C209 He Only See His Own Pain

The answer came almost immediately. It wasn't one incident. It was years of selfish choices. Mike's relationship with Samantha before everything fell apart. If Ben had never interfered... Mike and Samantha might have been married by now. Monica might never have been born. Everything would have been completely different. Sarah sighed deeply. "It all started there..."

She then remembered the France business trip. She could still picture Chris collapsing after drinking the wine Ben had prepared for Mike. Tears welled up in her eyes again. "If I hadn't found Chris that night..." "What would have happened?" Her body trembled. The Chambers family had trusted the Wood family enough to let Chris accompany them on that trip. If something terrible had happened to him... How could they ever have faced Valeria, or David?

She slowly shook her head. "We were lucky..." "So incredibly lucky." "But Even that incident was caused by Ben." "If he did not try to spike Mike's drink that ended up in Chris." "Things would have been different." She and Chris might never have met. Then another memory surfaced. Her father's sudden rough cough and collapsing after being poisoned.

She remembered the chaos that had followed. The shareholders. The emergency meetings. Her mother's exhausted expression as she struggled to keep the company together. Sarah clenched her fists. "Brother..." "You keep saying I stole your position..." "But whose fault was it?" "If you hadn't poisoned Dad..." "He would still have been the director." "I never wanted that position." "I only accepted it because someone had to protect the company."

She wiped away another tear. "You blame everyone else..." "But every road somehow leads back to your own decisions." Still... Despite all of that... She couldn't bring herself to hate him. He was still her older brother. The same brother who had once waited at the airport every time she returned from England. The same brother who used to buy her favorite chocolates before every exam.

The same brother who had once protected her when she was younger. Those memories were real too. "So..." "What happened to that brother?" Her voice cracked. "Where did he disappear to?" Silence answered her. After several minutes, Sarah slowly stood. She walked into the bathroom and splashed cold water onto her face. Looking at her reflection, she forced herself to smile. "I can't keep crying." "My baby doesn't deserve that."

She gently rested a hand over her stomach. "You need a strong mother." "And..." "Your father would scold me if he saw me like this." Just imagining Chris's worried face made her laugh softly. "He'd probably rush over here immediately." She shook her head. "No..." "I'll be the one to comfort everyone today." Taking a deep breath, Sarah straightened her clothes before leaving her room.

The hallway was unusually quiet. As she walked in the corridor, she noticed Samantha's bedroom door was slightly open. She hesitated for a moment before gently knocking. "Sis..." No answer came. Sarah slowly pushed the door open. Inside... She found Samantha sitting on the floor with Monica asleep peacefully against her chest. The room was silent except for Monica's soft breathing. Samantha looked up.

Their eyes met. Neither of them smiled. Neither of them spoke. They simply understood each other. Sarah quietly walked over before sitting beside her. For several moments... The sisters remained silent. Finally, Sarah spoke. "He hurt you too..." Samantha lowered her eyes. "He hurt all of us." Sarah nodded slowly. "But..." "I don't think he realizes that." Samantha gently stroked Monica's tiny hair. "He only sees his own pain." Sarah sighed. "And maybe..." "We've been seeing only ours." Another silence followed.

After a while, Samantha finally looked toward Sarah. "Are you alright?" Sarah forced a smile. "I'll be fine." "You?" Samantha looked down at Monica before answering honestly. "I don't know." Sarah gently placed her hand over Samantha's. "You won't go through this alone." Samantha looked at her younger sister. A faint smile appeared. "Thank you." Sarah smiled back. "We're sisters." "We're supposed to face difficult times together." Samantha nodded. Then, after taking a deep breath, Sarah slowly stood up.

She extended her hand toward Samantha. "Come." Samantha blinked. "Where?" Sarah smiled gently. "Let's go see Mom." Samantha looked toward the master bedroom. She knew exactly what Sarah meant. Their mother had cried harder than anyone else. She needed them now. Taking one final look at Monica sleeping peacefully in her arms, Samantha carefully stood up. The two sisters exchanged a determined glance. Without another word... They walked together toward Kelvin and Tracy's bedroom.

Sarah gently knocked on the bedroom door. There was no response. She exchanged a glance with Samantha before slowly pushing it open. The room was dimly lit. Kelvin sat on the edge of the bed with one arm around Tracy, gently rubbing her back as she cried into his shoulder. Neither of them had noticed the two young women standing quietly at the door. Tracy's voice trembled between sobs. "We failed them..." Kelvin lowered his head, unable to find the words to comfort his wife.

She continued through her tears. "We failed Sarah..." "When she was still so young..." "We sent her to England all alone." Her shoulders shook violently. "We kept telling ourselves it was for her future..." "But while other parents were attending their children's graduations..." "Our daughter crossed that stage without us." She covered her face. "The people who should have been cheering for her..." "Weren't there." Kelvin slowly closed his eyes. That regret had haunted him ever since Sarah returned home.

Tracy continued, her voice growing even more emotional. "And then..." "...Ben." "We always saw his anger." "We saw his arrogance." "We saw the terrible things he did." "But..." She broke down again. "We never realized that he was hurting too." "He kept everything inside." "He smiled in front of us..." "And today..." "We discovered that our own son has been carrying those wounds alone." Kelvin sighed deeply. "I kept believing..." "...that no matter how many mistakes he made..." "...he understood we loved him."

Tracy shook her head. "No..." "We assumed he knew." "We never actually told him." She buried her face in her hands again. "And Samantha..." At the mention of her name... Samantha instinctively tightened her grip on Sarah's hand. Tracy's tears flowed even faster. "That innocent child..." "We brought her into this family." "We suspected what Ben had done." "We knew she was suffering." "And still..." "We asked her to become our daughter-in-law."

Her breathing became uneven. "Today..." "When Ben said he listened to her cry every single night..." "I finally realized..." "How lonely she must have been." "We should have protected her." "We should have comforted her." "Instead..." "We expected her to carry everything by herself." Samantha could no longer hold back. Tears streamed down her cheeks.