Chapter 311 The One I Love Most

Leighton’s POV

If you asked me who I love most in the whole world, after Mom and Dad, it would be Emilia.

It had been a long, long time since I last saw her. I missed her so much. By now, the time we’d been apart was almost as long as the time we’d been together.

Dad is a liar. I dislike him. He was the one who told me Emilia would stay with me forever.

My memory comes and goes, but I still remember the first time Dad brought her to me. Long brown hair. Blue eyes, pretty like the jewel Mom wears around her neck. She looked like a doll. Back then she was a little taller than me.

Dad pushed her toward me and said, “Emilia is your future wife and mate. You two will be together forever.”

I didn’t really understand what wife or mate meant. But I understood forever. Just like the heroes in the picture books Mom read to me. They lived happily ever after, together forever.

I reached out and grabbed her hand, happy, saying her name over and over. “Emilia. Emilia.” I was so excited. Because I finally wasn’t alone anymore.

Mom and Dad sent me to school, but everyone there looked down on me. They bullied me. Nobody played with me.

Then Emilia came, and I had someone to play with. She watched cartoons with me. She played pretend with me. We played hide-and-seek all through the big house. In spring we planted flowers in the garden. In summer we made popsicles in the kitchen. In fall we jumped in the leaf piles until the gardener yelled. In winter we built snowmen and I gave mine a carrot nose.

But little by little, Emilia stopped coming so often. Sometimes she stayed a long time. Sometimes she was gone forever. And sometimes when she came, I saw cuts and bruises on her, like somebody had hurt her.

I asked her who. She was my wife. I was supposed to protect her. But Emilia always said it was fine, she could handle it herself.

That made me mad. “I’m stronger than you,” I told her. “Look, I’m big now.” And it was true. Emilia had stopped growing taller than me. Now she only came up to my chest.

Emilia laughed. “Then do you dare tell the housekeeper you don’t want to eat your vegetables?”

I made a face. I thought of the strict housekeeper downstairs, and I didn’t dare.

“See? So let me protect you instead,” she said. “Tonight I’ll eat your peas for you.”

That made me happy. But also a little sad. Because I couldn’t protect Emilia. The person I love most.

This time it had been so long since I’d seen her. I missed her too much, so I went to find her again in secret. I took my money and my memories, and I found her. There was a scary man beside her now, said he was her brother. He wasn’t gentle and kind like Emilia at all.

But I was happy. Emilia was still good to me, just like before.

When she brought me home, I felt so sad. It meant we had to say goodbye again.

Mom and Dad wanted to talk to Emilia alone and told me to leave. I already got so little time with her. I didn’t want to go. But Mom coaxed me. “I promise Emilia won’t leave.”

So I waited in my room like a good boy.

Then Mom came in. The second I saw her, I asked, “Mom, where’s Emilia?”

“Emilia is downstairs. Leighton, Mom is asking you a question. Do you want Emilia to stay with you forever?”

I nodded hard. “Yes!”

“Okay, then listen to me. Do everything I tell you, and Emilia will never leave you again. She’ll stay with you from now on.”

“Really?”

I jumped up. Nothing could make me happier than keeping Emilia by my side forever.

“Of course, son,” Mom said.

“But what do I have to do, Mom?”

Mom cleared her throat and lowered her voice. “A woman will only stay with a man in one way. You have to claim her as yours. You need to have sex with her.”

“Have sex? What does that mean, Mom?”

“Your dad will show you. You just remember what I said. Only if you have sex with her will she stay loyal and never leave. Remember it!”

“If I don’t do it, she’ll leave me?”

“Yes. Not only will she leave, she’ll never come to see you again either.”

I got so scared that Emilia might never come see me again. I grabbed Mom’s arm in a hurry. “Mom, take me there fast. I’ll do it right now!”

“Okay.”

Mom led me downstairs to Emilia’s room. Dad was already waiting. He waved at me. “Leighton, come here.”

“Go on. Learn how to do it first,” Mom said.

I stood by Dad. “Dad, how do you do it? The having sex thing?”

Dad patted my head. “You’ll know soon.”

He got up and switched on the DVD player, then slid in a disc.

I’d never watched anything like it before. On the screen there were people, and the woman’s face looked twisted up. Like it hurt. Like somebody was hurting her.

I didn’t understand. Why was the man doing that to her? Wasn’t he supposed to be nice?

My stomach felt strange and small.

“Later, you’ll do what the man on the TV did,” Dad said.

“Will Emilia stay with me if I do this?”

“Yes. No matter how she begs or scolds you, you can’t go soft. Remember, there’s no other way. This is the only way to keep her.”

I nodded. “I understand.”

“Let’s go now.”

“Yes.”

I followed Dad to Emilia’s room. When I saw her lying on the bed with her whole face full of tears, I panicked and turned to Mom. “Mom, why is Emilia crying?”

“Don’t worry about her. Just remember what we said.”

Dad took a camera and fixed it to the wall. Then he told Mom, “Let’s step out.”

Mom didn’t leave right away. She pulled off my shirt. Then she pointed at the blanket over Emilia. “Get under there and do whatever you want.”

“…Oh.”

Emilia shook her head, scared. “Leighton, please don’t,” she whispered.