Billionaire's Bodyguard

Ch 3. We face it together

Chapter 3. We Face It Together

Rey nodded slowly, his mind in chaos. He sat on the plastic chair beside the bed, taking his mother's cold hand.

That touch woke the old woman up. Her wrinkled eyes opened slowly, foggy at first, then clear and widening as she saw Rey.

"Rey? Son, why are you here?" her voice was made loud so it wouldn't sound weak. "Your face ... what happened? Why did you come home? Does Elena know you're here? Did you two fight again?"

Rey felt tears already pooling at the edges of his eyes. He tried to smile, an expression that felt stiff and fake on his bruised face.

"Don't worry, Mom, it's nothing. I just wanted to see you. Elena is fine, we're not fighting."

From the corner of the room, Emily sat quietly in another chair. Her sharp eyes watched Rey's every movement, witnessing the lie clearly written across the man's face.

Mother Margaret turned her face toward Emily, slightly angry. "Emily, was this your doing? Did you call Rey?"

"No, Ma," Emily denied quickly, her voice firm. "He came on his own suddenly just now."

Rey held his mother's hand tighter. An overwhelming feeling of sadness pressed on his chest making it hard to breathe.

This was the only place he considered home, but at the same time he couldn't share the burden that was destroying his life. His tears wanted so badly to burst out.

"Rey, listen to me," his mother's voice was gentler now.

"Go home to Elena before problems arise. Don't worry about me. I can go home in a few days. This treatment cost will be covered by social insurance, so you don't need to think about it."

"Mom, I came here because ...." Rey sobbed, his voice choked. He took a deep breath to calm himself.

"I came here because I wanted to tell you good news. I got a job promotion at the office. Moving up to site supervisor, Mom."

Mother Margaret's face changed instantly. The wrinkles around her eyes seemed to disappear, replaced by a light of genuine happiness. "A promotion? Son, you mean you got promoted?"

Rey nodded, while holding back tears that were growing stronger. "Yes, Mom. After I managed to stop a theft at the project area."

"So that's what made your face like this?" Mother Margaret observed Rey's face for a moment, the man nodded.

Without another word, Mother Margaret spread her arms. Rey leaned down, and they embraced. The old woman patted her son's back gently.

"My wonderful son ... You've worked hard for ten years, that promotion was indeed something you deserved. I'm so happy for you, Rey."

That was when Rey's defenses crumbled. He hugged his mother tightly, his face buried in the woman's shoulder.

His body trembled, and the sobs he had held back for the past three days finally broke free. He cried freely, his sad voice muffled against his mother's shoulder.

He disguised the bitter tears of losing his job, his wife, and his self-respect as tears of joy over a promotion he had actually no longer received.

Emily turned her face toward the window. She looked up, trying to hold back tears that had already wet her eyelids.

With a quick motion, she wiped her cheek with the back of her hand, pretending to fix her short hair that was still neat.

Emily's parents had died five years ago in an accident that still felt strange to her to this day.

At that time she lay on the asphalt with her collarbone cracked and her vision blurred from the impact to her head, but her eyes were still clear enough to see one thing.

A man drove his car slowly past the road where her parents lay, and the man glanced down briefly before pressing the gas pedal again.

Not the expression of a panicked person, not the expression of a worried person. Just a flat stare more like confirming something.

A few weeks later, the court had the house, the only inheritance from her parents, demolished to be built into a shopping complex.

There were no relatives to ask for help, no one at all. Mother Margaret was the one who came, handling all the adoption formalities without saying much, and brought her home to the old house in that narrow alley.

Emily never told anyone what she saw that night, including Mother Margaret. Not because she forgot, but because she didn't yet have enough evidence to reveal it.

They walked side by side down the long hospital corridor that smelled of medicine. Rey's steps were still limping, one hand occasionally pressing his aching ribs when he walked too fast.

"Rey," Emily called softly from beside him. "What actually happened?"

Rey glanced sideways for a moment, then looked straight ahead. "You already heard it in there, right?"

"Not about your face," said Emily. "I mean everything. Why you came home here, why you look like someone who just lost everything."

Rey stopped walking, he sat on a long bench in the corridor. Rey stared at the white tiles beneath his feet that had turned dull and let out a long sigh before speaking.

"I got fired," he said. "Soon I'll also be divorced from Elena."

Emily immediately sat beside Rey, her eyes widening, her lips parting slightly. "How could it come to that?"

Rey shook his head slowly, his jaw hardening. He didn't answer, nor did he turn to look at Emily.

Emily watched Rey's expression for a moment. Then she turned to face forward.

"Alright, you don't have to talk about it," she said in a flat tone. "But at least you don't need to worry about money for the time being. Everything you've been sending to Mom's account is still there."

Rey turned quickly. "How is that possible?"

"Mom refused to accept a single cent of your money. She said you're already married and have responsibilities to your family, so that money should be for your wife." Emily paused for a moment, then continued.

"But I know very well our situation here. Living costs, the house condition that occasionally needs repairs, and now Mom's uncertain condition. That's why I lied and I kept saving it."

Rey looked at Emily with an expression that was hard to read. His eyes were slightly red, but he held himself back.

"I didn't know when we'd need it. Turns out it was sooner than I thought." Her tone of voice didn't change, remaining flat and calm.

Rey nodded slowly, but his forehead creased. "That ... could it be enough for Mom's treatment costs if it turns out serious action is needed?"

Emily looked straight ahead, toward the end of the corridor that ended at a glass door. "For hospitalization and medicine costs, it might be enough. But if Mom needs surgery or long-term care, those savings won't last long."

Rey didn't answer. His jaw hardened again, the muscle at his temple twitching slightly. He stared at the wall in front of him with a blank gaze that wasn't really seeing anything on that wall.

***