Page 328 of Scarbound

Ms. Lee pushed his sleeve up with trembling fingers. Her breath caught.

“My child…” Her eyes locked onto the scarred skin. “This was hard for you too, wasn’t it?”

Noeul immediately pulled his sleeve back down and looked away. “It doesn’t matter. I’m paying for my mistakes.”

Ms. Lee stared at him. “No.”

Noeul looked up.

“I spent years hating you and your brother,” she confessed. “It made the pain easier. It gave me strength to endure my son’s absence when I had someone to blame. I needed Haneul’s death to belong to someone. Gong. You. Anyone except Haneul himself.”

Noeul’s eyes filled.

“But I know now that you didn’t know what was happening to him,” she continued, her voice trembling. “You didn’t know what your brother had done.”

“I should have.”

“Noeul.”

“I failed to protect Haneul.”

The words broke from him. Tears streamed down Noeul’s face, burning paths along his skin. Before Ms. Lee understood what he was doing, he dropped to his knees and bowed deeply.

“I’m sorry.”

“Noeul.”

“I never wanted this to happen.” His words dissolved into broken breaths. “I didn’t want him to die. I’m sorry. I didn’t know what my brother had done. If I had known, I would have stopped him. I swear I would have stopped him.”

Ms. Lee stared down at him.

“No.”

She dropped down beside him. “No, my child. Get up.”

Noeul continued crying. Ms. Lee wrapped her arms around him.

“I know,” she whispered. “I know now.”

“Jun told me. He told me what happened that morning. He told me you found out from Haneul’s note.” She held him tighter. “I’m sorry it took me so long to understand.”

Noeul cried against her shoulder.

“If there was one person who made my youngest son’s life brighter, it was you,” she continued. “He always told me how you helped him accept himself. How you listened to him. When I was going through my divorce, when his father abandoned us, you were there when I wasn’t always strong enough to be.”

Her own tears finally fell.

“You were the person he was closest to.” She stroked Noeul’s hair. “He loved you like a brother.”

Noeul’s breath broke.

They remained like that for a long time, locked in a quiet embrace. When Noeul finally stopped crying, he hesitantly returned the hug.

Ms. Lee didn’t move. She simply let him hold her.

Eventually, Noeul helped her back to the sofa and sat across from her.

“Ms. Lee…” His eyes remained red. “May I hope for your forgiveness?”