“You finally showed up,” Reina’s mother said without standing or even turning toward Aries, but her tone was enough to make him feel like a little boy caught red-handed.
Aries swallowed hard. “How is Reina doing, Ma’am?”
The middle-aged woman didn’t answer. Instead, she gently stroked her daughter’s hair as she lay in a coma.
“I told Reina countless times not to fall in love with a man who already had a wife.”
Her eyes fixed on Aries. “But you know what my daughter is like. She’s stubborn, and she still recklessly chose you.”
Aries didn’t answer. His tongue felt numb, unable even to form an apology to Reina’s mother.
“Ma’am … I …”
“Don’t pretend you don’t know,” the middle-aged woman cut in sharply. Her voice sounded cold and cutting.
“I know everything. Your relationship. All your empty promises. Every secret visit to her rental place. Even the day she called you and said she was going into labor—I knew all about it, Aries!”
Aries couldn’t say a word. Cold sweat trickled down his temples. Reina’s mother slowly rose, then stared at Aries from only a few steps away.
“If Reina hadn’t loved you so foolishly, I would have thrown you out of here already.”
Aries lowered his head, his chest tight. Reina loved him so deeply, yet he couldn’t return the magnitude of her love.
“Ma’am … I didn’t want her to get hurt.”
The middle-aged woman gave a bitter snort. “You didn’t want to see her hurt? Then look at my daughter now! She’s far more than hurt, Aries!” She pointed at Reina’s body, connected to the machines.
“This isn’t just an injury, Aries. This is the consequence of the life choice you allowed to happen.”
Aries closed his eyes. It felt as though the words that had just come from Reina’s mother’s mouth had slapped him over and over.
“I’m sorry, Ma’am.” That was all Aries could say at that moment.
Reina’s mother shook her head. “Your apology means nothing if she doesn’t wake up.”
Reina’s mother sat back down in the chair beside her daughter’s bed. Her wrinkled hands gripped the white blanket tightly, as though holding back something about to explode from her chest. She let out a long breath, as if a massive stone were crushing her lungs.
“Sometimes …” Her voice broke as she held back tears. “God punishes parents through their children.”
Aries lifted his face, startled by her words. The woman gazed at Reina’s rigid body with tear-filled eyes.
“I was too busy healing myself after the divorce. Too busy searching for peace that I forgot to check on my own daughter, forgot to ask who was filling her life, forgot to see what she was hiding behind her smile.”
Her hand stroked Reina’s pale cheek. “Reina is sweet—too sweet. She’s the kind of child who always wants to look strong. Always saying, ‘Mom, don’t worry. I’m fine.’ And I was foolish enough to believe what she told me.”
Aries lowered his head. Those words pierced him like needles striking the guilt inside him.
“After divorcing her father, I thought she had room to be happy.” Reina’s mother gave a hollow laugh.
“Instead, that space was filled by a married man who loved his own family more than anything.”
Aries clenched his hands. “Ma’am … this was all beyond my plans. I never meant to hurt Reina. I swear, I …”
“NOTHING happened beyond your plans, Aries!” Reina’s mother shouted, restraining the anger in her heart.
“Young man, if you hadn’t opened the door for her, Reina wouldn’t have entered. And if my daughter hadn’t fallen for you, she wouldn’t have chosen a path this dangerous.”