My footsteps remained constant when a hand pulled over out of nowhere. I looked at her, sipping coffee from her company cup. My eyes shut-opened in gruesome. I sighed sharply,
"Early Chirapaisarnsakul," She said with a grin– I ground with hate. "Employees should eventually know early about your filthy hands and unfortunate position."
"They will– not about what doesn't fit me but how strong I Hold if I name something mine, Ms. Thanawan." Shoving her hand down, I walked away loftily swapping the coat to my body. I can feel her curses crossing across me but I shook away by turning a blind eye.
Oh? My heart somehow raised when my heavy footsteps halted on the open door frame. I moreover felt like a shattered stick when my sight caught the slightest vision of my Mom. Am I hallucinating?
She looked into my eyes with a calm, passionate respect. I walked very reluctantly, stuck at the thought of whether I'm hallucinating or reality hitting on a different angle of me.
"Baby," Her voice is much softer like a feather. "Did I put you in pressure with this position?" She whispered, caressing my hair gently. My lips parted but I broke in tears instead. I don't want you if you're just my illusion, Ma. Tell me, you're not another color of this world— you called beautiful.
"I'm sorry, Baby. I just want you to have some kind days too." Her words laid on me like cotton balls. Her hands felt so cold yet she wiped my tears with her alluring smile. She holds my whole world in it. She makes me see the hues— one couldn't see. She always stayed for my forgiveness when she never actually committed one. Asked me to take her apologies on behalf of those all who actually committed crime on me.
"Ma, there's no better place than your warm arms. You don't know, the peace I find in your laps can't be pleased with these dollars. Nothing can be compared with your pure love."
She held my chin up enough to meet our eyes. She smiled against her will, clearing my tears. She made me clear so that I could see the world she gave me in a different angle. Made me wide-eyed,
"Mom can't always stay by your side, Baby." She shined again but this time… she vanished into thin air. Like a foolish dog, I wandered and scattered my bureau in a mess but I couldn't find her anywhere.
I'm really hallucinating things these days. Seems like I'm a bit more homesick, now.
"Mom, I don't think I'm really in need here."
Those thoughts were weighing on me, pulling me to get on my knees until I collapsed leaving prints of my hand on the glass wall. For a period, I wanna break it. Break the cage and fly away. But isn't this what I was doing till today? I called it freedom unless I realised them as my responsibilities. For the family.
"A CEO doesn't need a right time to prove herself. You need to create one." Huh…?
"...Grandfather?"
"You have a meeting. You should go now." He said.
"Yeah, Grandfather." I said faintly.
...….
That evening, the air at the family estate was colder than the polished marble beneath my heels. Grandfather insisted on a private dinner. "Family only," he said. I didn't know whether to feel comforted or cursed by that.
I should've known better.
They arrived in style. Uncle Prasong in his traditional silk shirt and condescending smirk. His ex-wife Zachary Wongluí, wearing designer sarcasm and dripping distaste. And then their children—Taeng, with her curated socialite smile, and Kylan, the golden boy with a temper as smooth as his charm.
"Well," Prasong said with mock cheer, "The lost heir returns. Tell me, Chao-fa, how does it feel to steal what isn't yours?"
I placed my napkin in my lap. "Feels like karma tastes better with power."
Zachary laughed lightly, sipping wine she didn't need. "You talk like a child playing queen. This world doesn't bend to your fantasies, dear."
"No," I said, looking her dead in the eyes, "But it breaks under my resolve."
Taeng chimed in, "We've been part of this company our entire lives. Board meetings, investor summits, expansion blueprints. And you think just because you walked in wearing your birthright like a badge, we'll bow?"
"I don't want your bow," I said. "I want your silence while I rebuild what you nearly destroyed with your entitlement."
Kylan stood, knuckling white around his wine glass. "Careful. Even royalty can bleed."
I stood too. "Then let's both remember not to draw first blood."
The table crackled with unspoken wars.
It was then the door opened.
She walked in.
My mother. My everything. This family's royalty.
No longer the woman of fading memories and quiet warmth. She walked with the poise of someone who had once belonged to this empire—and was now reclaiming her space, not for herself, but for me.
"I asked him to choose her," she said quietly.
Everyone turned to her like they'd seen a ghost.
"She didn't steal this. She earned it. And while you all fed on legacy like wolves, Moon survived a life none of you could've endured. She is the future of this family. Like it or not."
Her voice didn't waver. Mine almost did.
I couldn't speak. I just looked at her—older, elegant, proud. And for the first time in years, I saw not the mother who left, but the woman who protected me from a world I now had to rule.
"Thank you," I whispered.
She placed her hand over mine.
"You have nothing to thank me for, Moon. Just promise me one thing."
I met her eyes.
"Don't become them."
After that I didn't see her around. Neither the dining table nor the lawn where Grandfather never refuses to reveal secrets while sipping on his daughter-in-law's (Lily Fowler) favourite wine. My parents are great that they are even respected by this not enough fragile old man.
Sometimes, that leaves a slight smile on my lips.
"Just how come you praise the moon on behalf of Dad, Chakan." I hushed.