When he saw that face, Michael felt his heart jump into his throat. As he stared blankly at that face that until now only existed in his deepest memories, it was as if he had forgotten to breathe or speak.
“Who are you—” He took a few steps back in fear. When he spoke, his voice sounded shaky and he could feel his teeth chatter. In addition to that, his entire body was trembling from the overwhelming emotions.
‘Theo’ didn’t speak, nor did he even bat an eyelid. Instead, he was just staring blankly ahead. If not for the heaving in his chest and the occasional blinks, he would have been mistaken for a statue.
This is my father, Theo Fletcher?
A person whom he believed to have been dead for almost forty years, was sitting right before him without even the slightest sign of old age?
“No, you’re not my father!” Michael couldn’t accept it at all and slowly backed away.
His mother had taken her own life because she loved him, and yet he was still alive?
Michael didn’t remember much about his father. He was a soldier, while Elizabeth Murray was a celebrity. At that time, their relationship had to be kept private. Not only did the Fletcher Family disapprove of them, but Elizabeth was also at the peak of her career which did not allow her to marry and have children either.
What was more, they did not even have a marriage certificate.
Since Theo was always away, they hardly met each other. In fact, they spent more time away from each other than together. Naturally, Michael was never close to his father.
Those days, there were countless famous and powerful people pursuing Elizabeth—people who were much more powerful than Theo. Despite that, she only had eyes for him. Even though there were many obstacles she had to overcome when she was with him, she persisted for years, hoping for a miracle.
That year, he took an important assignment out of town. He made a promise to her that they would get married once he returned.
She had waited for an entire year, only to receive news of his death.
When Tanya came to her pregnant, it was the last straw for Elizabeth who was already overwhelmed with despair, and she took her own life.
Yet, here he was!
Although everything seemed like a dream, Michael realized that this was reality, and a rather absurd one at that.
Finally accepting this fact, he held the fence as he took a seat.
“Ha—” He looked at Theo and suddenly let out a menacing and mocking laugh, which gradually became louder until he started to laugh hysterically.
When he could no longer continue, he realized that his face was already covered in tears.
He had wanted to cry, but for some reason, his cries turned into laughter as soon as it left his mouth.
Why would something so preposterous happen to him?
After letting go of his emotions, Michael became numb. Then, he went to sit next to Theo without a word. After a long pause, he said softly, “Dad.”
When he finished, everyone fell silent.
At that moment, Sophia looked at Theo’s silhouette and saw the sadness and desolation in him.
It must have been such a huge blow to him that he woke up after thirty years and realized the world had changed, and that his lover had died!
She thought that if she was in the same situation, she would choose not to be preserved either and spend her last days with her family and everyone she loved.
No one would know what they would wake up to after being cryogenically preserved.
It was one thing to be preserved for a day or two just to buy some time to be saved like how Albert was saved. However, it was another to wake up and realize that thirty years had passed like Theo did. If she was in his shoes, she would definitely have had a breakdown.
Aliens might have come to earth and humans might have been extinct when one woke up!
Perhaps, everyone she once loved would all be gone, and no one in the world would know her. To the world, she would have been like someone who had died for many years, and there would be no place for her in society.
What would be the point of living, then?
Indeed, Theo was alive, but it didn’t make a difference to him.
Everyone had thought he was dead, including himself. His household registry was gone, and his lover had committed suicide for him. The world no longer had a place for him and his… lover. To him, every second of living was nothing but torture!
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