Chapter 313: Visiting Kelvin
Kayden
I had thought seeing him again would make me laugh right in his face. I had spent years imagining this exact moment, picturing myself standing tall over his bed and calling him a pathetic loser for every single traumatic thing he had ever done to me.
But the moment I actually crossed the threshold and looked at him, the bitter words died right in my throat. I never imagined he would be reduced to this—nothing but skin and bones, slowly fading away into the white hospital sheets.
"When Linda told me someone was here to see me, I knew that it would be you... because there is no one else," Kelvin said shakily, his voice barely a raspy whisper as his heavy eyelids fluttered open.
Our eyes met. The exact same eyes that had always made me tremble with fear as a child—the ones that made me run and hide in the closet every single time I heard his heavy footsteps approaching the front door—now stared back at me with absolute hollowness. His once bright, imposing face had turned completely sickly, drained of all its color.
I had not seen him in so many years, and seeing him like this now felt like I was looking at a complete stranger, somebody else entirely who wasn’t my father.
I had always imagined how our eventual reunion was going to turn out. I imagined myself still hiding like a coward, terrified that he might find a way to reach out and hurt me all over again.
But that wasn’t the case at all as I stood beside his hospital bed. Instead of being afraid, instead of my heart pounding at the mere thought of looking at him, all I felt inside my chest was just pity.
There were multiple plastic wires connected to his frail body, all hooked up to a heart rate monitor beside the bed that beeped in a slow, sluggish rhythm.
"Derek... you have really grown."
I flinched violently at the way he had called my name. Hearing that old name sent cold shivers racing down my spine, instantly triggering a flood of horrific memories from when I was a helpless child.
Don’t hide, Derek! Go buy me some alcohol, Derek! You stupid boy! What the hell is wrong with you, Derek?
Every single one of those sentences had happened right before he raised his heavy hand to hit me.
I had thought seeing him again would make my heart race so hard that I might actually have a panic attack or a heart attack, but as I stood in front of him, I didn’t feel any of that tightness in my chest.
All I felt was just pity.
And besides, I wasn’t alone in this room. I had Rhys standing right beside me, holding my hand gently but firmly, his solid grip assuring me without a single word that he was going to support me through every single second of this moment.
"Derek..." he muttered again, his dry lips parting.
"Kayden," I corrected him, my voice completely cold. "My name is Kayden Vale now, and not that. I dropped that name years ago."
Kelvin nodded shakily, his head sinking deeper into the pillow. "I know... because after all, it’s your second name, so it’s still your name."
I said absolutely nothing in response, just staring down at his sickly, emaciated body.
"I regret everything, son," Kelvin began, his voice cracking as he started sniffling. Warm tears slowly spilled from the corners of his eyes, streaming down his hollow cheeks while his gaze remained fixed entirely on mine. "I regret how I had treated you back then. Because maybe... maybe things would have been different if I had treated you well. Maybe I would have become a father that you would actually be proud of. Maybe you wouldn’t have that look of pure disgust on your face right now when looking at me, and maybe you wouldn’t hate me so much. Kayden..."
He paused, swallowing hard as he sniffled again, his chest hitching under the hospital gown.
"I am... I’m so sorry for everything that I put you through. I was just going through a lot of grief back then. I was immature, and I had treated you as if you were not even my own child."
My reactions were immediate. The words sparked a sudden, violent fire in my chest. I gently let go of Rhys’s hand as I moved closer to the bed, walking right past Linda, who sat completely silent on the couch opposite him, watching the scene unfold.
"You are sorry?" I asked, my voice instantly rising.
I almost yelled the words, but I forced myself to take a breath, remembering the child growing inside me and trying not to let my emotions completely shatter my composure. "Were you ever sorry for the helpless child you left bleeding on the ground years ago?" I demanded, letting out a short, mocking scoff.
"Did you ever feel a single ounce of sorrow for me when you locked me out in the freezing rain just because you hated the sight of me? What about those days you purposely made me starve in my room? When you beat me until I was black and blue all over my body? When you looked me in the eye and told me that I was worthless, that I was never making it as an omega? Did you ever feel sorry for me then? Did you?’’
I yelled the final words so loudly I could feel my heart pounding hard against my ribs, the anger burning in my throat.
I pointed a trembling finger directly toward him, and then whipped around to point it at Linda. "Both of you were absolutely horrible parents! And the only reason why you are seeing me now—the only reason why you suddenly think that you needed to see me—is because I turned out to be someone completely different than you expected! I became a great person. I became that successful hockey player you always mocked me for wanting to be, the one you swore I was never becoming!" I let out a short, bitter laugh, the tears finally breaking past my eyelids and streaming down my face.
"None of that would have been possible if I didn’t find the right people! If I had ended up abandoned on the streets after escaping you, then maybe I would have been dead by now. One way or another, I just know the starvation or maybe the freezing winter cold was going to kill me. But I am standing alive in front of you today because I met the right people. This reunion would have never happened without them!" I yelled, completely unable to keep the suffocating weight of my childhood trauma trapped inside anymore.
"Please calm down, Kayden," Rhys warned gently, stepping up behind me and placing a warm, his heavy hand on my waist to pull me back slightly. "These people are not worth your energy."