Chapter 101 - The Third Page (12)
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Mass chapter mission time! Support me in win win by unlocking the privilege chapters to get mass releases. MR will be given based on the following conditions:
1000 privilege chapter unlocks= 3 extra chapter mass release
5000 privilege chapter unlocks= 5 extra chapter mass release
10,000 privilege chapter unlocks= 10 chapter mass release.
This is applicable for every month! Please do support this book by buying as much privilege chapters as possible <3
....
Hobin lost consciousness and was about to fall but Jina held him steady. The room was quite stuffy and he must have fainted due to it. Meanwhile, Rachel was squirming in pain as the exorcism was agonizing for her.
"AHHHHHHHH!" The poltergeist screamed, almost tearing everyone's eardrums apart.
"Rachel!" Yohan cried. "Is that really our daughter? Is that her?"
"Why do you care now?" Minyoon snapped, while Junho continued to shant in the background. "You ignored her when she was alive!"
"Min…" Yoonmin began but Seohyun stepped up.
"He's right," she said. "We ignored her when she was alive. It's our fault…"
She was sobbing heavily while holding her husband steady. They were separated when their child was alive but after Rachel's death, they had to think about their actions. Yohan, the once cold hearted and aloof father, was now breaking down while the spirit of his daughter screamed for his blood.
"I'm sorry!" he cried. "I'm sorry for what happened to you! If only we had looked after you! If only we had stopped you from going astray...I...I can never forgive myself…"
To everyone's surprise, Yohan got to his knees and bent down in shame as if apologizing to his daughter with sincerity.
"What's he doing?" Minyoo wondered. Yoonmin did not say anything but handed him the paper from Rachel's burn book.
"Read it," he sighed. "And you'll know why he's truly sorry for what happened to his daughter."
Minyoon took the paper and read it out loud.
"This is for my dad," he read. "Dad, if I was born a boy, would you have loved me? Or would you have ignored me like you always do? I know I'm a bad person but don't I deserve to be loved by you and mom? I know you hate me but I…"
The rest of the words were scribbled out. Minyoon was astonished by this short note of confession.
"She just wanted her dad to read this," Yoonmin revealed. "But this was also her biggest weakness. She's afraid that if Yohan reads it, he'll think that she's weak and feeble. Which is why she became a monster so that her father will finally look at her. Little did she know, it was her father who took that page and safely kept it with him…"
He looked at the pitiful man who was still on his knees. Seohyun was also shocked to see Yohan's display of affection.
"Yohan…" she whispered. Yohan slowly raised his head, still on his knees as he began to narrate ehis tale.
"The day after the party," he began. "I had decided to divorce you. I didn't want anyone to find out about your affair and shame us. Besides, I was livid at you for birthing a daughter. I admit, I ignored her and let her do whatever she wanted because I didn't care for her. That day, I decided that I'll send Rachel away after the divorce…"
"I went to her room but it was empty," he went on. "I assumed she was out but her diary was lying on the bed, wide open. I was about to leave when I saw that there were some disturbing words on it. So I read the whole thing…"
Yohan winced in disgust. "The things I've read there horrified even a bastard like me," he said, feeling ashamed. "Porn production, high school bullying...our daughter turned into a monster! And we turned her into that. I neglected her but I never wanted her to become like that…"
"And then I came to this last page," he said. "It was written on the day she died. The only entry where she did not talk about her heinous deeds but was desperately seeking love from us. This was her single honest entry. I tore it off and re-read it in private."
"I don't know what it was. Something in me was breaking down that day. The divorce, my daughter's wayward ways, our strange family. Everything was ruined but that piece of paper was comforting me. My daughter hates me and I was distraught by the thought. Suddenly, I couldn't ignore her pleas anymore."
"But then, she went missing," Yohan lamented. "All of us thought she ran away but I was looking for her everywhere in secret. I didn't want my daughter to turn into a monster. I wanted her to return so that we could help her! I even decided to cancel our divorce so that we can start over…"
"Only that she never returned," Minyoon sighed. Yohan nodded.
"That night at Jung's party, I thought I saw her," he admitted. "When something pushed me off the stairs, I was hurt and on the verge of death when I saw her figure. She looked the same way her corpse had but I was not scared. I wanted to talk to her. I tried to reach out but I fell into a coma. When I woke up, I had to come to her funeral so that I could bid her goodbye…"
He broke into a fresh bout of tears, feeling guilty for what he did to his daughter. Seohyun knelt down and hugged her husband, crying with him.
Junho, who was almost done with the ritual, felt bad for the Song's. They had many regrets and now, they would have to live in their guilt forever.
The poltergeist had stopped screaming and listened to her father's story. She was emotionless at that point, just staring at her parents with her eye. They were saying sorry to her but she no longer had feelings in her to forgive them.
"She's not forgiving," Jina said, pulling an unconscious Hobin with her. "But she listened. Which is a good sign. I hope."
"What happened to him?" Yoonmin asked, pointing at Hobin.
"Let's worry about him later!" Jina sighed. "Free Rachel's spirit first."
"Wait…" Yohan stood up. "If she's really here, I want to tell her something."
He took a deep breath and said out loud, "Your dad loves you very much. I'm sorry I didn't tell you that when you were alive. I'm sorry I didn't cry when you were found...dead. I just couldn't cry that time because I felt that if I cry, I'll have to accept that you're gone…"
"But if you're here and you can hear me, then don't be sad anymore. We'll love you, forever."
Everyone was shocked to see the mighty Song Yohan in that state. He was now smiling a sad smile while his daughter watched him with an impassive expression. It seemed as if she wanted to say something but decided not to.
"The page," Junho said. Minyoon handed him the page. Junho took it and burnt it in the fire.
"I now release you from your earthly bounds," he declared. "Go and repent for your soul."
A bright light flashed before Jina, devouring Rachel. She began to disintegrate into thin air before finally, she was gone.
But as Rachel disappeared, Jina thought that she had heard a faint, "I love you too, dad," before everything went silent once again.