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Chapter 3 His Painful Decision

  • (Cullen POV)
  • While I was out by the little bridge one day and spacing out in the nothingness, my father’s voice boomed behind me in the distance.
  • “The sole Dela Ventura that will be left alone someday,” he teased. I didn’t turn to see him and kept quiet. “Is already always alone.”
  • He stepped closer and handed me a fishing rod.
  • “You shouldn’t grow up like that Cullen, I’m about to leave you a huge responsibility in the future…A family and a company.”
  • I took that rod and gave him a short smile. He sat beside me at the wooden bridge’s floor and spoke, “I used to fish alone when I was a kid. That way the catch is often plenty.”
  • He threw the tipple with the bait on the water, and I did too.
  • “I often got none when I fish with my three older siblings, so I decided to fish alone after ever since,” father’s face fell a little. His eyes were downcast, and his mind was somewhere back in the past. “You were aware of the Dela Ventura massacre, right?”
  • I nodded although it wasn’t really a question.
  • “I’ve went fishing just to see everybody dead when I got home. All of the Dela Ventura lineage was killed, except me and grandpa, the eldest in line. He helped me escape.”
  • The lake remained calm for a while, but I felt a little tug at the hook of my fishing rod. Eventually a hungry fish bit my bait and struggled against being pulled off the water. It was a moderately big one. I smiled at my catch but instantly felt bad as I watched it pathetically wriggle for its life and was slowly dying.
  • Our family has been shrouded with death and father has been its witness.
  • “Scared and confused, I asked him why something as terrible as such did happen,” father resumed with his story. “Greed. It was about greed all along, he explained to me with conviction. Our family initiated the killing of its own bloodline. It has been a gladiator battle where the strongest gets to live and amass all the wealth of Dela Ventura for his own.”
  • I looked at father blankly and he smiled back with concealed brokenness. “I was your age that time and clueless about the power Dela Ventura held. I’ve been left alone often, like you. And before my grandfather passed away, he bequeathed me everything that the Dela Ventura family owned. The only words he gave me before dying was that it’s hard to run a company alone.”
  • The fish has stopped moving in the bucket. It has died sooner before I even released it back to the lake. I averted my gaze to the sky and tried to understand my father’s words. He has always spoken to me like I am an adult capable of the burdens of adults.
  • And all of it made me lonelier.
  • “You’re my only son, Cullen. Whether you like it or not, you will bear all the responsibilities I will leave you with when I die. Firstly, don’t let our company taste its first failure. Secondly, fulfil grandpa’s will for me. Promise me that you will marry and make the Dela Ventura bloodline flourish again. Do something that I failed to do.”
  • The sun was setting down when we went home. But before I reached my room, my father stopped me.
  • “I never blamed you for your mother’s death, Cullen. Nobody wished for it to happen…so don’t blame yourself anymore.”
  • His face was clear of all the hints of pain he has shown earlier. I stood wordless as I watched him retreat to his study room with a smile on his face. How that day went on has felt so eerie, like the calm before a storm.Like something tragic is about to happen.
  • Maya, the maid I grew up with, approached me cheerfully. She’s a big woman in her fifties and has been a mother to me.
  • “Master Zade rarely had his time off work. It’s good you two had bonded. I heard he’ll be going abroad again tomorrow.” Noticing how her words made me sad, she patted my hair in a mess and gave me a hug.
  • What happened this afternoon only happened once and return everything in what I used to see on my father. He was busily taking care the company, where Dela Ventura’s pride poured on.
  • Until one day, while I am reading my book under the mad sky, a knocked disturbed me, and there my father’s friend standing in front of me… Addressing what happened to my father.Something tragic did happen indeed.
  • Now, the scene repeatedly happened… There my father’s friend standing in front of me… Telling me to do a decision bout my father helpless body to recover. They insisting me, that he suffer to much, and I need to let him go…
  • I have lied to myself for so long that father will still regain consciousness. He’s been ‘dead’ the moment he was declared brain dead. There is no in-between. I have only spoken to him for few hours in a year and could only recall our few moments together.
  • How abrupt all of it happened was just unacceptable. I suddenly remembered his words that day. How everything would be so hard when he’s gone. And I am already going through so much hardship.
  • Dad had lost so much weight in the hospital. Bones jutted there and there; he was barely recognizable. I felt a little shame that I still haven’t found the girl I could spend the rest of my life with and introduce him to before he goes for the grave. I might not be able to keep the promise we made. But someday, who knows, there might just be a girl that would suit perfectly well with what my parents wished for me.
  • I held my father’s hand and bid the last words I have thought of. It might just be the right time to finally let go.
  • “Tell mom my greetings. I love and thank you both,” I whispered. Patients in comatose still could hear. That what I believe…
  • The creased document that Dr. Cox gave me earlier stared from the trash bin like a nightmare. My hands still trembled as I gathered enough courage to take it.
  • “Rest in peace dad,” I leaned in closer to him before finally signing the paper.