New World with Four Husbands-Chapter 608: Confronting my daughter [4]

"You silly girl." Cleora giggled and pulled Coco away from her stomach. "Why are you crying about that?"

Coco merely cried harder, her tears working like a strong water fountain at how fast they descended down her rosy cheeks from her red, fluffy eyes that she fluttered shut.

"Why wouldn’t I?" Coco said in between cries, her breathing coming in short bursts. "Y-You’re here, while they were left alone."

Cleora laughed louder, her heart swelling with love. Who knew that Coco would cry at something like this? Cleora suddenly felt like Coco was like her five years old self.

"Oh, my dear loving daughter." Cleora giggled and pressed her lips on Coco’s forehead. "The two of them came with me."

Coco shook her head, her cries getting louder. "That’s worse than leaving them alone! T-They died, too? All because I died? H-How can I do this to my f-family?"

"You.. You can say that." Cleora hummed, unsure on how to break the news to her crying daughter.

"For now, why don’t you cry it all out and then I’ll tell you all about it?" Cleora suggested, wiping her daughter’s tears using her thumbs. "Geez, you’re such a handful of mess, my love. Stop crying now, okay?"

Coco sniffled, burying her face on Cleora’s stomach. "Stop talking to me with t-that baby voice.. I’m not a baby anymore."

Cleora chuckled, caressing Coco’s head. "What a silly thing to say."

You will always be my baby. Cleora smiled softly, her own eyes stinging with tears as she watched Coco calm down in her soothing embrace.

It doesn’t matter how big you have grown, because you are still the Coco that I birthed, raised with love, and taught how to love. Cleora’s hand rested at the back of Coco’s head, simply carding her fingers through her daughter’s black locks.

You will always be the Coco who loves to eat bread with a chocolate spread— nutella or not. Cleora’s lips twitched at the memories of Coco always choosing a chocolate.

She didn’t like strawberry jam, peanut butter, butter, or pistachio spread. No, she didn’t like them, but she would eat them.

She had never complained whenever Cleora or Corinne came back from grocery shopping and didn’t bring back any kind of chocolate spread— no, she never complained, but her expression would always tell them what she was thinking. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

She never said a word that she loved chocolate, but the way she would light up at the mere sight of any chocolate is a telltale sign.

She never said a word about anything related to chocolate, but the way she would come home from school presenting a newly baked bread with chocolate spread from the bakery a couple blocks away from their house was enough to tell them what she loved.

They love Coco, so they paid attention to what makes her happy, to what makes her smile, to what makes her laugh.

They love her so much that they willingly walk through death and let their soul get snatched by the fairies just so they can see her again, to touch her, to hear her laugh, to hear her talk, to feel her hugs.

"She’s dead, mama! W-What should I do?! She’s bleeding! She’s bleeding so much!"

Cleora could still hear the horror in Carina’s voice when she relieved her call on her way home from work, the tremor on the teenager’s voice was so intense that Cleora remembered she froze in the middle of the road.

And that was when she was run over by the bus— the last news she heard was Coco bleeding to death in her own bed.

"When I heard that you were bleeding.. And that you’re dead.. I was terrified." Cleora murmured, her hand continuing its caress on Coco’s head. "I thought that you had committed.. I remembered you saying that you wanted to die because of your thesis, you know?"

Coco froze, her tears had already dried up, but from what she’s hearing from her mother, she felt like her eyes were about to produce another set of tears.

"You said it while you were laughing, so I assumed you were joking, but that day.. A coworker of mine told me that a child of her friend committed, even though that child was cheerful and always laughing." Cleora laughed, the sound was scratchy and bitter.

"I didn’t think much of it at the time, but when I was on that bus, on my way home, with your favorite bread, with Corinne’s favorite coffee, with Carina’s favorite milk?" Cleora forced another laugh, but the hand on Coco’s head stopped moving.

"I immediately thought of that friend and how painful it must have been for her to lose her child." Cleora mumbled, her heart clenching at the memory.

"I was lucky that I got chosen by the fairies, but what about them?" She asked the question more to herself than seeking answers from Coco. "They lost a child and there’s no guarantee where the soul of that child would go.."

"Mama.." Coco murmured, her frown deepening at the sad tone of her mother.

"Ah, I’m sorry." Cleora quickly snapped out of her musings and apologized, her voice laced with genuine remorse. "I didn’t mean to make you feel worse. I’m really sorry."

"It’s.. Okay." Coco pulled herself away from her mother’s arms and flashed her a soft smile. "You’re a mother of three girls, so you know how painful it is to lose a child. You’re only sympathizing with them.. And I think that’s very kind of you, mama."

Cleora could only return Coco’s smile and squeezed her cheeks. "Thank you, my love. You’re very kind, too."

"I’m not." Coco denied the claim, shaking her head and brushing her mother’s hands off her cheeks. "I don’t care about anyone else other than you and my sisters. I think that’s selfish of me."

Cleora laughed. "Yes, but I still love you."

"I love you more, mama." Coco smiled softly. "I’m sorry. I’ll try not to run away anymore."