Two days later, Fran—along with the Alva siblings, flew to A Country to see Mr. Jin. They really wanted to leave immediately after learning the truth behind Mr. Jin’s condition from Sean. However, there were things they needed to settle first before they could really leave. Thus, it took them a couple of days to settle everything.
Nigel Alva had to resolve some important issues in his company first. It was really impressive how he had done so much in just two days. He didn’t exactly tell the reason concerning his leave of absence, though the other company executives understood that there must be an important reason behind it. Nigel left the responsibility of overseeing the company while he was away to his vice president and secretary. Although, Nigel also made sure that he would still be working remotely and everything in the company would be reported directly to him each day.
Fran, Noah, and Natalie made some preparations, too, before leaving the country. Fran, before doing anything, needed his mom’s permission to fly to A Country. He knew that his mom would permit him to go because she knew about his friend Mr. Jin—however, the tricky part was, informing his mom that he would be staying in A Country for an indefinite amount of time. Fran asked Noah if he could tell the truth to his mom about Mr. Jin. Noah didn’t hesitate to give Fran his permission. So, Fran told his mom about Mr. Jin being Noah’s father and how the doctor told Sean that Mr. Jin had only a month left to live. Fran’s mom didn’t agree immediately. She called Fran’s father first. They talked for a long time. Afterwards, Fran was informed by his mother that he had the permission to go to A Country for an indefinite amount of time—with a condition that he had to call his mom every day to report his whereabouts.
Fran and Noah both filed a request for leave of absence to the university. Maybe because of the Alva family’s influence, their request was approved within the day. Nigel Alva filed the same thing for Natalie’s school. The three students packed their bags and made sure that everything was ready.
As what mentioned before, after two days, they were on the plane going to A country. Fran and Noah were seated together. Though, Noah had been unusually quiet the whole flight, he held Fran’s hand and didn’t let go of it, not even for a single time. Fran understood Noah. He could spout words of comfort to appease his boyfriend’s emotions, but Fran knew it was not something Noah needed at the moment. Being with Noah was enough.
After 12 hours of travel, they were finally in A country. Sean fetched them from the airport.
“Fran…” Sean’s voice was filled with agony. But he still managed to give Fran a hug.
“Sean, I want you to meet Mr. Jin’s children.” Fran proceeded to introduce the Alva siblings to Sean. “This is Nigel Alva, Mr. Jin’s eldest son.” Fran saw Nigel didn’t even smile. “This is Noah, the second son and my boyfriend.” Noah squeezed Fran’s hand. “And, this is Natalie, the youngest.” Natalie gave Sean a smile.
Sean was teary-eyed while looking at the Alva Siblings. “Jin will finally meet his children after a long time.”
“You are our father’s husband, correct?” Noah asked Sean.
“Yes. I am Jin’s husband.”
Noah extended his hand towards Sean. “Thank you for taking good care of dad.”
Sean accepted Noah’s hand. “It’s nothing. I will do everything for Jin.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Can you take us to…that man.” Nigel said in a demanding voice. He had a darkened expression on his face.
“Rlufi…” Rjajilf aeuufv tfg ygbatfg’r riffnf. “Gbc’a yf wfjc.”
“Pa’r bxjs.” Vfjc gfqilfv. “Alc lr kjlalcu.”
Vfjc vgbnf atfw ab atf tbrqlaji ktfgf Zlrafg Alc kjr mbcolcfv. Pa bcis abbx atfw tjio jc tbeg ab gfjmt atflg vfralcjalbc. Mgjc rjk Rbjt’r ojmlji fzqgfrrlbc yfmbwf afcrf. Lf ifjcfv bc tlr ybsoglfcv’r rtbeivfg ab wjvf Rbjt offi atja tf kbeiv jikjsr yf klat tlw cb wjaafg ktja tjqqfcr. Qlatbea fnfc ibbxlcu ja Rbjt’r fzqgfrrlbc, Mgjc xcfk atja tlr ybsoglfcv mjiwfv vbkc j yla.
