"Then… does that mean you'll go on a hunger strike if I haven't visited you yet?"
"Of course, the only reason I eat a few bites of bread every day is to survive," Gina replied. "Deep down, I know you're my good daughter, Winter. I know you will come to visit me. So I will keep living and waiting for you to come…"
Winter bit her lower lip as she had a depressing glimpse of what happened in her previous life when she didn't visit her mother after her marriage with Sebastian.
Gina probably passed away after going on a hunger strike for so long, and no doctor could help her because it wasn't her body that was broken.
It was her heart.
'So I killed my own mother in my previous life…' Winter blamed herself for it because she knew she could've been firmer. She could have overcome her fear, but she was too scared to stand her ground against Camilla.
"Well, you need to eat a lot now, Mom. Because I'll come more often, and I don't want you to get sick when I'm here, alright?" Winter said with a forced smile, even though she was hurting inside.
Gina nodded absentmindedly. She didn't understand what had changed her daughter.
Winter had been affectionate before, but as she grew older, she had this wall erected around her, making her less approachable.
"Are you really alright, Winter?" Gina asked again, just to make sure.
"I am," Winter assured. She stood up and said, "I'm leaving now, Mom. I'll come back again later."
Gina was a little sad.
She wanted Winter to stay, but she knew that Winter had her own family. So she couldn't force her.
"Call me more often, Winter. It feels lonely sometimes."
Winter nodded again before leaving Gina's bedroom and closing the door.
She sighed, leaning on the door, thinking of what could've happened in her previous life.
She went downstairs and met with Cindy in the kitchen.
"You can put it in the sink. I'll wash it later," Cindy said as she was busy following a recipe to make a cookie. She glanced at the empty bowl and smiled. "I'm glad she's eating well. She really needs you, Winter."
"I think she needs us both," Winter said before shifting the topic. "What are you making?"
"Chocolate chip cookies. Mom told me it's your favorite, so I want to make one for you before you go home," Cindy replied while her eyes were still busy reading the recipe book.
Winter sat on a stool, staring at Cindy. She knew that Cindy wasn't a good cook.
Why?
Because Winter was the one who taught her how to cook from a very young age, and Cindy couldn't seem to get the hang of it. She was also clumsy.
But she was decent at baking, at least.
Yet, even if she wasn't good at it, she still wanted to make something for her sister.
Well… foster sister.
"You don't need to make it for me, Cindy. I just came here for a visit anyway."
"No, no. I want to do it as a gesture of gratitude. You don't know how relieved I am to see that Mom wants to eat again. She was on a hunger strike. I thought she'd actually die," Cindy insisted. Pausing momentarily, she added, "You're her favorite child, Winter. You can't just abandon her like that."
"You're her favorite child too."
"I'm just a child that she fostered. She's a good mother, but I can feel the distance between us," Cindy shook her head. "But I'm glad that she took me in. She raised me well, and I know she did her best. So I'm trying my best to take care of her now."
Winter couldn't refute that because it was obvious that Gina wasn't emotionally close with Cindy, at least not as close as she was with Winter.
But she knew that Cindy truly loved their mother.
This made Winter wonder about one thing…
"What if… one day Mom passed away?" Winter asked. "What will you do next?"
"I don't know," Cindy replied quickly. "I never thought of that. I know she's in her 70s. But I hope she can live forever, at least long enough to see me getting married and having a child."
"If she passes before then, I'll probably feel lost. I've spent all my life with her," Cindy continued. "She's the only parental figure I've ever known since I don't even remember my biological parents' faces."
Winter felt that she had found the answer to her question.
If that red-haired woman who became Sebastian's mistress was Cindy, then she was probably doing it for the sake of revenge against Winter, who had abandoned them and left their mother to die alone out of a hunger strike.
'Then, can I really blame her?' Winter pondered. 'Maybe I truly deserved my death in my previous life because I was too cowardly…'
"What are you thinking about, sis?" Cindy asked as she busied herself with the oven.
"Nothing much," Winter smiled. "I'm just thinking about Mom."
"As long as you visit more often, she'll be fine. I'm here taking care of her," Cindy assured. "Besides, I know you're already married. You have your new family to deal with."
Winter felt like laughing because she felt she only had one family now: Gina and Cindy.
The other one was her family with Aiden, and when Aiden passed away, that family crumbled.
As for Sebastian…
She didn't even want to think of him as a husband, let alone a family member. He was just a replacement for Aiden in the office, nothing more.
Winter stayed until late afternoon, talking with Cindy about random topics.
Before leaving, Cindy handed her a small basket of homemade chocolate chips. "You should share these with your husband. Though, I don't know if he will like it."
Winter laughed dryly. "You know how much I love chocolate chips. Of course, I won't share it with anyone, not even my husband!"