MainNovelChapter 396:
Though both parents had their own loves, they surrendered to the weight of tradition, their resistance merely a
whisper against the storm. And so they married—two strangers beneath the sroof, learning to coexist while
longing for someone else. They had hoped to endure until they could part ways quietly.
But fate, ever capricious, had other plans. Divorce eluded them, and three years into their forced
companionship, Freya was born.
With her arrival, something shifted. They resolved to raise her with care, determined not to let history write her
fate as it had theirs. They wanted her to know a childhood where love, even if feigned, felt real.
And in that, they succeeded.
As for Hugh and Cheryl...
Three years prior, Cheryl had found herself in a nightmare—trapped in a marriage poisoned by violence. In her
darkest hour, she reached for Hugh, a flicker of her past she hoped might save her.
Hugh helped her find a lawyer, but he kept his distance.
He had a family now, and the embers of their old love had long gone cold. What he offered was not romance—it
was restitution for a youth lost to fate.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtCheryl eventually divorced. And then, Freya's mother fell gravely ill.
Two years ago, she passed away.
Just three days after the funeral, Hugh—drowning in grief—sought comfort in drink, only to wake up beside
Cheryl. Freya had seen it with her own eyes. A cruel setup by Cheryl's family, who believed Hugh still carried a
torch for Cheryl after helping her escape her abusive past. Freya had once asked, “Why did you turn to alcohol?”
Hugh had answered, “Your mom and | spent decades together. Though love may not have lived between us,
companionship did. And over time, that becomes its own kind of bond.”
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In that moment, something quietly shifted within Freya.
She realized that being together didn’t always bloom from love. She couldn’t recall how she managed to shower
or crawl into bed afterward. Everything felt like a blur.
Staring at the ceiling, her mind reeled with memories of her parents—moments wrapped in warmth that had, to
her, always looked like love. Her father’s tenderness, his worry when her mother was ill... that couldn't have
been an illusion.
But how could it not be love?
“Mina?” Ethel’s voice cwith a knock at the door. “Are you asleep?”
Freya pulled herself together, rose, and stood before the mirror, smoothing her face into calm before opening the
door.
“What's up?” she asked, her tone warm and steady as always.
“What did you and Dad talk about?” Ethel stood at the threshold, picking up on the subtle shift in Freya's mood.
“He toldto ccheck on you, maybe have a heart-to-heart.”
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“Yeah.”
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smile out of her. Ried yau prove
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Freya smiled despite herself and
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tousled Ethel’s hair affectionately,
Then, recalling the earfier-
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SST oh she added, “If Dad
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wants to marry her, let him. It's his
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life. We shouldn't interfere.” The
content is on novelenglish.net! Read
the latest chapter there!
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