Forgotten in the Fog

After Cecil was done, she dragged her exhausted body back home.

Cleo got home before her and was sitting on the couch in the living room. He called out after her as soon as he saw her.

“Stop!

“Why were you working in a place like that? Don’t I give you enough money already?”

Cecil braced an arm against the doorway while she changed her shoe.

“I’m bored at home, there’s nothing to do, and I figured I should experience other dimensions of society.”

Cleo’s anger seemed to have visibly deflated, but his tone was still very icy.

“You’re not allowed to go to places like that again in the future.”

Cecil was not going to go anymore anyway.

She nodded faintly, then went back upstairs with her head down.

Over the next few days, Cleo was rarely home at all.

If anything, Amelia was the one who constantly bombarded Cecil with pictures.

Pictures of rings, their wedding shoots, giant bouquets.

Every picture was filled with joy and enthusiasm for their upcoming wedding.

Cecil did not reply to any texts since she was busy packing her luggage.

It was only three more days until her departure when she bumped into Cleo at the stairway, just as he was heading out.

She called out after him.

“Uncle Cleo, are you free in the next few days? Could you take an hour out of your day to celebrate my birthday?”

Since he had brought her up for so many years, she figured she should properly say goodbye to him.

To Cleo, the request sounded like she was trying to rile him up.

Over the last few years, Cecil would always use her birthday as an excuse to hurl a string of unruly confessions at him.

With that in mind, he refused her without even considering it.

“How many times do I have to tell you? Stop making such unreasonable requests!”

Noticing that he was upset, Cecil hurriedly explained.

“No, I wasn’t trying to upset you. I’m not going to confess my feelings for you the way I did in the last few years, I just wanted to…”

To say goodbye properly.

Unfortunately, Cleo failed to catch the last part of her sentence but agreed to her request with a quiet nod.

On her birthday, Cecil waited from morning till night, but Cleo was still nowhere to be seen.

Seeing as it was about time for her to get to the airport, she reached for her phone and called Cleo.

It took ten seconds before someone picked up.

It was Amelia.

“Hello? Cleo is taking a shower, he can’t answer the call right now.”

She said it in such a suggestive tone that Cecil felt her heart skip a beat.

She glanced at her watch and then decided to be firm about her intention.

“How much longer is it going to take? I can wait.”

Amelia responded with a mocking snicker.

“Cecil, what are you doing all this for? He's already in the shower.

“I’m just going to put this bluntly. We’re at a hotel now.

“You’re an adult, so you should know what we’re going to do after he showers. Were you hoping to watch?

“He's your uncle! You may like him, but you shouldn’t stay at his house when he’s about to be married. You should stop pestering him all day. Don’t you realize how shameless…”

She went on a long rant to humiliate Cecil. Every word she spoke stung right where it hurt.

Cecil bit her lips tightly to prevent the tears from falling.

After Amelia was done, she hung up right away.

Cecil looked at the display in silence.

After what seemed like forever, she extracted the candles from the cake box.

The cake had been inside the box for a while, and the icing on top had begun to melt.

When she poked in the candle that spelled out “21”, it stood crooked.

After lighting the candle, she leaned over the cake and made a wish.

Her birthday wish was to spend the rest of her life without Cleo.

She wished him a long, healthy, and prosperous life.

She wished that he would live peacefully without her.

Then she blew out the candle.

She cleared out the final traces of her existence in the house.

All that was left behind in the house she had spent more than a decade in were three items: a bank card with ten million dollars deposited inside that was meant to repay Cleo’s kindness over the years, a wedding gift meant to wish him a wonderful life with his lover and at last, a letter of farewell.

“Uncle Cleo, I give up. I wish you nothing but happiness.”

With that, she grabbed her suitcase and took one last look at the house before walking away.

She did not turn back for another look.