Chapter 73: ⁷³: cancelled

Athena’s POV

"Mom, I am scared. Please don’t leave me alone!" A little girl sobbed, her eyes red and swollen from crying as she looked up at her mother, who was desperately trying to hide her inside a dark cave.

The woman’s eyes glistened with unshed tears. Her heart felt as though it were being torn apart at the sight of her daughter’s frightened expression, but she forced herself to remain strong.

"Athena, you are my strong baby, right?" she asked softly, caressing her daughter’s tear-stained face while fighting the urge to let the tears threatening to fall finally escape.

Athena nodded, but the tears streaming down her cheeks told a different story. She was scared. She didn’t want to be left alone.

"Athena, listen to me." The woman’s voice grew firmer, determination replacing the fear in her eyes. "Mumma will have to go outside the cave now..."

"But, Mumma, the bad guys are there!" Athena retorted quickly, her little heart shuddering as she remembered the people they were hiding from.

"I know, my love. I know..." the woman whispered, a tear finally slipping down her cheek..She quickly wiped it away before Athena could see it.

"You don’t need to worry. I will go outside and fight those bad guys. You will have to stay here, no matter what happens. You will not leave this place until I come back to get you. Okay?"

Athena nodded hesitantly, her tiny chest rising and falling rapidly. "Mumma, will you beat all those bad guys and come back to get me?" she asked, her little hand clutching tightly at her mother’s robe as though letting go would mean losing her forever.

The woman felt her throat tighten at those innocent words. "Yes, my love." She leaned down and kissed her daughter repeatedly across her forehead and cheeks, desperately memorizing every part of her little face.

"Your Mumma will beat all those bad guys and then come back for you. You have to promise me something."

She took Athena’s tiny hand between both of hers.

"You promise me that you will not leave this place until either I or your dada comes to get you, okay?"

"Mumma..." Athena hesitated, her lower lip trembling.

Before she could say anything else, a distant howl echoed through the night. The woman immediately stiffened. Her eyes snapped toward the mouth of the cave.

For a moment, she seemed frozen, listening carefully to whatever was happening outside. Then she turned back toward her daughter.

"Promise me, Athena!"

"I... I promise, Mumma!" Athena finally whispered, tightening her tiny fingers around her mother’s hand.

The woman closed her eyes for a brief moment, as if gathering every ounce of courage she had left. Then she slowly stood. She wiped her tears and gently pulled her hand away from Athena’s.

"Mumma!"

The moment their hands separated, the fear Athena had been desperately holding back transformed into pure dread. Her tiny fingers reached desperately toward her mother.

"Mumma, don’t go!"

But the woman didn’t stop. She didn’t turn around. She didn’t even look back.

Athena watched helplessly as her mother’s figure disappeared beyond the mouth of the cave, leaving her alone in the darkness.

"Mumma!"

Her frightened voice echoed through the cave. But there was no answer. Only silence.

"Mumma!" A scream tore from my throat as I abruptly jolted awake.

My heart hammered against my chest, and my entire body was covered in a cold sweat. For several seconds, I simply stared into the darkness, struggling to understand where I was.

"Mumma..." I whispered. My voice trembled as I tried to hold on to the face I had just seen in my dream.

This was the closest I had ever come to remembering her. I raised my trembling hand and wiped away the tears that had unknowingly escaped from the corners of my eyes.

"It is such a pity, Mumma," I whispered, my voice breaking slightly. "Somewhere in my brain, your face is still remembered... but I still can’t recall what you looked like."

I slowly fell back against my pillow, staring blankly at the ceiling. It felt as though a wound that had been buried for decades had suddenly been ripped open again.

That day had been the last time I ever saw my mother. I had waited...And waited. But she never came back.

When my father eventually came to take me home, I discovered something even more heartbreaking.

Everything connected to my mother had vanished. There were no keepsakes, no photographs, no clothes, no jewelry. Nothing that belonged to her remained in our home. It was almost as if she had never existed.

No matter how many times I asked my father why he had done that, he always gave me the same answer.

It is to protect you, my child.

But protect me from what? My gaze remained fixed on the ceiling. What was Dad protecting me from? What was it about my mother that I wasn’t supposed to know? And, more importantly, what was I actually connected to?

There were so many unanswered questions surrounding my past that sometimes it felt as though I was living inside a story whose most important Chapters had been deliberately ripped away.

I threw the quilt off me and climbed out of bed. I desperately needed a cold shower.

There was far too much running through my mind, and I needed to clear my head before I let those thoughts consume me.

...

After changing into a casual T-shirt and shorts, I sat down at my dressing table and opened my laptop.

If I was really suspended for ten days, then I would have to study from home.

I had no idea how I was going to handle the third phase of our curriculum, but I didn’t want to slack off during the first phase also, I have to excel in it.

Just as I opened my laptop, however, a notification appeared on the screen.

An email from the Academy. My heart skipped a beat. What was this now? Hadn’t suspending me been enough? I took a deep breath before opening the email, already preparing myself for another problem.

But the moment I read its contents, my eyes widened. My suspension had been cancelled. "What?" I stared at the screen in disbelief. "How did this happen?"

I checked the sender again, wondering if somehow the email had been forged. But it wasn’t. It was an official Academy account.

I read the message again, just to make sure I hadn’t misunderstood it.

My suspension had officially been revoked, and I was expected to resume my classes today itself.

"But how was my suspension cancelled?" I remained puzzled for several seconds. Then, suddenly, one particular person came to mind. The only person I had told about what happened.

The only person who possessed enough authority to overturn the Academy’s decision so easily.

And, ironically, the same person who had pretended he didn’t care. My lips parted slightly.

"Kael..." I whispered.

Could he really have done this?