“Jin is out from the ICU and is now staying in a private room. Please, don’t scream at him or make him feel agitated. If you want someone to scream at or someone to hit, do it with me. Your dad’s condition is…w-worsening.” Sean’s voice cracked at the end of his sentence.
“Don’t worry, Sean…” Noah assured him. “We just want to see dad and talk to him. We won’t do anything unnecessary.”
“Thank you…” Sean answered.
When they reached Mr. Jin’s hospital room, Fran wanted to stay behind and let the Alva siblings see their father first. Noah must have sensed what Fran was thinking. Their eyes met and without any words they understood what the other was trying to convey. Fran nodded and Noah held Fran’s hand tighter.
Sean opened the door. They immediately saw Mr. Jin looking outside the window. The Alva siblings didn’t come near their father straightaway.
“It’s definitely a beautiful day…” Mr. Jin said in a weak voice. Then, he started to break down. He wailed while uttering the words: “I’m sorry, please forgive me!” and “I miss you my children, I’m sorry!”
Natalie immediately ran towards her dad. Noah, together with Fran, followed her. The three hugged Mr. Jin and comforted him.
On the other hand, Nigel Alva just stood there. Sudden gush of emotions were seen on his face. But, he just stood where he was. He didn’t dare come near his father. He just watched his siblings and Fran hugging their father.
Sean understood the confusion in Nigel’s emotion. He stood beside him. The eldest Alva had to deal with his emotions first, before Jin could get through him.
Fran took a peek towards Nigel’s direction. He hoped big brother would give Mister Jin a chance before it was too late.
*****
When the crying stopped and stirred emotions were finally calmed down, Mister Jin asked to look at his children’s faces one by one. Natalie was the first to oblige. It was the first time for Natalie to see her father in person.
“My baby…” Mister Jin cupped Natalie’s face. “I am you father. I am sorry because I was not there to watch you grow up. Forgive me, my sweet child. I love you.”
“I know you have your reasons for leaving us, daddy…” Natalie said. “To tell you the truth, I was mad at you. I thought I didn’t need a father because Nigel and Noah were always there for me. But, seeing you for the first time, I realized I am not mad at you anymore. I just want to know you. I want to be with you. I don’t care about your reasons anymore. I love you, daddy. I know, it’s been hard for you, too.”
“Thank you, Natalie. I love you, my dearest…” Mister Jin hugged Natalie lovingly.
Then, it was Noah’s turn. Fran couldn’t help but be nervous. Noah was not saying anything.
“Noah, my son, I don’t know how to ask you for forgiveness. You’ve been very close to me when you were young. I know I betrayed your trust in me. I’ll understand if you think of me as a bad father—I also think like that about myself.”
Noah remained silent. But, his eyes were on the verge of crying.
“I understand if you don’t want to talk to me right now.” Mister Jin smiled at Noah. “Just let me tell you how sorry I—”
Before Mister Jin could finish his sentence, Noah finally spoke. “I’ve wanted to say many things to you. I’ve practiced before coming here. But, seeing you after many years of believing you were already dead, made me swallow all the complains, rants, and anger I have for you. Pop, I am glad that you’re alive and I miss you so much. You are the only one in my childhood who loved me unconditionally. Just like Natalie, I don’t care about your reasons, too. I’m glad that I can still see you. I will be here for you, pop.”
Mister Jin cried again. But, this time, his crying was out of happiness.
“It’s still hard for me to forgive you,” said Nigel Alva.
“I know…” Mister Jin replied. “It’s you who I hurt the most.”
“I still want to hear the reason why you abandoned your children.”
“Nigel…” Noah said to his brother. “You don’t have to be like this—”
“It’s okay…” Mister Jin interrupted his son’s sentence. “You have all the rights to know my side of the story.”
So, they all listened to Mister Jin’s story.
