?Chapter 321:


    Rachel struggled to contain her emotion as tears traced silent paths down her cheeks.


    Time seemed suspended until Jeffrey’s voice broke through her fog.


    “Rachel, wipe your tears,” he murmured, offering a tissue.


    ncing up, she realized her face was glistening with moisture.


    Under the theater’s spotlight, her smudged makeup created dark shadows beneath her eyes.


    With unexpected tenderness, Jeffrey dabbed at her tears. His movements conveyed both care and uncertainty; it was clear this was his first timeforting someone in this way.


    Instead of sce, the gesture unleashed a flood of memories. Rachel recalled their childhood, when she had always been the one drying his tears.


    Jeffrey, adventurous and active, would frequently return with scrapes and cuts. Too proud to cry aloud, he would shed silent tears while she, the protective sister, wiped them away.


    Years had rushed past them.


    They had both grown up, but soon she would have to leave the world again. She felt sorrow rise unstoppably within her.


    “Jeffrey, did you understand the movie we just watched?” she asked softly.


    Jeffrey nodded emphatically. “Yes.”


    “Were you scared when the heroine died?” To her surprise, he shook his head firmly.


    “Why not?” she pressed, curious despite her grief.


    “Because our little sister said if we die, we can see Mom again. And I miss Mom.”


    The “little sister” he mentioned was Kate Marsh.


    At the mention of their mother, Rachel’sposure crumbledpletely.


    The siblings fell into each other’s arms, their sobs echoing shared pain. Though they had never known their mother from birth, their longing for her remained a constant ache, especially when witnessing Moira’s affection toward Kate.


    In their younger days, Jeffrey had stood shorter than Rachel, his growth dyed by fragile health.


    People often mistook her for the elder sibling by several years.


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    And true to the slower emotional development of young boys, Jeffrey had maintained an innocent, childlike perspective on the world around them.


    Rachel assumed the role of caretaker whenever Jeffrey wept for their mother, offeringfort beyond her years.


    As time passed, his yearning for maternal connection only intensified. One day, he looked up at her with tear-stained cheeks and asked directly, “Rachel, where is our mom? Where did she go?”


    At that tender age, Rachel herself hadn’t fully grasped the permanence of death. Drawing from fragments of adult conversations, she exined softly, “I heard our mom became a star watching over us from the sky.”


    Her improvised exnation transformed his sorrow into wonder. His weeping ceased immediately as his gaze lifted toward the heavens, searching the constetions with newfound purpose.


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