Chapter 10

No, I really didn't.

The younger I was, the more stubborn and proud I became.

Even though I loved Ashton very, very much, I also loved myself just as much.

From the moment Ashton abandoned me to find Camilla, it was destined that there would be nothing between us.

Even if he explained now, and I understood, it didn't mean I accepted.

But Ashton tonight was different.

He, who was always so decisive, kept pressing the same question again and again.

It was as if he wouldn't stop until I admitted to keeping the child.

I had no choice but to tell him the truth:

"I didn't get rid of the child right away because I was sick."

At the same time I found out I was pregnant, I also found out I was ill.

I had to delay the abortion due to treatment issues.

And because of the medication, I gained a lot of weight, making my stomach look bigger than a normal pregnant woman's, but the actual gestational age wasn't that far along.

That year, I experienced heartbreak, unemployment, illness, and a miscarriage.

I also lost my mother.

No one was more dependable than my mom, and no one cared for me more deeply.

So, when I found out I was pregnant and sick, I called her.

She rushed from our hometown to take care of me, staying by my side night after night.

It was my fault that I was so caught up in my own emotions back then that I didn't notice her increasingly frail body or her paler complexion.

The day I was discharged from the hospital, Mom was joyfully planning to take me home.

But as we stepped out of the elevator, she suddenly collapsed in front of me.

Those few seconds of memory are blank.

I’ve replayed it many times since, but I still can't remember what I was thinking in those initial moments after Mom fell.

Was I too scared? Or was my brain, still recovering from a serious illness, just too slow to react?

"Ashton."

I finally couldn't help but call his name again.

He softly hummed in response.

I told him, "I can understand your guilt towards Camilla's brother. So, about what happened that year, I don't blame you."

"And then?"

He asked something I hadn't expected.

I looked up at him, a little confused. "And then what?"

"Skylar, shouldn't we start over?"