Ashes of Love, We’ll Never Meet Again

“Dad, is there something worrying you? Why are you so restless?”

“No, not at all.” But his gaze was always fixed on the outside of the door.

Another minute later, Jackie suddenly stood up and said, “I have to go out for a while. You two stay with your mother first.”

Her daughter's expression changed a little bit as she sneered, “Dad, today is Family Day. My brother and I rarely come back. Do you have to go out? What's the important matter?”

Jackie left without stopping, leaving behind a sentence, “You do not understand. I'll be back soon. It's very important. 

“You stay home and take good care of your mother. It happens that your mother has been talking about you two these days.”

Tears fulfilled her eyes, her daughter looked at Clara and hugged her tightly.

The son's expression froze as he asked, “How long has dad been in this condition?”

Clara didn’t know how to answer him. Perhaps after retirement, or even sooner. Or maybe, for the rest of her life, all she would have was a bowl of half-cooked rice.

Her daughter and son all spoke up for her, but Clara just chuckled and shook her head. In her heart, he was nothing at that time and it did not matter where he went.

Clara sat in the rocking chair and stroked her daughter's head lovingly. Like all mothers, she would worry about her child no matter how old she was, wondering whether she ate well, slept well and whether she had enough money to spend.

She also told her children some things, including donating her body. She took out a body donation card from the small package behind her and asked them to contact the Red Cross to transport her body when she died.

Her daughter kept wiping away tears as she said, “Mom, I want you to be my mom forever.”

Clara held her son's hand with one hand and her daughter's hand with the other as she answered, “I have always been your mother, you must remember that death is not the end, I am just going to another place.”

In the second half of the night, Clara's condition was not very good and she was often gasping for breath. The children wanted to take her to the hospital, but she disagreed. 

She knew that the result would be the same whether she went to the hospital or not and she still wanted to stay in the place where she had lived all her life.

The children were waiting by Clara's bed, but Jackie had not returned yet.

Lying on the bed, she could not help but glance out the door a few times. It was as quiet there as it was at night.

Her son and daughter looked at each other and then her son went out to make a phone call, but he got a busy tone several times, or the call was hung up as soon as it was connected.

He was so angry that he almost dropped the phone.

When entering the house, her son shook his head at her daughter imperceptibly, but Clara still caught it.

Clara closed her eyes forever.

Jackie finally came back in the morning, holding a bag of sandwiches in his hand. “Here, Aunt Mara made these specially for you. She knew you must not have had breakfast at this time.

“Where's your mother?”

Jackie did not notice his children's sad faces at all. He looked around and did not see Clara, which was a bit strange. She used to cook for the children even when she was not feeling well. 

“Isn't your mother in the kitchen?”

When his daughter raised her scarlet eyes, Jackie's heart trembled suddenly and a bad premonition came to his mind.

“What were you doing last night? I called you so many times, but you never answered! Now it is too late, mom has gone.”

Gone? His mind went blank, his eyes widened in confusion and he looked at his son in disbelief again.

“Yes, mom died of a heart attack last night."