Chapter 24 - The Public Apology They Never Gave
My parents never apologized.
Not once.
Even when the evidence was overwhelming, even when their own son testified against them, they refused to take responsibility.
Instead, they kept telling anyone who would listen that I was the one who had destroyed the family. That I was ungrateful. That I had exaggerated everything for attention.
It used to hurt.
But now, it didn’t anymore.
One evening, I was scrolling through social media when I saw a post from an old family friend. It was a long message defending my parents and calling me “a selfish daughter who turned on her family.”
I didn’t argue with it.
Instead, I closed the app and put my phone down.
Chloe, who was sitting next to me, noticed.
“You okay?” she asked.
“Yeah,” I said. “I just realized something.”
“What?”
I looked at her.
“They’re never going to apologize. And I don’t need them to anymore.”
Chloe smiled.
“That’s growth.”
I nodded.
For so long, I had wanted them to admit what they did. I had wanted them to say they were sorry. I had wanted them to finally see me.
But I didn’t need that anymore.
May you like
Because I had already seen myself.
And I had finally learned that their validation was never worth the price I had to pay for it.
