Chapter 138



Freddie cared a lot about Hayden, and Hayden never shirked his care.

But Freddie’s care for Hayden was mostly due to when she helped him escape the underground life of boxing. It was a life transformation.

So the more he accomplished, the more grateful he became for Hayden.

Freddie was still young, but he had seen too many things that made him lose interest in his peers. However, Hayden was the factor that transformed his life, and she became his belief.

Hayden wasn’t qualified to tell Freddie if what he felt for her was love, but she knew that Freddie was just a little brother to her.

“I understand.” Freddie looked crestfallen, and he looked awkward as he stood up.

Hayden followed him out of the dressing room. Freddie turned and asked, “Hayden, can I ask you for a hug, as encouragement?”

Hayden was stunned for a second, then opened his arms and smiled. He gave her a tight hug, “Break a leg!”.

“Thank you.”

…

“Freddie, good show!”.

“Freddie, I love you.”

“Freddie!”.

During the concert, Stella stood among Freddie’s fans and made a point of shaking the glow stick in her hand. The fans cheered with her and started screaming Freddie’s name at the top of their lungs.

Everyone was screaming for an encore at the end of the concert.

Hayden could hardly stand the screaming fans. He raised his voice and said to Benjamin, “Stella is crazy. You can leave first if you can’t take it.”

Benjamin smiled and handed him a pair of earplugs.

“Genius!”

Hayden was surprised. He put the earplugs under his hair and blocked out the noise.

The screaming got even worse when Freddie returned to the stage. Hayden looked toward the direction of the stage with a comfortable air. He was nodding his head in time to the music as if he could actually hear it.

Freddie wore a white shirt and his guitar on stage. He smiled in Hayden’s direction.

“This is a song for the most important person in my life. She changed my life, I used to think she was my belief, but she reminded me that my initial belief was freedom. It shouldn’t be anything else…”.

The pink neon lights were like waves in the sea. They moved to the rhythm of the music. The auditorium became so silent that only Freddie’s song flowed in the air and reached everyone’s heart.

His faith was written in the song and it moved his fans. However, it did not move Hayden. She still looked quiet and awkward as she danced to the music. Earplugs made Hayden miss a romantic confession.

Stella’s voice became hoarse as the concert ended. She fell asleep on Benjamin’s shoulder before they reached the parking lot.

“Let’s go to your house first. Let me help you take Stella back home, then I’ll call a cab to the hotel.”

“It’s okay, Alayna’s home. I’ll take Stella home to sleep, then I’ll walk you to the hotel. It’s not too far.” Hayden buckled up and drove the car to the highway.

The concert was being held at a sports stadium, and it was located quite a ways out of town. It took Hayden an hour and a half to get downtown, so he had to take half a day off in the afternoon.

Just after Hayden’s car pulled out of the parking lot, a little boy slipped out of a man’s hand and chased after his car. He did his best to run close to the car, but could not catch up with the speed of the vehicle. The car disappeared from his sight not long after he started running.

“Noah.”

Joseph quickly followed Noah and tried to grab his hand.

Noah glared at him and shrugged again. He jotted something down on his drawing board and showed it to Joseph angrily.

“[Why didn’t you stop Mom and Stella?”]

Noah had seen Hayden as his mother after she and Joseph were officially in a relationship. He liked to refer to Hayden as ‘mommy’ or ‘mom’ instead of ‘ma’am’.

Joseph took a deep breath and said to Noah, “Didn’t you see that they came with another man to see the concert? She didn’t even ask you if you wanted to come, and you keep calling her ‘mommy’?”.

“[I like to call her ‘mom’!”.] Noah raised his drawing board again with a proud face.

“Let’s go home.”

Noah folded his arms and stared at Joseph. Reluctance was written all over his face.

Joseph felt frustrated, “You can stay if you don’t want to go home with me. Go, chase his car now.”

Noah pursed his lips and sat down on the floor. He had tears in his eyes.

Joseph just wanted to scare Noah. He turned around after taking a step forward. But Joseph’s expression softened when he saw Noah sitting on the ground. He crouched down and said, “Very well. I’ll invite Stella and her over for dinner this Thursday.”

There were no more tears in Noah’s eyes. He immediately stopped frowning after hearing what Joseph said, and picked up his drawing board.

“[Mom’s birthday].”

Joseph frowned, “How do you know?”.

Noah didn’t answer him. He got up and walked to Joseph’s car. He didn’t even need Joseph’s help to get into the car. Noah showed a winning attitude in this ‘game’ with his father.

Of course, it was Stella who told him about Hayden’s birthday. If it was just a random date, why didn’t he invite them on weekends? Although she couldn’t remember the exact date of Hayden’s birthday, she could relate when Joseph mentioned Thursday.

It seemed her father wasn’t dumb at all.

…

Hayden requested a day off on Thursday and took Stella to the cemetery to visit his mother.

Hayden was stunned when she saw a bouquet of lilies in front of the headstone. She looked around, but there were no other people. Maybe it was a friend of her mother’s, Hayden thought. She had passed away years ago.

Hayden appreciated the kind gesture.

The headstone was clean, as it was constantly cared for. Hayden carefully wiped the dust off the headstone.

“Mom, this is Stella, your granddaughter. I’m sorry for rushing off last time, and only being able to visit you now.”

Stella was too young to understand life and death. She looked at the picture on the tombstone and complimented her, “Grandma was very pretty. You look a lot like her.”

Hayden smiled, “Yes, your uncle said that too.”

He immediately understood who had placed the bouquet of lilies here when he said ‘uncle’. There would be no other person in the family who still remembered his mother, the only one was his uncle.

Hayden left the cemetery with Stella after spending some time at the site. Before they reached the entrance to the cemetery, Hayden saw a person he used to know. The woman was wearing a gray outfit and had much lighter makeup than usual. Hayden almost didn’t recognize the woman.

“Aunt?” Hayden’s expression changed.

Hayden’s aunt, Scarlett, raised her head and glanced at him. She was as mean as Hayden remembered her.

“What’s with the surprised look, can’t I come visit your mother?”

“That’s not what I meant. Thanks, Auntie.”

“Stop that.” Scarlett became aware of Stella. She was stunned for a second and asked awkwardly, “Is she your daughter?”

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