Blue-Collar Daddy || Bang Chan

Chapter 9: Time Travel

I'm wrapping up at the library when someone familiar–and supposedly deceased– steps into my library.

      "Hi, honey."

      My parents died in a car accident a year ago...

      "Mom...Is it really you?"

      "It's me, (Y/N). And I'll tell you everything. But first? Do you have a hug for your mom?"

      I haven't seen her in a year, not since she was supposed to have died in the car accident with my dad...

      I run forward without even thinking, wrapping her in a tight hug. She laughs as I finally pull away. We sit across from one another at my desk as she folds her arms over her chest.

      "I had to lie, (Y/N). Your father, he wasn't a nice man. He lied to me. He cheated. He cut me off from the world. And he cheated a lot of people out of a lot of money."

      "I heard."

      "I'm sorry you had to find out from people who weren't me."

      "Me, too. It's been rough here in Blue Haven."

      "While you were a kid, I convinced him to keep it light. Legal, at least. But once you left for college? He and another man worked a few big jobs. They made sure I knew everything so I'd be guilty too. I wanted to leave, but he threatened to take me down with him..."

      "Mom, I'm so sorry..."

      "So, when the car accident happened... He was driving. I woke up in his overturned truck. (Y/N), he was clearly dead, but I was okay. So I took the opportunity to run... But not before lighting the car on fire so they would never know I wasn't in it."

      "You faked your death?"

      "You have every right to hate me for this."

      "Mom, I don't hate you."

      "You're a good kid. You always were."

      She buries her head in her hands, starting to cry.

      "It's been such a rough year... But I'm just so happy to see you here, doing well..."

      I sit beside her and pull her close to me, letting her cry it out on my clothes.

      "I love you, Mom. I'm so glad you're alive."

      "I love you, too, kiddo."

      "Come home with me, Mom. It's your home, technically. I'll help you."

      "I can't. No one can know I'm alive. If someone sees me, the cops are going to arrest me. Creditors are going to come after me. Bad men are going to seek revenge."

      Before I can argue, she stands up.

      "I just needed to see you. That's all."

      "Mom, wait—"

      But she rushes to the door, blowing me a kiss as she rushes out of the library.

      What the actual hell just happened?

      I head back home, trying to process all the events of the day, but when I walk in the door, I'm startled by Bang Chan standing there.

      "Oh! I completely forgot you'd be here."

      "Didn't mean to startle you..." he chuckles.

      "Just another surprise for the day."

      "You okay? You seem shaken up."