Chapter 1325:

🍙 🍙 🍙 🍙 🍙

The moment the words slipped from her mouth, guilt clenched her chest like a vice. She had run away from home. Her own childish stubbornness had led her to this nightmare.

If her parents found out she had been kidnapped, they must be out of their minds with worry.

“Nancy?” Jacob leaned closer, frowning. “Are you crying because it’s that good?”

“Get lost.” She wiped the tears roughly from her cheeks, trying to pull herself together. Her voice wobbled anyway. “I just miss my mom and dad.”

The laughter stopped. Every child in the room turned to look at her. Their smiles dimmed. The silence grew heavy.

“What? Why are you all staring at me like that?” Nancy shifted uncomfortably under their gaze, her stomach twisting again—not from hunger this time.

Jacob gave her a soft smile, though something hollow lingered in his eyes. “You’re lucky, Nancy. Your parents give you everything. They love you. We don’t even remember what our parents look like.”

Her heart sank like a stone. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“It’s alright,” said a small girl, shaking her head, her pigtails bobbing. “We don’t have parents, but we’ve got each other. That makes us a family too.”

Nancy blinked back fresh tears. These kids, who had lost everything, still managed to smile. Meanwhile, she had the most precious thing in the world and had thrown it all away because she thought the rules were too hard to follow.

Now she was in such a mess. Her parents must be super worried. She really was a bad child.

“Why are you crying even more now?” Jacob wrapped his arms around her in a clumsy hug.

The others followed, crawling over like a small, makeshift shield around her.

“Thank you,” she whispered, hugging them back tightly. “If I go home, will my parents still want me?”

Feel the thrill on gαℓησν𝒆𝓁s․cøm

“Of course they will!” Jacob pulled back just enough to meet her eyes. “They love you. They would never hate you. Ever.”

Even as a toddler, if she so much as pointed at a toy, her parents made sure she had it. They never let her cry for long. Their love had been relentless, comforting, pure.

But somewhere along the way, she had stopped seeing it. Discipline had started to feel like chains.

She had mistaken protection for control. All she wanted was freedom, but she had not realized that outside their arms, the world was jagged and merciless.

It was their love that shielded her. Their patience that kept her path lit. And now, she understood what that love truly meant.

The guilt hit her like a wave, and this time, she did not hold back. Her sobs spilled into the room, loud and unrestrained. “Dad… Mom… I am so sorry. I do not want to fight you anymore. I want to be your good girl again…”

Suddenly, Nancy noticed something and stared blankly at the two kids in front of her. “What are you doing here?”

“To comfort you,” one of them replied simply.

“But weren’t you supposed to be on lookout?”

.

.

.