The Love That Passed

Third Person’s POV

“I thought she was living there by herself.” Lucy, Colleen’s mom, talking to herself after she left Colleen’s house. She was annoyed that she thought Diane, her new husband Rick’s daughter, would have a place to stay while studying for college in the city.

Diane’s tuition fee was beyond her budget and renting her a house would be too much. She couldn’t afford other expenses because Rick was not working anymore and taking care of him and his kids wore her off. She remembered what Colleen looked like and she felt a little worried about her. Hurting her was not her intention at all, but she was hurt after she heard what she said.

“Yes, I left her. But I didn’t know that her dad left her as well. If I found out about it, I would have taken her in and Rick had no say about that.” She told herself and looked back at Colleen’s apartment and started to think about how Colleen managed to survive all those years. She felt guilty when she remembered slapping her, she just realized that she had every right to get mad at her and Colleen’s dad for abandoning her.

Lucy then walked away and went back home. She saw Colleen a day before when she was looking for an affordable apartment for Diane and followed her. But because she still needed to go home, she decided to return this morning instead.Content rights by NôvelDr//ama.Org.

“Did you find me an apartment?” Diane asked.

“No,” Lucy replied.

“What?? Then where am I going to stay when I start to attend school?” Diane asked angrily. She wanted to yell more but she stopped herself because she knew that Lucy was the one who was running their family now. Her dad was not working and it was Lucy who took care of all their expenses.

“Study here instead.” Lucy replied. She didn’t want to give Colleen a headache by letting Diane live with her and she was planning on looking after her from now on. She really looked pale and she blamed herself for that.

“What?? I wanted to study in the city.” Diane complained. Lucy has been really sweet with her all these years so she tried to calm herself so she wouldn’t yell at her.

“I know, but I cannot take another expense. Renting an apartment in the city was almost our food budget for two weeks. Where am I going to get our food expenses here? How about your little brother who is still in high school? He still has his needs at school.” Lucy said, trying to reason out with Diane, who couldn’t say a word anymore.

Diane left and Lucy didn’t bother following her. She then continued to their room and there she found Rick. “You’re back,” he said. Lucy smiled at him. No matter how much she wanted to yell at him, she couldn’t. Rick had been very kind to him ever since. He even offered her to take Colleen but she thought her daughter would be much better with her father.

“Yeah, I tried to find an apartment for Diane but they were all expensive.” She replied.

“Just let her study here, you don’t need to exert more effort,” he replied. “She should be content and thankful for what you can give. Not every stepmother will do what you have done with this family,” he added.

“It’s fine. Come on and eat lunch.” Lucy told him as she supported him with his walking.

Their house was far from the city and would really take Diane’s time if she insisted on studying there. Lucy just let her be because she really couldn’t do anything about it.

Meanwhile, Colleen started her day with great hope even if her mother’s visit was not pleasant at all. She was actually happy when she saw her and if she hadn’t opened her mouth yet, Colleen would have hugged her.

The sadness that filled her when she was talking with her mom washed away after Cely talked to her. She was happy that, even if she was not actually talking to her neighbors, they were looking after her as well. She felt blessed when she thought that there were people who were sincerely concerned about her.

She spent her whole day in her house as she had to let her bruise subside a bit before she went out. The look on Cely’s face earlier tells her that it was really visible. She had a feeling that the old lady wanted to know what had happened to her but decided not to and Colleen was thankful for that. She didn’t want to answer her or have someone to pity her again.

Now, thinking about that made her realize that she was going to be Mrs. Colleen Mclahlin and Jared had already agreed to their marriage. She thought that maybe he really had no choice, so he agreed instead of fighting with his mom and sister.

Colleen cleaned her entire home again and made a decision. She planned on letting her mother’s step-stepdaughter live in her house if that would help her. At least she was able to do something for her mom before she died. Now that she was going to transfer to Jared’s house, she would not be needing her house anymore. She just hoped that her mother’s step-daughter would take care of it.

It was really her house now. She managed to somehow pay the owner before she found out about her illness. She only paid it through an installment, so there was really nothing to regret having it after she was diagnosed with a critical illness. She was still thankful that the owner gave her a chance to have her own house despite being alone.

She was very hard working and because she noticed that something was wrong with her, she decided to apply for an online job but she was not lucky enough to land a job. Instead, she managed to work as a freelancer that offers more than the online job she applied for. It was good that she was good at drawing and was now a cartoonist.

She wanted to make her own cartoon that would be known across the globe but she thought that she wouldn’t be able to make it as she had little time in the world already, so she just enjoyed drawing.

“Hello,” she said as she answered the call from Claire.

“Hello dear, did Ingrid call you already?” she asked.

“Yes mommy Claire.”

“Then, when are you going to transfer to Jared’s house?”

“I still have some things to take care of. Once I’m done, then I will call you.” she replied.

“No, you have to move in soon. I want you to live with him now,” Claire told her.

“Mommy Claire, no need to rush anymore. Jared had agreed and Ingrid told me that she had brought along with her the documents for our wedding.” Colleen replied.

” Yes, but still, I want you to move in soon.”

“Alright, maybe after a day or two. I’m sure Jared has not moved in yet,” she replied.

“No, he was already in your house. So you better hurry up and move in as well. Anyway, just tell me when you’re moving in because I will ask the driver to get you. Don’t stress yourself, OK?” Claire told her sincerely.

“OK, Mommy Claire.” Colleen couldn’t help but agree and ended the call. ‘I guess I was lucky to have Claire as my mother-in-law.’ She told herself as she shrugged her shoulders.

She then relaxed herself and didn’t think of anything else but the chance of extending her life if possible. She didn’t lose her hope that one day, she would be able to find a donor and she decided to ask for money with Jared as her husband. She didn’t see anything wrong with that if they were really married. Although it was an arranged marriage, they were still married.