I transmigrated and got a husband and a son!
Chapter 1030: A quote from parenting 101

Chapter 1030: A quote from parenting 101

[FLASHBACK]

"I guess this is where we part?" Ivy sat on the edge of the bed, facing the bed next to hers where Tiger sat. She weakly played with her trembling fingertips, eyes down, a bitter smile on her face. "Axel said he’s going to take me home and Dominic reassured me I’d be safe. Thankfully, Axel had been looking after the company. But he told me I have to expect a mountain of workload."

Tiger nodded, letting out a short hum.

"I’ll be busy," she said, smiling as she raised her head. "I can imagine the workload waiting for me at home. God. The thought of pulling all-nighters scares me."

"Mhm."

"Whenever I work, I tend to forget things," she continued. "My problems, my pain, and even what makes me happy. Everything always feels blank, so people always call me a workaholic. But well, not really, because I always look like a slacker compared to Dom."

Tiger kept rocking his head, eyes down. Staring at him, her smile continued to crack as the corner of her eyes grew red.

"I will not think of you." Her voice cracked as her neck turned taut, holding back her tears from escaping her eyes. "Maybe, for a while, I will miss you — wish you were here with me, especially during mealtimes. But I’ll be fine, eventually."

Ivy pressed her lips while its corners curled. "Eventually, I’ll be okay and happy... without you. I’m not as foolish as to say I can’t live without you. I could. For a long time... I lived all by myself. It stings and sucks that you came into my life and stirs everything for me."

"Yet, even when I wanted to say you shouldn’t have treated me well. No matter how strong my desire to say you shouldn’t have loved me, taken care of me, and been honest with me. I can’t. Because I was grateful." Tears coated her eyes, biting her quivering lips to stop herself from bawling her eyes. "Even for a short while... I felt loved, valued, and cared for."

"I can’t hate you even if I feel like I’m going to fall apart right this second. Even if I feel like I should, I won’t." A short smile appeared on her face, sniffing hard as she glanced up. "That is your punishment."

Tiger smiled subtly as he slowly lifted his soft eyes to her. "Mhm."

"I won’t hate you even if you hurt me." She stopped to give herself a brief moment to keep her ground. "It’s not me who hurt you, but you hurt me."

"Mhm."

"So, wallow in guilt — if you have one."

"I don’t." This time, Tiger found the voice to speak. "You know that."

Ivy balled her hands into a tight fist. "Don’t argue. Did I say you can talk?"

"You didn’t." Tiger lowered his head. "Sorry."

"You don’t have the right to say anything; not sorry, not thank you, and not even I love you," she breathed out. "That is not what I need or want to hear."

A moment of silence fell on them, listening to each other’s deep breaths. Ivy laughed in ridicule as she waited for him to say it. He knew what she wanted to hear, but he wouldn’t. Not that she didn’t know his reason.

Tiger was just too honest with her.

He wouldn’t give her false hope that he would come back. Because he knew he might not. And this? This was probably the last time they would see each other. He might die or just disappear to a place far away from her.

"I really wish you were just like everybody else," she whispered, this time lowering her head to hide her tears. "I never thought there would come a day I would wish someone to lie to me so badly."

She chewed her bottom lips, her tears landing on the back of her fist. She wanted to speak more or do more; anything to keep him from going. However, she ended up busying herself muffling her cries.

Tiger, on the other hand, stared at her with soft eyes. He slowly reached his hand to her, wanting to console her for one last time. But his hand stopped midway, clasping it into a fist and retrieving it. For the next few minutes, all he heard were her muffled cries and sniffles.

*

*

*

Tiger sat on the floor with his back against the wall. His hand rested on his bent knees, smiling bitterly as he recalled how he parted with Ivy. He barely said anything and couldn’t even touch her so shamelessly. Just then, he heard the door beside him creak open from the inside.

Standing by the door, Hera gazed down to the side.

"Sulking too?" she asked, stepping out, only to sit beside him. "I thought you were able to take things better than me, but I guess you’ve been into acting class."

"She said everything she could. Hate me, love me, miss me, thank me, her pain — she even scolded me for talking back at one point," Tiger laughed bitterly. "She said everything she wanted to say, except ask me to stay."

He cocked his head a little, giving her a quick look. "How can I not fall for such a person?"

"Ivy is a beautiful person — she’s amazing." Hera smiled subtly, leaning on his side until her head was resting on his shoulder. "Ivy, Dom, my children... their existence is truly a wonderful one and they don’t even realize that. "

"They make us want to dream even if it feels like we’re asking for too much," he whispered, resting his head on top of her head. "I really love her, Hera. I want to continue dreaming and I can only do so if you don’t fall apart on me now. Because at the end of the day, no matter how much I love her with all my heart, my life is bound with yours."

A moment of silence descended on them until Hera broke the building’s silence.

"Dom tricked you," she remarked, making brows raise. "He wasn’t the one holding the phone, waiting for it to ring. It was Basti."

Tiger chuckled weakly. "I didn’t expect that."

"He knows I wouldn’t have the heart to say anything if it’s Basti," she said, peeling her head from his shoulder to face him. "I fell in love with an awful jerk, did I?"

"You haven’t seen how he can be a real prick when he’s working," he quipped. "It was a turnoff."

"Did he think he will get away from it?"

"Even if you give him a pass, I won’t let that slide. How dare he trick me?"

Hera and Tiger stared at each other before they suddenly burst out of laughter. When she recovered, she reached for his hand and kept her gaze on him.

"Thank you," she expressed sincerely. "I know you were also hurting, but you still tried to be my pillar of support."

He smiled subtly in return.

"Back then, I thought if I put myself last, I’m doing everyone a favor," she remarked. "But after hearing Basti, I realized parents’ role might be guiding and honing the children. I thought it was my job as their mother to make them feel love and not make them feel my struggles. But without even realizing it, it wasn’t me who was guiding my son on the right path."

"Sometimes, it’s the other way around. I teach him many things, but I also learn from him just as much," she continued with a smile. "While I was in Heaven’s body, I read this quote from one of the parenting books I read: your children will become what you are. So be who you want them to be."

"It barely resonated with me until now. I didn’t see how my actions do more damage to you and every one of you by putting myself last. Regardless of my intentions, I made you all feel powerless and miserable." She squeezed his hand. "Because I was stuck with being that way. I thought dying would give you a second chance to be happy, not realizing my death will only leave you with immense guilt."

"I am still sad — hurt, and I know my heart will continue to be this way until I’m not in pain anymore." Hera nodded at him reassuringly. "This time, I won’t just embrace my pain, but I will try to mend it. I still don’t know how, but I do know where to start."

Relief shone in Tiger’s eyes as he observed the resolve in her eyes. "Should I let Dominic get away for tricking me?"

"Don’t. I want his neck on a chopping board."

"Well, I guess he still deserves that."

Hera and Tiger chuckled softly, idling outside her room. Despite the weak chuckles, they weren’t completely happy. But they knew, somehow, they had an impossible dream to cling to. They had a reason to fight and not just a reason to despair about.

Little did they know, at the dark end of the hallway, Primo was leaning against the wall.

’I heard everything,’ he told himself, glancing over at the turn on his side. ’What a damn fantasy story... I don’t want to believe it, but I’m glad she’s okay.’

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