleeding, and her rib has pierced through her lung. You ne

Chapter 6

"Lilian, have some water." I woke up on the seventh day. Jasper was waiting next to my bed, and his eyes were bloodshot. He propped my neck up and passed me a straw. He was so gentle, as if he had never been absent in my life. I dodged his help. "Where's Sadie?""She was discharged three days ago."Melanie and the helper have been taking care of her. She's waiting outside today too." "Let her come in." Jasper grabbed my hand. "The doctor says you mustn't get upset. "After your condition stabilizes, we'll go home."I've taken back the spare key. Dakota and Xander will never enter our home again. I've restored the dance room to how it was before.""Where are the divorce papers?"His grip tightened around my hand. "You've just recovered. Why are you talking about this?""You promised to deal with it as soon as I regained consciousness.""I only said that so you would stay alive." He tucked me in and said with a hoarse voice, "Lilian, I finally know how terrified

Chapter 7

"Xander was born before you got married, so it doesn't count as an extramarital affair!"Beatrice charged into my ward and threw a folder onto my bedside cabinet. "Jasper and Dakota had broken up a long time ago. "He had Xander before he got married, and he's only trying to play his part as Xander's father."You're asking for a divorce over this. No one will think that you're in the right if they hear it!" Jasper's face fell. "Mom, take this away."Beatrice thought he was protecting me, so she took out the paternity test results from the folder. The results showed that there was a 99.99% chance that Xander was Jasper's son. The date on the report was seven days before we were married. That day, Jasper told me that he had to go out of state for an emergency work trip. After he came back, he slid the ring onto my finger in the airport parking lot. He said that he would never let me wait anymore in the future. I looked up at him. "You said you found out about it three y

Chapter 8

"Lilian, I've already taken back the spare key."Two months after I was discharged, I could make short trips out of my home under the care of my physiotherapist. At first, the ballet team sent me their rehearsal footage every single day, and I would make changes to the choreography at home. After my condition stabilized, I went to the rehearsal twice every week, and I was in the driving seat in the revival of Aura. Jasper showed up every single day. He brought me soup, medicine, and flowers every single day. Sadie did not accept any of the things he brought. Then, he would place the items before our door. He would send me text messages to remind me to reheat the soup and to take the medicine after meals. That day, he stood before my apartment door. He was holding a scar removal gel and an agreement of shares transfer. "Dakota and Xander will never enter our home again."I'll transfer the house and company shares to you, and I'll pay Xander's child support through a tr

Chapter 9

After I submitted my divorce petition to the court, the case went into family mediation.Jasper did not agree with me having sole custody of Sadie, so the family court tasked a social worker to look into our family situation. The report confirmed that I was the main parent taking care of her since she was born. I had a stable job and a premarital home. After the car accident, Sadie was obviously avoiding Jasper. She suffered from insomnia and PTSD, so it was not good for her to suddenly have a change of environment. The social worker, Annie George, interviewed Sadie on her own. Then, she arranged a short meeting between Jasper and Sadie. "Daddy, can you stop loving me?"When Jasper heard Sadie's words, he froze. "Why?"Sadie fidgeted as she hung her head. "Because every time you say you love me, Mommy ends up getting hurt."You said you love me, so you asked me to let Xander have my dance room and asked me to be understanding. "You told me that you'd come and fetc

Chapter 10

"Mommy, the front row seats are all filled."One year later, the mini ballet recital that I participated in, Empty Seat, was having its first show in South City. After the revival shows of Aura had ended, the ballet company gave me a chance to create my own show. I did not write about betrayal or revenge. Instead, I wrote about a child growing up as she waited for an empty chair to be filled. In the end, she chose not to wait anymore as she occupied the seat herself. At first, the childhood portion was performed by an adult actor. However, after Sadie watched the rehearsal, she came to me. "Mommy, can I dance that part?"I asked if she would be upset. She shook her head. "I want to put the past down on my own." Hence, she became the youngest actor in the children's dance team. Melanie, her physiotherapist, and the truck driver who had saved our lives that night were seated in the front row. Harper couldn't make it, but she sent a bouquet of flowers with a card. The

SCAN CODE TO READ ON APP