Page 207 of My Ruthless Neighbor

“Come here,” she says, opening her arms. I, a grown man, crumble down and shatter as she hugs me.

“I’m sorry, Eomma. I’ve been so cruel to you.” I say hoarsely.

She tightens her arms around me. One of her hands reaches up and strokes my head. “Shh…”

The woman who’s half my size rocks me in her arms as if I am still a kid instead of a thirty-two-year-old man.

“What is bothering you? There must be something or else you wouldn’t have ended up here.”

I pull back. “I didn’t realize I was here until I got out of the car.”

She just smiles sadly. “I know.”

And that breaks my dead heart. The knowledge that she knew I would never intentionally come here doesn’t sit right with me.

“So?” She prompts.

“It’s about a girl. Summer. You’ve met her.” I swallow hard before telling her everything.

She rubs my arm throughout the time, silently giving me strength as I speak. I tell her how I asked her to stop talking to you even when she always yearned for mother’s love all her life.

I tell her all the harsh words I used to make Summer hate me. I told her that I threw her love at her face when she confessed her love to me.

“I don’t deserve her but I don’t know how to live without her, Eomma.” I look down. Then up at the inky black sky before looking at my mother. “Everything hurts and I don’t know what to do to make it stop.”

“You said you don’t deserve her or her love. Why’s that?”

“Didn’t you hear me? I humiliated her in front of everyone.”

She nods. “You told me you refused her love because you don’t deserve her. I am asking why do you feel that way?”

“Because… because…”

“Because of Amy?” Her voice is small.

I avert my gaze and stare ahead. Blowing out a harsh breath, I try to control my emotions. My hands begin to tremble at the mention of her name. Eomma squeezes my hands and asks me to look at her.

“Archer, son…” Her voice breaks. “Look at me.” She asks for the third time and I do, watching her through blurred vision.

“Do you love Summer?”

I nod and bow my head. I do. I love her. So much that it makes me want to be selfish.

She grabs my chin and lifts my head. “Then you need to let go.” She touches my chest then. “The guilt that’s been eating at you for years. Let that go, son. It wasn’t your fault Amy died.” Her lip trembles.

My tears fall and I shake my head vehemently, unable to say anything.

She cradles my face. “No!” She stares at me hard through tears of her own. “It wasn’t your fault. Stop blaming yourself. I won’t allow you to live like this. I won’t let you ruin your happiness with your own hands, you hear me?”

I try to break away but she tightens her grip. “You need to hear this, Archer. It wasn’t your fault.”

“Stop! Please!” I shake my head.

“No, you stop. Stop punishing yourself.”

I shut my eyes.

“You are punishing us too. Because all those years ago, we didn’t just lose Amy. We lost you too, Archer.”

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