Chapter 105

Chapter 105 Pillar of Shame

Jethro’s funeral was very simple. It was not so much a funeral as it was just a simple ceremony.

Only Jethro’s name was engraved on the tombstone and nothing else.

Louis held an umbrella and stood beside Leanna. “Speaking of which, he did this to himself. So, there’s

no one to blame for this ending.”

Their last duty was to pick up his ashes and find a grave for his burial.

Leanna stayed silent, stared at Jethro’s grave for a while, and she said slowly, “Lou, let’s go.”

No matter how unforgivable the things Jethro had done in the past, it all ended here.

She finally felt a sense of relief.

After they left the cemetery, Leanna and Louis headed back to the old house to sort out what Jethro

had left behind.

The house was in an old-fashioned residential building. Unfortunately, it wasn’t located in a good place

and was not worth much money. But according to Jethro’s character, he would have tried his best to

mortgage the house to pay back the money. Yet, somehow, he never thought of this house.

As he had not been back here for a long time, the house was covered with a thick layer of dust.

Louis patted the furniture upon entering the establishment before saying to Leanna, “You can wait

outside. It’s too dusty here.”

She nodded agreeably. “Okay.”

Then, he found a cardboard box and packed all of Jethro’s things into it.

Leanna stood on the balcony, looking at the place where she grew up. She couldn’t describe the feeling

in her heart.

It seemed that Jethro had always been acting up ever since she could remember. Although he wasn’t

involved in gambling back then, he was still an alcoholic. Occasionally, there would be times when he

remembered how he had two children and vowed to quit.

But most of the time, it didn’t last for more than two days before he started drinking again.

And each time he went back, the worse he got.

Just as Leanna was deep in thought, Louis brought out a locked, old-fashioned suitcase from Jethro’s

room. Judging from the looks of it, it seemed like it had not been open for years. Then, she saw him

looking around for a tool to pry the lock open and asked, “Are you trying to open it?” “I saw him open

this suitcase once. There should be something important to him inside,” he answered as he continued

to look around. Leanna opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. As a matter of fact, she,

too, wanted to see what was inside. However, she guessed that it was probably about their mother. Her

mother died in childbirth when she was giving birth to Louis. There was never a photo of her at home.

So, not only did Leanna forget how her mother looked, but Louis had never seen her.

Soon, the lock on the suitcase was pried open by him. Once the dust settled, Leanna saw the contents

inside clearly. There were a few yellowed photos, a diary, and a pocket watch. Louis picked up the

photo; it was a picture of a beautiful woman with a man, but Jethro had scratched the man’s face with

something sharp. It was hard to tell who he was. But judging from his body size and how he dressed, it

was obvious that it was not Jethro. The second photo was a picture of a family of three; a woman, a

man whose face had been scratched, and a little girl sitting in the middle. Louis flipped back and forth.

The rest of the photos were the same.

Leanna picked up the diary and did not notice Louis’ pause. The journal was written from Jethro’s point

of view. It had the whole story of his crush on a girl, but he did not specifically mention who it was.

However, he wrote about how his mood changed every time he saw the girl.

The diary ended when the girl got married.

She continued to flip around and found another line of words written on the last page.

She promised to marry me. I’ve long awaited this day.

When she looked at the handwriting, she could tell it was written long after the last entry. She put the

diary down and turned to Louis, who was sitting on the floor and staring at a photo without saying a

word. Finally, she asked, “Lou, what’s wrong?” He handed her the photo in his hand before he got up

and left. Leanna’s eyes widened when she saw the picture. If she guessed correctly, Jethro must have

scratched these photos and the man in the photo… After a long time, she put the photo back into the

suitcase and went to the living room. Louis was there with his head down, packing away the rest of the

things quietly. When he heard the noise, he spoke without looking up, “Go home. Leave the rest to me.”

“Lou,” Leanna called out to him softly. “I saw the picture. It doesn’t mean anything.”

Louis was silent for a moment before he spoke, “I dream every day about whether I might be Jethro’s

biological son or not. Even when I opened the suitcase, I held onto this hope, thinking he might fill it

with his secrets. Maybe, he had just picked us up from somewhere. But I didn’t expect…”

Unexpectedly, although the suitcase held Jethro’s secret, the only non-biological child was Leanna.

Before this, Louis hated that he had such a father and vowed to protect his sister. But, now that he

knew the truth, he didn’t know how to face her.

Without Jethro, she wouldn’t have been pushed this far.

Right now, Louis felt like he was nailed onto the pillar of shame.

“Lou, back in those darker days, I’ve also thought about how good it would be if Jethro weren’t my

father. That meant I could get rid of him and start my own life. But at this point, what was the difference

if he was or not?” Leanna said lightly.

“Whatever the case is, I called him dad for 20 years. As for the man in the photo, he looked unfamiliar.

He had never looked for me after so many years. Maybe he might be worse than Jethro.”

When Leanna saw how quiet Louis was, she continued, “Lou, even if I am not his daughter, I’m still

your sister. We still share the same blood.”

Although they had different fathers, they still had the same mother.

After a while, Louis answered gloomily, “I understand.”

Then, Leanna smiled and said, “Okay, we’re almost done. Let’s go.”

“Wait a minute.”

After saying that, Louis turned around and went to the balcony, taking out the things in the suitcase.

He passed the photos and the pocket watch to Leanna and said, “You keep this. Maybe you’ll find it

useful in the future.”

As he said that, he threw the rest of Jethro’s things in the cardboard box and carried them away

together.

Leanna looked at the photo and then at Louis. “Lou, do you want to keep—”

“No. I’ve never met her. To me, it doesn’t matter what she looked like.”

“I’ll keep it then. You can find me whenever you feel like seeing her,” she answered.

She knew the real reason that Louis did not want to keep these photos was that their mother was not

alone. She took all the pictures with another man.