Truth: The Last Visit

The room suddenly became quiet like the graveyard, Max stared at his father in disbelief. He could not believe what he just heard. All his life, all these years, he had asked himself several times — why would his mother be so wicked to him, why all the maltreatments and hatreds. Now, it dawned on him. "Are you sure of what you just said?" Max asked after quietly digesting the piece of news.

Initially, Max's father was expecting his son to look sad or even cry but from the tone of his voice, he could not find any trace of anger or sadness. His voice was void of any emotion which made the man wonder why. "Can I joke about something so trivial?" The man asked back.

"What a relief then," Max mumbled with a smile that curved up on the corner of his lips, this didn't escape the eyes of his father who was shocked by his son's reply. But on second thought, he could not blame the boy.

"You are happy?" The man calmly asked, he could guess the answer but just wanted to hear it from the horse's mouth.

"Of course! Who wouldn't be happy about it?" Max replied not minding if it angered his father or not. Inwardly, words could not describe how happy he was, he had made up his mind to disown them completely but this piece of news made everything simpler for him. "Where is my mother?" He asked amidst his happiness, since the woman wasn't his mother, he needed to find out where his real mother is.

"I do not know where she is but one thing is certain and that's the fact that she is still alive," the man replied and heaved a sigh. He could not remember the last time he saw the woman. "I loved Celia so much even though she was a ...." As he stared at the space, his mind wandered back to the past.

It was on a cold winter night that he met his first love, a beautiful girl then, who stole the eyes of many boys and even men. Her eyes were emerald green and her hair was earthen brown, she had great curves that would make the opposite sex lust over her yet, there was a problem. It was love at first sight for him and he did all he could to get her to love him, finally, she did and they began to date. After several months of friendship, she got pregnant with him, as a man, he decided to take responsibility for her and made arrangements to marry her.

On the day of the wedding, his parents came and told him to call off the wedding reason be that their son can not get married to a whore. This came as a shock to him and he didn't know what to do, he tried begging his parents to let him marry her but they adamantly refused. At the end of the day, the wedding was called off, he sadly parted ways with her and that was how they broke up.

The last time he saw her was when Max was born, she brought him to his father and left immediately without a word or a letter. Ever since then, he never heard from her or set his eyes on her. He got married to another lady so she could help him train his little kid with the hope that he would be talented like other kids but who would have known that fate had other things in store for him. Max became an eyesore to him the day he wasn't able to awaken an ability, the love he had for him disappeared without a trace, so much so that he turned blind eye to the ill-treatment given to him by his new mother.

"Stop! Stop talking!" Max said out loud causing his father to pause. He clenched his fist tightly as he tried hard to not shade a single tear, when he calmed down, he breathed out and turned to face his father. "You left her because of what she is?" He asked inaudibly.

"What d— I had no choice then, I was only a young man ignorant of so many things," the man replied with a sad voice. He knew that if he had various choices, he would have persuaded his parents the more, he would have made up his mind to even run away with her but...

"You had no choice?" Max burst out completely shutting his father up. He glared at his father while his fists were been clenched. "That is a stupid excuse you've got there! If you loved my mother, you would not have left her all alone. You wouldn't have married that woman — that wicked woman who bewitched you into hating your son!" Anger was written all over Max's face as he spoke. He suddenly stopped talking and faced the door. "Where is her picture? My mother's picture... Give it to me," he demanded without turning to look at his father's face.

After a while, his father brought out a picture from his box where he must have hidden it for years. "Here, this is the only picture I have of your mother," he said and handed it to Max who abruptly turned around and snatched the picture from his hand.

Max held the picture tightly in both hands while staring at it, he did not miss any details in the picture. The earthen brown hair, the emerald green eyes, the dazzling smile on his mother's face that is capable of melting a man's icy heart. He stared at the picture for quite some time before finally taking his eyes off it. "Thank you for telling me this truth today, it means a lot to me. As for my mother, I'll find her and unite with her, thank you for the years you fed me. As from today, you don't need to worry about me or how much shame I bring to you, I will have nothing to do with you in the future too," he said and began to walk towards the door.

"Wait!" His father said and Max halted and turned around.

"What is it? I hope you are not trying to persuade me to stay," Max's brows knitted as he stared at his hopeless father.

The man didn't reply to him and walked to his locker, he took out the key from his pocket and opened the locker. He brought out a silver necklace and shoved it into Max's palm. Max frowned upon seeing the necklace. "What is this for?" He asked still frowning.

"It's a necklace that has been passed down from generations and as the first child, it's yours now," the man said and took some steps back. "It's for protection, when you are in a dire situation, it will be of great help to you."

Max stared at the necklace, the tiny orb that seemed to be glowing. It looked beautiful yet old. "I'll keep it safe," he said and walked out of the room.

After Max left, the man sighed and held his aching heart. It pained him a lot that his son was leaving for good but he could not do anything about it. Hopefully, the necklace would protect his son from many dangers, that way, his mind would be at rest.

When Max left the study, he passed by Daniel and his mother but he didn't stop or even glance at them. He brushed past them and left the house together with Zheren. To him, this would be the last time he was going to ever set his feet into the house.