Katelyn smiled and gestured toward the bed. "Come. Come and lie down."
Jul slowly made his way back, each step sending a dull ache through his body.
Katelyn watched him carefully. Her eyes followed his every step, but the faint smile on her face couldn't completely hide the sadness underneath.
She knew Jul wasn't comfortable with people getting too close to him. That was why she could only watch. Did he distrust them? She wondered.
When he finally reached the bed, Jul carefully lowered himself onto it.
Without saying anything, Katelyn moved closer and pulled the blanket over him, adjusted it around his shoulders, then sat beside the bed.
Throughout it all, that bright smile never left her face. She looked happy, relieved, and content as though nothing else in the world could make her happier. And perhaps that was true. After all, she had waited fifteen years for this moment.
"Son…" Her voice broke through the silence. There was a slight tremble in it as she spoke. "…Are you really here?"
Jul faced her and remained silent for a moment. 'In my entire life, I've never had a mother. But thanks to the kid's memories, I don't have to pretend.'
His gaze softened. "Yes."
Katelyn lifted her head. That single word seemed to be enough. Then she lowered her gaze again. "You know… Jada was right about something."
Jul raised an eyebrow.
"Your father always believed you would come back. He never knew when or how. But he was certain. Even after all those years, he never stopped believing."
'Again with these words.' Jul's thoughts stirred. His sister said the same thing. His grandmother mother too. Now, his mother seemed to have carried the same belief.
It was strange, almost too strange.
'Could the kid's father see the future or something?' He thought.
Katelyn continued, her fingers tightened around the edge of the blanket. "Nothing hurts a mother more than watching her child grow up without her."
She looked at him. "I missed your first day of school. Your birthdays. Your teenage years. Every little thing that a mother is supposed to be there for."
Her voice became quieter.
"And now…" Her eyes moved over his scarred body. "…you're already a man."
Jul said nothing. For some reason, the words felt heavier than they should have.
"I don't know what happened to you during those years," Katelyn continued. "I don't know what kind of person you became."
She paused. "But whatever happened…"
Her eyes became firm. "…I won't blame you for it. No, I accept the blame."
"Mom!" A voice suddenly came from the doorway.
Jul turned to see Jada standing with a displeased expression.
"You can't say something like that."
Katelyn looked at her.
Jada walked into the room. "What if he did something terrible?" She glanced toward Jul. "You don't even know what he's been through."
"I know." Katelyn smiled gently. "And that's exactly why."
Jada wanted to protest further; however, she fell silent.
Jul watched the two women.
'She's really willing to accept responsibility for everything I might have done?' Then, a faint smile appeared at the corner of his lips. She had no idea what she was offering to carry.
He had spent fifteen years in a world where actions had severe consequences and consequences that begat more actions that continued in a never-ending loop.
A place where people died every day like flies.
Katelyn only spoke this way because she was unaware of it. Which was better because he was certain that she couldn't bear even a fraction of it.
'Well…'
His eyes closed briefly. 'It's my cross to carry.'
---
As the days passed, Jul slowly became more comfortable with his new identity.
Jul Mercer.
The name still felt strange and foreign, but not as before anymore. The more he interacted with his two closest relatives, the less strange it felt to live as Jul.
His body continued recovering, and with the pain gradually fading, he finally had enough peace to think about what had happened.
A child disappearing wasn't unusual. It was rather a daily occurrence with varying causes.
Some were abandoned, some were sold, some disappeared because of their parents' carelessness, and others were genuinely kidnapped.
But a Mercer child?
That was different.
'Lion orders the kidnapping of children regularly.' Jul's gaze darkened. 'That's how we built our army. There was no way he didn't know he kidnapped a Mercer.'
The Mercer family wasn't some obscure household. Their name was known across the region, and their influence, wealth, and connections were impossible to miss.
So why risk kidnapping one of their children?
Jul's fingers lightly tapped against the blanket.
'Unless…'
His eyes narrowed.
'He didn't know, but it's unlikely. My other guess is that someone inside the Mercer family ordered it.'
That possibility had been bothering him since the moment he learned who he was. If someone from the family had arranged his disappearance, then that person could still have connections to Jungle.
And if they discovered that Jul Mercer had returned… they might come looking for him.
Jul sighed, staring at the ceiling. 'I haven't even started living yet, and problems are already lining up. I should've stayed dead.'
"What's wrong?"
Jada's voice pulled him from his thoughts.