Chapter 403

"Mom, Dad, what brings you here unannounced?" Jonathan Ferguson set down his ledger and regarded the elderly couple before him with calm detachment. "If this is about someone else's business, save your breath. You know better than anyone."

He rose and walked to the shop entrance, gazing at the bustling street outside.

"Who was it that threw me out when I was bedridden, unable to even lift a cup of water?" His voice was soft but each word cut like a blade. "If not for my daughters selling everything to pay for my treatment, if not for my son-in-law financing this shop, I'd have starved on the streets long ago."

The old woman's face twisted as her cane struck the floor with a sharp crack. "Jonathan! Are you trying to kill your own mother?"

"Don't upset yourself, Mother." Jonathan turned, a faint smile playing on his lips. "I'm simply stating facts. That house was built brick by brick with my savings. And what did you do? Forced me to sign disownment papers when I was at death's door, leaving me without even a roof over my head."

The old man finally spoke up: "Jonathan, no parents are ever truly wrong—"

"Father!" Jonathan's sudden raised voice made several customers turn their heads. "You're absolutely right. No parents are ever wrong. Isn't that why I'm standing here alive and well today?"

Tears streamed down the old woman's face. "Ungrateful wretch!"

"Ungrateful?" Jonathan pulled a ledger from the counter drawer. "These are records of the monthly allowance I've sent you both since last year—not a single payment missed. Tell me, what other disowned son would do that?"

The old man's expression shifted. He lowered his voice: "Jonathan... it's about your nephew Sean. He's in trouble..."

Jonathan suddenly laughed, a sound that chilled the elderly couple to their bones.

"I knew it." He slowly closed the ledger. "Every time you visit, it's either for my eldest brother's family or my youngest brother's. How much this time? Five thousand? Ten?"

The old woman stamped her foot in agitation. "Sean borrowed from loan sharks! They'll chop his hands off!"

"And?" Jonathan's eyes turned glacial. "You want me to save some outsider who's bullied my daughters since they were children?"

"He's your blood nephew!" The old man slammed his fist on the counter.

Jonathan walked slowly to his parents and abruptly knelt, knocking his forehead against the floor three times with audible thuds.

"Mom, Dad, I'll never forget the debt I owe you for giving me life." When he raised his head, his forehead bore a red mark. "But some lessons only need learning once. The day you chose to abandon me, you should have foreseen this."

The old man trembled with rage. "You... you heartless beast!"

"Yes, I'm a beast." Jonathan stood, brushing dust from his knees. "But this beast sends you monthly allowances without fail. Meanwhile, your precious sons and grandsons have you begging the 'beast' you cast out for money."

Outside, Maya and their daughters listened from behind the door. The eldest daughter bit her lip hard, eyes red-rimmed.

"Dad..." she whispered, but her sister squeezed her hand in warning.

Jonathan's voice carried clearly from inside: "I'll give you the money. But after this, we're square."

A glint flashed in the old man's clouded eyes. "You mean it?"

"Of course." Jonathan turned to the safe and retrieved a stack of bills. "Five thousand here. Take it and don't come back."

The old woman snatched the money, counting it feverishly. "It's all here, old man!"

Watching his parents' elation, Jonathan felt an overwhelming weariness.

"Go now." He turned toward the back room. "Take care... from now on."

The elderly couple hurried away without a backward glance, clutching their windfall. Maya finally rushed in and embraced her husband.

"Jonathan..."

"It's alright." He patted her back, voice hoarse. "Now we're truly parentless."

Their eldest daughter approached with a steaming cup, eyes glistening. "Dad, you still have us."

Jonathan accepted the tea and suddenly smiled. "Yes, I have you. That's enough."

Outside, the setting sun stretched the shadows of the family across the shop floor, long and unbroken.