After Eric sat in silence for a few moments, Miranda and Anna stood up and came over to sit on either side of him on the couch. Miranda placed a comforting hand on Eric’s shoulder, while Anna gently patted the back of his head.

"Are you doing alright?" Miranda asked.

"It’s okay to cry if you need to after reading that letter," Anna added gently.

Hearing that, Eric wanted to laugh, but he held it in. He folded the letters back up, slipped them into the envelope, and tucked it away in his pocket. Then he smiled at the two middle-aged women sitting next to him.

"I’m totally fine, auntie," Eric said with a smile.

"We just want you to know that you’re not alone," Vicky chimed in from across the table.

Eric felt a wave of relief wash over him as he listened to her. He looked around at the four middle-aged women surrounding him, remembered how Joe had treated him, and thought about how close Emma, Priya, Heidi, Monica, Chloe, and Laura had become to him.

It was a bizarre irony: these people who shared absolutely no blood relation with him cared infinitely more about him than his actual biological family ever did. His late father had abandoned him, even if it wasn’t by choice; his mother had been too paralyzed by fear, ultimately causing him to suffer; and his siblings, who shared his mother’s blood, had stabbed him right in the back.

Eric smiled on the outside, though he was laughing internally at the sheer absurdity of it all.

"I know, auntie. Don’t worry, I’m good," Eric said, his face completely calm and relaxed.

Seeing his reaction, the four middle-aged women around him instantly looked relieved, their faces practically glowing with gratitude.

"To be completely honest, the four of us were really worried after we heard your new song, ’Betrayal Enigma.’ It honestly captures such an overwhelming sense of heartbreak," Miranda said.

"Yeah... we actually thought about reaching out to you right after we heard that song, just to let you know that you weren’t alone," Layla said, leaning forward to gently squeeze Eric’s hand.

"But it turns out you’re incredibly strong, and you ended up giving us a massive surprise instead. I’m absolutely certain Ethan and Charles is looking down on you with pride right now," Anna said.

"Um... thank you, auntie," Eric replied, suddenly feeling a bit flustered.

"Alright, let’s grab some food first," Miranda suggested, standing up. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

"Oh... I actually have to go pick them up, auntie. Look at the time," Eric said, showing her his watch.

"Oh... I see. Well, alright then," Miranda said.

"Oh, right, one more thing. Your pregnant sister-in-law, Avery, she’s about to go on maternity leave, right?" Vicky asked.

"Yeah... do you know Avery, auntie?" Eric asked. "Of course she knows her, she owns the damn hospital, what the hell am I saying... I’m completely losing my mind because I’m so nervous," Eric thought to himself.

"She’s been doing a fantastic job, and she’s actually the one who reported to me that a patient listed you as their emergency contact, and since you didn’t know them, you asked to have your number removed. I’ll take care of it later, but you really don’t know that patient, right?" Vicky asked.

"Um... no, I don’t, auntie. Could you please have them change it? It’s kind of a headache for me... though thanks to that whole situation, I actually managed to sort out a problem at Chloe’s company, so please make sure they take good care of her," Eric requested.

"Alright, I got you. And moving forward, once your sister-in-law returns to work, she’ll be promoted straight to head nurse of the pediatrics wing," Vicky said, giving him a thumbs-up, a warm smile, and a wink.

"Oh... okay, auntie. Thanks a lot," Eric said with a smile.

After that, Eric excused himself, using the excuse that he had to go pick up the girls from school. Once he got out to his car and climbed inside, he sat quietly for a moment. He pulled the envelope out of his pocket and looked at it, his feelings about his father still incredibly complicated. Even though he remembered the man from his preschool and elementary school days, he didn’t truly know him.

He thought about the absolute agony his biological father must have endured when he was betrayed, and how devastating that must have felt. Then he thought about the man he had called dad all his life. Knowing the truth now, it made perfect sense why the man had distanced himself from him, and honestly, he was lucky the guy hadn’t been outright abusive to him.

