Chapter 131 A Father's Flawed Love

• "I asked him if he had eaten. He told me he was full from a meal outside. The chicken soup smelled amazing, so Winter and I devoured it all in one go. But when I went to wash the dishes, I saw him clutching the bowl, drinking every last drop of the broth we had left behind. He lied. He hadn't eaten at all. He gave all the food to us.
• "Then, there was that winter, a rare, bone-chilling cold in Southras. It was minus five degrees indoors and outdoors. We were poor, with no heating and no air conditioning. Winter and I shivered until our noses ran like faucets. One day, my dad came home, bruised and battered, but clutching two cotton-padded jackets in his arms. He told me he bought them with the money he earned. I didn't believe him, so I followed him in secret. That's when I saw him surrounded by a group of men, getting beaten up.
• "Later, I found out the truth. He had cheated at gambling to win a little money, just enough to buy us those jackets. Unfortunately, he got caught. He ran for his life, clutching that money, stumbling and falling multiple times, but never letting go. In the end, he used it to buy us two cheap cotton-padded jackets. It was probably no more than 40 or 50 dollars each.