She Quit Her Family and Found Herself novel Chapter 37

The passcode hadn't been changed. Hulda entered it and walked right in.

On the living room couch, Sylvie—still wearing pajamas—was playfully wrestling with Miles.

"Hahaha! Sylvie, it tickles... Okay, I give up! I give up! I promise I won't play dead to wake you up ever again, hahaha!"

"Miles, you little monster, pretending to be a ghost to scare me! Time for your punishment!" Sylvie's hands tickled his sides as the boy rolled around on the cushions, not an ounce of anger in him, just pure, joyful laughter.

Standing in the foyer, Hulda watched the scene in silence. It felt as though someone had poured crushed glass directly into her heart. It stung with a suffocating ache.

She couldn't even remember the last time Miles had snuggled into her arms, giggling like that.

She had convinced herself it was just because he was growing up. At six years old, boys often wanted to act like little men. That was why he stopped being clingy and playful.

But it turned out he just stopped being clingy and playful with *her*.

When Miles was a toddler, he had been practically glued to her side. No matter where she was, he had to be right there. If she was out of his sight for more than thirty minutes, he would cry hysterically until she returned.

Because of that, she could never go anywhere. The only time she had to herself was when he finally fell asleep.

Having a child constantly attached to her was exhausting, but she had cherished every second of it.

What she failed to realize was just how profoundly subtle influences could warp a young, impressionable mind.

Over the years, the dismissive, condescending way Herbert and the rest of the family treated her had quietly seeped into her son's perception of her.

Trapped in her gilded cage, she had been blind to it. She only ever tried harder to please them, constantly blaming herself for their coldness.

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