Chapter 81: Chapter 81:Flashback [1]

Keeping my hood over my face, I continued staring out the bus's window to avoid making eye contact with either Lily or Ruby.

But seriously, why the hell was Ruby here?

Why had she chosen to join the travel club out of all the other club options? I hadn't even told her I was in the travel club or anything.

As the bus sped up, entering the capital's streets, I continued staring at the fleeting buildings and crowds of people who had yet to leave after the Celestial Festival had ended.

Getting a headache from my eye's overload of information, I sighed as I forcefully closed my eyes, attempting to drift off to sleep to pass the day.

In front of me, I could hear the constant sound of the chair twitching as Jin and Han kept turning around to try and keep an eye on me.

Somehow, these two reminded me of my parents...

They were annoying... yet at the same time, deep down, I knew that they cared for me and were trying to keep me safe.

How were they doing right now?

Recalling my last day on Earth, I involuntarily clenched my fists while reopening my eyes for a slight second.

It had been a normal day: after finishing school, rather than going straight home to study like my mom wanted me to do, I decided to head to a karaoke place with some of my classmates.

"Come on, Silas, you never come with us."

"Yeah, your parents won't care if you stop studying one time!"

"Hurry up, man. Are you coming or not?"

Slinging my backpack around my shoulder, I stared at my smartphone for a second, contemplating whether to ask my mother if I could go.

Didn't this already happen countless times?

Not even a month ago...

Standing at the front door of my house, I finally gathered enough courage before unlocking the door with my house key.

Hearing the door open, my mom walked from the kitchen to the front door and nodded to me, confirming my presence.

Seeing her turn her back to head back to the kitchen, I clenched my fist before nervously asking.

"Mom... my friends are going out after school tomorrow, can I g-"

Stopping mid-walk, my mom turned around to face me before replying.

"Don't be stupid, Silas. Let them go; it only benefits you." Sёarch* The NôvelFire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

"W-what do you mean, mom..?"

"The more they go out, the less studying they do, which means their grades are worse. That means less competition for you and more college spots."

"B-but mom, I want to go..."

"Silas, you'll have all the free time in the world once you finish college and get a good job. You'll be giving up your advantage by going out with them right now."

"That's in over six years, mom..."

Ignoring my complaints, my mom guided me from the front door to my room before handing me another packet of work to do.

"You'll thank yourself for listening to me when you're older."

Hearing the door slam shut as my mom headed back to the kitchen, I furiously grabbed my pencil before forcing myself to solve the problems in front of me.

Why was my mom the only one who didn't let their son go out?

As my furious thoughts grew, I turned away from my sheet and stared out my window, seeing countless students younger than me walking around and enjoying the winter with their friends.

As the winter snow fell, I could see countless middle-schoolers and younger students throwing snowballs at each other or lying down, attempting to make snow angels.

*KNOCK~KNOCK*

Snapping me out of my thoughts, I heard my mom knock on my door for a second before cracking the door open.

Standing in front of my door with a plate of takoyaki, my mom carefully slid the plate through the crack in the door and onto my desk.

With a smile, she said.

"Here's your favorite, Silas!"

Slowly shutting the door and leaving behind the plate, I could hear my mom's hurried footsteps back to the kitchen.

Ignoring the plate, I pressed on with my problems.

Snapping me back to the present, I heard the sound of a video playing from Lily's smartwatch.

Ignoring the sound, I reopened my eyes and continued staring out the window.

...thinking back on it, did I even like takoyaki...?

No...I was angry at my mom for not letting me out, so I had specifically asked for an expensive snack that took a long time to make.

But, no matter how difficult the task or how expensive the ingredients were, my mother still delivered the plate to me every day.

Yet, I left the plate of food untouched every time, purposely leaving it on my desk for my mother to see.

I had thought my mother would be angry, and it would be the perfect revenge if my mother saw that the food she had worked so hard on was wasted.

...But I was wrong.

With the same smile and content expression, she continued delivering the snack to my room daily, not even mentioning how I had left the plate untouched earlier.

"Did you enjoy the snack, Silas?"

Lying, I replied.

"yes."

With a smile, she would just move on from the topic, inquiring about my progress with my studies.

Just how many hours had she wasted in that kitchen making a snack for me—just me to not eat it?

How did she feel after spending all that time making the food and cleaning the kitchen just to see it untouched?

Our family was low-income and middle-class, yet somehow, she still had the money every day to make the takoyaki despite its expensive ingredients.

The money that my father and mother worked so hard to gain was wasted on me because of a petty grudge I held.

Even with a scholarship for my outstanding grades, my father still had to fork over more than a fourth of his income just for tuition, not including textbooks and study resources.

A fact I had only come to realize after my entrance to this world.

What kind of son was I?

I was here criticizing Ren's father's parenting earlier... but was I even qualified to do that?

Closing my eyes, I reentered my flashback of my last day on Earth.

Tapping my cellphone and checking the time, I approached my classmates before saying.

"Yeah, you're right..! It's just one time; she won't care that much."