Weighing the two situations, he finally realized that both of these men, his biological father and the father who raised him until he was eight years old, were completely blameless. They were just casualties of circumstance. The person who had caused this entire mess was undeniably his mother. He rubbed his face, looking completely exhausted.

He could still vividly picture his mother’s face—the moment she slapped him and slammed the door shut, kicking him out without so much as a backward glance. Instinctively, his hands gripped the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

But then he caught himself. What was the point of dwelling on stuff like that? It was all in the rearview mirror now. Ultimately, he just let it all out, laughing out loud right there in the car. After that, he started the engine, tucked the letter back into his pocket, and grabbed the wheel again.

"Whatever, let’s go pick up the girls," Eric said, a smile returning to his face as he snapped back to his usual self.

***

Meanwhile, in the school’s music room after classes had ended, Emma was sitting at the piano. She was practicing for a competition under the watchful eye of a female instructor who looked strict but was clearly enjoying Emma’s performance. Priya, Monica, Heidi, Chloe, and Laura were all standing just inside, right in front of the closed door.

On the other side of the door, a loud buzz of voices could be heard. A crowd of freshmen had gathered after hearing Emma play, especially knowing that the girls from The Empress were inside. As Emma pressed the final key and the song came to an end, "clap...clap," the instructor clapped her hands.

"Excellent. You’re completely ready to perform. Keep this up and don’t let your guard down, because your opponents in this competition are veterans—though not quite as experienced as you," the instructor said, placing a hand on Emma’s shoulder.

"Will do, ma’am. Thank you," Emma replied with a smile, turning to look at her teacher.

"Alright, you’re dismissed for the day," the instructor said.

"Okay, ma’am. Thank you!" Emma answered cheerfully.

Emma immediately closed the piano lid and stood up, leaning down to grab her bag before jogging over to her friends.

"Ready to go?" Emma asked.

"You seem incredibly relaxed. Don’t you feel nervous at all?" Chloe asked.

"Not really. Let’s move, Eric is going to be here to pick us up soon," Emma replied.

"Oh, right, he did say he was picking us up. Let’s go then," Priya urged.

"Let’s convince Eric to hang out for a bit first," Heidi suggested.

"Where to?" Laura asked, instantly getting so excited that she ripped her earplugs out.

"Wherever, doesn’t matter," Heidi answered.

"Ugh... I really wanted to go camping with Eric in his RV, too bad that’s not until next week," Monica complained, her shoulders slumping.

"Come on, we’ll definitely be riding in that RV when we go on tour anyway, haha," Priya teased, patting Monica on the back.

"Hey... why haven’t you girls left yet?"

Hearing the instructor’s sharp voice, "Sorry ma’am, we’re leaving!" all the girls answered at once. They immediately threw the door open and filed out one by one, but the moment they stepped outside:

"Senior girls, can we take a picture with you?"

All six of them jumped in surprise. They were completely surrounded by enthusiastic freshmen who had just started at the school, all eagerly pulling out their smartphones. The six girls just froze in place. A single thought flashed through their minds, "Oh boy... if this keeps up, it’s gonna take us forever to get out of here."

But despite that, they just put on big smiles and started taking pictures with the freshmen who were cheering them on. Meanwhile, from a distance, hiding behind a wall, Ruby was peeking out at the whole scene. She snapped a picture of the girls being mobbed by the crowd, then turned around and walked away. As she walked, she looked at the photo on her smartphone.

"I have to admit, they really are cool. Alright then... time to punish that snake back home who loves backstabbing people," Ruby said with a sly smile.

She shared a few of the photos on her Instagram profile and tagged Vivian so she would see everything, then wrote a caption:

"Compared to you, they’re way more qualified to stand by Eric’s side. I totally approve of them being with him, and I’m going to become friends with them and live happily ever after with them and Eric,"

After that, she slid her smartphone back into her pocket and walked away, skipping lightly while cheerfully twirling the keys to her brand-new BMW.