I. Goodbye Without Tears
Daphne stood there, proud and unmoving, holding a bouquet of white lilies. Her gaze wandered over the crowd that was grieving around the grave, yet hers was cold almost empty. She looked at the tombstone without a trace of sorrow, only a heavy disappointment.She didn’t take a single step forward. She waited. Patiently. Until the very last person left.
When the crowd finally dispersed, she pulled a black scarf over her head, as if she wanted to hide from the world. She slowly approached the grave. She placed the flowers on the damp soil and sat on the cold stone With a heavy heart.
For a few seconds, she said nothing. She only stared at the photograph.
She couldn’t hold it in any longer. She broke the silence.
“I hope you’re not doing well wherever you are,” she whispered, her voice trembling. “Damn the day my mother married you. You destroyed her life and mine along with it.”
She clenched her fingers tightly.
“I never had a childhood. I never felt a mother’s love and a father’s? Not even that. You couldn’t even love your own children how could you ever love someone who wasn’t your blood?”
Her eyes glistened, but she didn’t cry.
“My mother is in a rehabilitation center now fighting to stand on her feet again. And me? You condemned me to a life of therapists and medication. You left me to pick up the pieces of myself.”
Her voice dropped.
“I can’t understand how a person can touch a child. A child who didn’t even know what life was. A child who played with dolls whose only dream was to go to the park and play with her friends.”
She closed her eyes for a moment.
“You were not human. How could you ever be considered one after everything you did to me?”
“And you know what? I’m sorry you died. It feels too easy. Like you got away with it. You should have lived suffered the way we suffered.”
She slipped her hand into her pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. She unfolded it slowly.
“Do you know what this is? My dream.”
She held it in front of her.
“You kept me locked inside. I would sit by the window for hours, watching other children play you wouldn’t even let me go to school. You were afraid people would find out what you were doing.”
She took a deep breath.
“But now... I’m free.”
For the first time, a spark of life appeared in her eyes.
“I will see the world. I will travel. I will live. I’m starting with Korea and I won’t stop.”
“And no matter how much you hurt me, I won’t stop believing that there are good people out there. I escaped a monster and now, I will meet a guy with an umbrella.”
She slowly stood up. One last time, she cast a cold glance at the grave and walked away.
