Prologue

"Your dad…" then she sighed.

"What about him?" I coldly replied.

"He needs to be operated next week." Mom said then sobbed.

Chills. Chills ran down from my head to my toes. I stand in the middle of the living room, staring at nothing while processing my mom's words.

"He what?" I said with disbelief.

Instead of answering me, her sobs became louder and more agonizing. I didn't notice that a tear escaped my eyes. I closed my eyes tightly and leaned to the nearest wall as I can feel my whole body weakened and any moment, I could collapse without someone there to catch me.

This is so sudden. I thought it was just a simple infection but I never thought that it is a lot worse.

I hate my dad. I hate him for hurting mom, me and my sisters. I hate him for causing a scene here and made us look like the antagonist of his life. But I hate him more for…giving up. For giving up on us and for abandoning us while we're struggling to even feed ourselves once a day. I hate him but..

"I-I t-think I'll be s-staying with him u-until then." Mom said, interrupting me from my own thoughts. When I finally understood what she said, I gasped with anger.

"What?! Mom, no! Don't you remember what he did to you? To us?"

"But there's no one for him right now, I can't just---"

"I SAID NO!" I shouted with anger. I tightened my grip to my phone.

"D-did you just shout at me?"

"I-I'm sorry. That was mean, I know but you can't stay with him there. You promised me that you'll never go back to him. That you'll never accept him again."

"But---"

"Mom! You promised!"

"But he needs me. He needed someone right now." She continued, "You know that your dad's relatives won't take care of him here."

I couldn't answer her. I was dumbfounded and betrayed. All this time, despite all her promises and assurances to me and my sisters, in the end she still chose our dad.

"Kaye?" she softly called. "Still there?"

That was the last straw and I just broke down. I covered my mouth to not let her hear me crying but that was useless. This is so f***** up.

"Kaye…"

My sobs are getting louder and louder and I never tried to hide it from her. It's a good thing that my sisters are not at home so they won't see me in this state.

"Kaye, come on, talk to---"

"W-we n-need y-you too…"

After I said that, silence befell us for a second then the next thing I know is that only sound that can be heard are my sobs. My agonizing sobs.

"I'm sorry." Mom said then ended the call.

Despite the call ended, I still held my phone near my hear like I'm still talking to her through a call. My whole body just collapsed on the floor and my sobs are getting louder and louder.

How did it end up like this? Why did I do something that makes me suffer like this? What went wrong with my life? How did I end up like this?

My phone suddenly vibrated and when I looked at the screen, he's calling me. Instead of answering, I just stared at it then cried harder.

"I'm sorry…"