Mister Jin met Naomi Alva in university. She immediately fell in love with Mister Jin despite knowing that he was bisexual. Mister Jin had a boyfriend in university, which Naomi Alva threatened and the poor guy left Mister Jin. Then, Naomi Alva made a plan to seduce Mister Jin. She invited him to her house in a pretense that it was her birthday, and they partied with some friends. Naomi made sure to get Mister Jin too drunk to leave. While Mister Jin was unconscious, Naomi Alva raped him. Not long after, she got pregnant.
Naomi Alva’s father made sure that Mister Jin would wed his pregnant daughter. The older Alva gave Mister Jin’s parents a huge amount of money, so that, they would not have anything against their son’s marriage. Mister Jin was forced to marry Naomi Alva.
Naomi Alva gave birth to their first child. At that moment, Mister Jin promised himself to be a good father to his son and a good husband to his wife. He learned to accept his fate as a family man. He started to learn how to love Naomi Alva.
However, Naomi Alva’s father was a bit too much. He always wanted to meddle into Naomi and Mister Jin’s family. When the old fart died, Mister Jin thought that they would finally have a quiet life. However, Naomi Alva assumed her father’s position. Not only that, she also became somewhat like her father—ruthless and overbearing. Mister Jin worked as a simple office worker but he didn’t mind. He was happy with his child. Then, Naomi got pregnant for a second time. Mister Jin gave all his attention to his second child. Naomi Alva felt like her husband was too engrossed with their second son and she didn’t like that. She became jealous. It was the start of the constant fights between the spouses.
Years went by and the relationship between Mister Jin and Naomi became sour. Naomi asked her husband for another child, thinking that it would fix their already crumbling marriage. Nevertheless, Mister Jin agreed. While Naomi was pregnant with their third child, she became paranoid. She would accuse Mister Jin of having an affair behind her back. She would hit Noah after having spent some time with his father. Naomi would punch, kick, and abused Mister Jin verbally whenever she was mad. Mister Jin had had enough. He told her that he would leave Naomi. The missus went crazy after that.
Mister Jin left but it didn’t mean that he abandoned his children so easily. He battled Naomi Alva in court for the custody of his children. The trial went on for a year. The Alva family was starting to become influential at that time, so the judge’s verdict was favorable towards Naomi. She even got a restraining order against Mister Jin. He was devastated and didn’t know what to do. Mister Jin made several attempts to get close to his children, but because of the restraining order, he was jailed.
When he went out of jail after half a year, Mister Jin finally accepted his fate. He looked at his children from a far and never made any contact with them. He also heard that Naomi Alva told the children that their father died. Mister Jin, after several months of seeing his children out of his reach, decided to leave for another country with a broken heart. There, he assumed a new identity and went on with his life.
A year after Naomi Alva died, Mister Jin went back to the country. He was with Sean and they started a business. Mister Jin wanted to see his children again, but he thought it was not going to be easy. For two years, he was contented with hearing news about his children. And then, his illness happened. And he thought it was the price he had to pay for abandoning his children.
After Mister Jin’s story, no one in the room spoke for a very long time. Nigel Alva went out of the room. Mister Jin became sleepy and Sean helped him to lie down.
Noah, Fran and Natalie were speechless. It would take time for them to process the things they heard from Mister Jin.
Damn! Wow!
Forced marriage without love more likely will end in pain and separation – specially in cases where there is a gap in social status. Mr. Jin tried to make it work, I can’t find any fault in his part. His ex wife, using her family’s wealth and status, was manipulative and controlling. She wasn’t in love, she was obsessed and possessive – that’s not love. And it looks like since she couldn’t have him, then she’d rather make him suffer. I hope he makes peace with all his kids – Noah, Natalie AND Nigel. 😭
That’s an awful relationship he was forced into…
Wow, that is awful!
thanks for the chapter <3
Poor Mr. Jin! What has he gone through 🥺
Thank you for the chapter <3
Noah wasn’t exaggerating his mother’s hostility toward him! She really was a horrible woman.