As Jason and Janet faced each other, Janet couldn’t help but feel like Jason was a disappointed father looking at his daughter.
"W-What are you doing—?"
Janet started to whisper to Jason, but Jason raised a finger to tell her to stop. Janet immediately closed her mouth, and Jason spoke up calmly.
"You know, I didn’t think you’d actually do it. When I heard your calls with that fool you call a boyfriend, I thought you’d be smart enough to know that he was just using you. But even after everything we’ve done for you as a family, you still didn’t respect us enough to tell us you were leaving to our faces? You have the audacity to try to leave your mother with a fucking letter. What sort of fucking idiot are you, Janet?"
Janet grit her teeth as she felt an intense anger rising from her chest, and she tightened her hand around her bag as she seethed at Jason!
"And what the hell was I supposed to do? Do you think I didn’t notice how much you didn’t want me here! You all treat me like I’m some sort of virus that came into this family by accident! I... I know I abandoned you when things were bad, but I fell in love, and I did what I had to do to be with him. I’m not going to apologize for what I did, and I know you’ll never forgive me for it, so isn’t it better that I just leave again? You all can enjoy your newfound wealth and your money, and just let me go."
Janet tried her damn best not to raise her voice since she knew that her mother was sleeping right beside them, but she whimpered in fear when she saw Jason’s face twist in anger! Jason walked over to Janet, and Janet walked back until she was pressed against the wall behind her, and Jason seethed in her face.
"Who the fuck do you think you are to say something like that? We think you’re a virus? We don’t want you here? Of course, I don’t fucking want you here. You left us, Janet. You abandoned us when things were at their lowest because of some washed-up bastard that filled your head with bullshit about love. If I had a choice, I’d cut you off and never have to see your stupid face ever again. But that woman over there. Our mother. Do you know what she went through for you? Do you know how much she cried, how much she ran around till her feet bled because she was trying to make sure that her daughter was alright? She was trying to make sure that you weren’t dead. And when you came back after so long, do you want to know what our mother did? She begged me to accept you back. She almost went on her knees because she didn’t care that you left her, and she didn’t care that you abandoned this family. She just wanted to have you back with us. If you think—even for a second—that this woman didn’t want you back, then you’re a bigger fool than I ever thought, Janet. And I’m fucking done with this shit."
Jason stepped away from Janet, and Janet grit her teeth and squeezed her hands into fists as she felt her tears threatening to fall. Janet always knew that her mother had worked hard to try and find her, but hearing it being said to her so plainly was almost too much for her to bear. Thinking about her mother running around and asking everyone if they had seen her tormented Janet’s mind, and for the first time in a long time, Janet felt disgusted with herself!
Jason just watched Janet without any remorse on his face. He had lost all the remorse or love he could feel for her a long time ago, and the only reason why he was still bothering with her now was because he knew his mother still loved her. The love of a mother was really a terrifying thing. Because Jason knew that if he were in his mother’s shoes, Janet would never step foot in this house again. But Jason was finally done with Janet, and he decided that he was going to make sure something like this never happened again.
One of Jason’s subordinates rose from the shadows beside Jason and handed him a briefcase, and Jason dismissed it before he threw the briefcase at Janet! Janet tried to catch it, but she fumbled with it, and it fell to the ground and opened to reveal multiple bundles of hundred-dollar notes inside! Janet’s eyes were wide in pure shock, and she looked up at Jason as he spoke nonchalantly.
"There’s half a million dollars in there. I don’t need you to say goodbye, and I don’t care where you go, but the moment you take that money and walk out of this house, I want you to know that you’ll never be welcome back in here again. Our family already suffered too much because of you, so it’s about time you made up your mind once and for all. I’m not giving you any more chances, and I wish to God that you’d just vanish and never come back, but even though you’re a fool, you’re still family, and that’s the only reason we’re talking here today. The moment you step out of this house, Janet, I swear to you that I’ll use every power at my disposal to make sure that you never get to see any of us ever again. So if you wish to vanish, then please make sure it’s permanent this time."
Janet’s head fell, and she looked at the money on the ground like it was a cup of poison. The tears had started to fall from Janet’s eyes when she heard what Jason had to say, and Janet felt her heart squeeze in pain when he told her to vanish. This was the first time that Janet would hear Jason say so much to her in a long time, and it felt like all the memories of when they were younger and she would spend time with him were coming back to her and tormenting her for the decisions that she had made. When had things become so complicated in their family? When did she start to hate her own family so much? Janet put her hand over her mouth to stifle the cry that threatened to come out, and she sniffled miserably. Janet had been a fool when she was younger. After her father left, she had been broken by thoughts of him never coming back, and she had fallen in love with someone who she thought could fill the gap that her father had left in her heart. But her boyfriend’s music career wasn’t taking off, and he eventually told her that he wanted to move to Los Angeles to try to make it big. Back then, he was the only thing that Janet saw as something good in her life. There was still a blanket of sadness over their family after their father left, and Janet never got any attention from her mother, so in her young naivety, she had agreed to leave with him since she didn’t want to lose the one person she felt really close to.
That had been close to eight years ago, and in that time, things had been difficult for Janet. Her boyfriend was still trying to get his music career off the ground, but life was hard in Los Angeles, and they both had to find other work just to try and get by. There were relationship problems, and there were even times when both of them would give each other the silent treatment for days at a time! Janet knew that her relationship wasn’t perfect, but Janet was still dedicated to the relationship since she had that naïve belief that he was the only thing that could fill the hole left by her father, and that was why she stayed with him all this time. Even now, Janet still found it difficult to choose between him and her family, even though deep in her heart she knew that her relationship with her boyfriend was nothing like what it had once been.
’When did I become such a coward?’