Chapter 3
By the time Julia and I entered the private dining room, Lily was still crying.
Julia gave an awkward smile and finally handed Lily back to me.
“Eric knows how hard childbirth is,” she said lightly. “And I’m not exactly young anymore. That’s why we haven’t had children these past few years. When I suddenly saw that you already have a daughter, I got a little too excited.”
Several people were already seated inside the room.
Strictly speaking, they were all my uncles and aunts—members of the Family’s older generation.
But after the scandal I caused years ago, none of them looked at me kindly.
I quietly chose a seat in the far corner.
Seeing that, Julia naturally sat down beside me.
She even enthusiastically introduced me to the others.
When they noticed Lily in my arms, their expressions turned strange.
The way they looked at me made my skin crawl.
Unable to bear it any longer, I excused myself and left for the restroom.
After splashing cold water on my face, I returned.
Just as I reached the door, I heard Julia speaking inside.
“What’s so unlucky about it?” she was saying. “Noah is Eric’s daughter. Of course we should take care of her. She may have taken the wrong path before, but now she has a child. She won’t make the same mistakes again.”
Hearing Julia defend me like that, I simply stood quietly outside the door.
She meant well.
But in the eyes of the others inside—I was still nothing more than a disgusting freak. A homosexual. Someone who fell in love with his own father. Someone who changed his body.
Any one of those things alone was enough for ordinary people to reject.
Lily tugged anxiously at the hem of my clothes.
I gently rubbed her head.
Then I pushed the door open and walked inside.
Sooner or later, I would have to face all of this.
Not long after I sat down, everyone in the room suddenly stood up.
“Eric.”
A group of people immediately gathered toward the entrance.
Only I remained seated.
I forced down the storm of emotions inside my chest before finally gathering the courage to look up.
He looked thinner than before.
Sharp features. Blue eyes.
The same face that once made me lose myself.
Nothing about him had changed.
Except now— his gaze only rested on Julia.
Julia, however, never forgot about me.
She pointed toward the corner where I sat.
“Noah’s back,” she said cheerfully. “You two haven’t seen each other in years. You should catch up.”
“And Noah even brought her daughter back.”
“That’s your granddaughter, you know.”
The moment Eric saw Lily in my arms, his eyes widened.
His voice almost sounded frightened.
“Noah… who is that?”
Eric and I hadn’t spoken in years.
So of course, I had never told him about Lily.
Seeing that I remained silent, Julia answered for me.
“Eric, that’s Noah’s daughter!”
She gently pinched Lily’s cheek.
“Look how adorable she is. She looks exactly like Noah.”
Eric’s gaze moved back and forth between Lily and me before finally settling on my face.
“In these years overseas…” he said slowly. “You got married?” “And had a child?”
I lifted my head and met his eyes. Then I nodded.
“I got married a long time ago,” I said quietly. “Not telling you was my fault.”
The room fell silent.
No one spoke.
Eric continued staring at me, clearly unconvinced.
“Dad,” I said, emphasizing the word.
“She’s my child.”
The atmosphere instantly became even more awkward.
Except for Julia, everyone else in the room knew the truth— I had once been a man.
Julia didn’t notice the strange tension at all.
She opened her mouth to say something else.
But Eric spoke first.
“Where is your partner?”
He chose his words carefully.
I pressed my lips together before answering.
“My partner hasn’t been feeling well lately. The connecting flights were too exhausting.”
Eric’s face darkened.
But in the end, he didn’t say anything more.
He simply walked over and sat beside Julia.
The rest of the dinner tasted like dust in my mouth.
Everyone kept praising how perfect Eric and Julia were together.
But all I wanted— was to escape this suffocating place.
I didn’t want to return overseas again.
That lonely, barren place where I had no one to rely on.
At least here—I could hear a language I understood.
And maybe, somewhere in this city, there were still a few fragments of the life I once knew.
The dinner ended quickly.
