Jeffrey’s funeral was very simple. More precisely, it was just a simple farewell ceremony.
There was only a name ‘Jeffrey Radomil’ on his tombstone.
Holding an umbrella, Channing stood beside Stella, “He suffered from his own actions and he can’t
blame anyone else for such a miserable consequence.”
What they could do was to take back his bone ashes and find a cemetery to bury him. This was the last
thing that they could do for him.
Stella didn’t say anything and simply stared at Jeffrey’s tombstone. After a long while, she said slowly,
“Chan, let’s go.”
No matter what unforgivable things Jeffrey had done in the future, they would all end here.
She was now finally free.
They left the cemetery and went back to the old house to tidy up Jeffrey’s relics.
The house was located in an old residence building in a poor district, so it was not valuable at all.
Based on Jeffrey’s personality, he would have tried to pledge the house by all means to pay his debts.
Nevertheless, the weird thing was that he had never thought of pledging this house. It seemed like
Jeffrey hadn’t come back for a long time as the house was covered with a layer of thick dusts.
Channing waved his hand after entering the house and said to Stella, “Wait outside the house. There’re
many dusts here.”
Stella nodded her head, “All right.”
Channing found a carton and put Jeffrey’s things into it.
Standing on the balcony and looking at the house in which she grew up, Stella was clutched by a gush
of weird feelings.
It seemed like ever since she began to memory things, Jeffrey had been raffish. Nevertheless, when he
was young, he was not addicted in gambling. It was just that he was an alcoholic and liked to ask for
credit. Nevertheless, he would occasionally think of his children and then swear that he would
thoroughly reform himself.
But usually, he would only persist for two days and would commit the same mistake again.
This situation was further intensified as the time passed.
When Stella was lost in her thoughts, Channing took out a locked old leather suitcase out form Jeffrey’s
bedroom. Judging from its appearance, it seemed like the suitcase hadn’t been unlocked for many
years.
Channing went to find lock picks. Stella asked, “Do you want to open it?”
Channing replied while rummaging for the lock picks, “I saw him open the suitcase once before and I
guess there must be something important to him in the suitcase.”
Stella moved her lips trying to say something, yet didn’t utter a single word in the end.
Actually she was also curious about what were in the suitcase.
She guessed that the things in it were possibly related to their mother.
Their mother died in giving birth to Channing. There was no photo of her in their home. Stella forgot
how she looked like, and Channing had never known about her appearance.
Channing unlocked the suitcase after a short while.
They were greeted by the dusts. Then Stella saw the things in it.
There were several yellowed photos, a diary and a pocket watch.
Channing picked up a photo. It was a group photo of a beautiful woman and a man. Nevertheless, the
man’s face on the photo was scratched and he couldn’t see his appearance.
But judging from his figure and dressing, apparently he was not Jeffrey.
He picked up the other photo. It was a group photo of a family of three, including that woman and that
man, whose face on the photo was also scratched. But there was a little girl between them.
Channing studied the other photos and found that the man’s appearance on the photos were all
unrecognizable.
Stella picked up the diary and she didn’t notice Channing’s weird reaction. Judging from the narrative
technique of the diary, she guessed that it was Jeffrey’s diary. It recorded the whole process of how he
had a crush on a girl, but it didn’t clarify the girl’s identity. It was roughly about the changes in his
moods when he saw the girl every day.
He stopped writing diary on the date when the girl got married.
Stella turned several pages and found a line of words on the last page.
[She finally agrees to marry me. This date finally comes.]
Judging from the handwriting, he wrote down this line of words long after he stopped writing diaries
before.
Stella put down the diary. When she turned around, she found Channing sitting there and staring at the
photos silently. She asked in a gentle voice, “Chan, what’s wrong?”
Channing handed the photos to her and then stood up and left.
Stella gradually widened her eyes when she saw the photos.
If her assumption was right, the photo was scratched by Jeffrey. And the man on the photo…
After a long while, Stella put the photos back to the suitcase and walked to the living room.
Channing was still packing up things silently.
When hearing the noise, he said without lifting his head, “You can come back now. I will pack up the
rest things.”
“Chan.” Stella called his name in a gentle voice, “I’ve seen the photos. But they can’t represent
anything.”
Channing replied after a short while of silence, “I’ve been dreaming of the possibility that Jeffrey is not
my biological father and I even hoped so when I opened the suitcase just now. I thought there must be
his secret in it. Maybe we were all not his children, but I hadn’t expected that…”
He hadn’t expected that it was true that there was Jeffrey’s secret in the suitcase. Nevertheless, he
was Jeffrey’s child and Stella was not.
Before learning about this, Channing simply hated bitterly of having such an unbearable and swore that
he would protect his sister as they had been living together and helped each other in difficulties.
Nevertheless, after learning about the truth, he didn’t know how he should face Stella.
If it was not because of Jeffrey, Stella would not have such a life.
Channing felt being overwhelmed by humiliation at the moment.
Stella said in a calm voice, “Chan, when I was so despairing before, I also thought that it would be so
good if Jeffrey is not my father. Because I can completely get rid of him if he’s not my biological father
and start my own life. But as things have come to this point, is there any difference even if he’s not my
father?”
“No matter what, I’d been calling him ‘father’ for twenty more years. Moreover, the man on the photo is
totally a stranger for me and he hasn’t come to find me over the years. Maybe he’s inferior to Jeffrey.”
Seeing that Channing was still silent, Stella continued, “Chan, even though I’m not Jeffrey’s child, I’m
still your sister. We have the same mother.”
Although they had different fathers, they were delivered by the same mother.
After a while, Channing spoke in an upset tone, “I know.”
Stella chucked, “All right. It’s almost finished. Let’s leave.”
“Wait a minute.”
After finishing the words, Channing turned around and headed to the balcony. He then took the things
out form the suitcase.
He handed the photos and the pocket watch to Stella, “Take them. Maybe you’ll use them one day.”
When speaking, he threw Jeffrey’s diary into the carton.
Stella took a glance at the photos and then at Channing, “Chan, do you want to keep…”
“I don’t want them. I’ve never seen her and it doesn’t matter to me no matter how she looks like.”
Stella replied, “Then I will keep them. When you want to see the photos, you can come to find me.”
Stella knew that the real reason why Channing didn’t want to keep the photos was that these photos
were all her group photos with that man.
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