"Your father didn't take the separation from his wife very well," Lin Mei went on. "He drank a lot. But he wasn't violent to my mother. Never acted cruelly to her. He was Just… absent." She shook her head. "He never mistreated me. But he never loved us or even properly acknowledged us as his family, either. He didn't even sleep in the same room. He acted like we weren't there. Whenever he came, he would just talk to you while you were sleeping and then leave before you knew it."
She paused, choosing her words carefully. "Under the agreement, my mother was ordered to take care of you. At first, to her, it really was just a responsibility. A job she merely has to fulfill."
Lin Fang looked up at her.
"But something changed over time," Lin Mei said softly.
