After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World - Chapter 1073

Chapter 1073: Learning to Love

A/N: I’m sorry, I didn’t intend this to get so long xD. We’ll temporarily move on from Kimmy after next chap.

…

____

“What was your mother like, Miss Kimmy?”

This made her pause. She remembered her own childhood, how lonely it actually was, and how… absent her parents were.

She grew up to her twenties, but the number of times she had at least one parent on her birthday could be counted on one hand.

It was why she was so obsessed with her idols. She saw them as lovers who would send their smiles and affection through the screen, through the posters, or even through the radio.

Through their posts and ads, they would always say ‘I love you’ or ‘I want to see you (in my concert)’ and she would consume that so badly. However, inside, she knew she still felt empty—otherwise, her obsessions wouldn’t go so far.

She touched her stomach. She knew how lonely it was, so she would never do the same to her child.

It was not a surprise that she didn’t have a good impression of mothers who were only sources of heartbreak and insecurity to her child.

Her eyes ended up somewhere at the back of the audience and saw a new face there.

Yelena. Miss Juliet mentioned her arrival during her session the previous day. Apparently, there was a new ‘hostage’ taken in and it happened to be another one of Patte’s victims.

Juliet didn’t actually ask her to do anything. After all, she was also going through her own tribulations. The woman probably didn’t want to put the burden on her.

However, since they were both sent here, in the orphanage—filled with children who had lost all their known relatives—it was inevitable to cross paths.

However, at the same time, she couldn’t hate Yelena nor could she blame her for how she reacted. After all, she understood the aborigine’s feelings—she understood it too well.

In fact, when Kimmy found out she was pregnant, her first reaction was to terminate the pregnancy—and then take her own life. At the time, it felt like a monster was growing inside her and she wanted to kill it so badly.

However, she remembered what someone important told her back then.

Growing up, even without her parents, Kimmy wasn’t entirely lonely. There was still someone she treated as family: Her Nana.

It was her nanny who took care of her since she was a baby, all the way until her death.

Kimmy used to cry a lot whenever she missed her parents. She was so confused and bitter—why were they never there? Did they not love her? Did they dislike her so much they couldn’t stay in the same space?!

The thoughts took a toll on her self-esteem, and it was here that her Nana told her these words.

“Every life was born to this world for a reason, and every child—every innocent soul—deserves a taste of love. If those who should be giving it are not doing so, then it is them who is wrong—it is only them who miss on good things. The good things should not suffer for their blindness.”

Kimmy, now, did not want to miss ‘good things’. At the time she just went ahead and spent her ample love elsewhere—to ‘husbands’ —but now that love was being redirected elsewhere.

Regardless of its paternity, this child might be the only blood relative she had left.

And—considering how she shuddered at the touch of men now—the only one she might ever have.

Thinking back… her reason for keeping the child was, ultimately, out of selfishness—and that was okay.

A fruit borne from evil was not easy to love, so she struggled a lot. She didn’t want anyone near her either, so she was predominantly alone in the process.

At the same time, she didn’t feel as lonely. She was with baby after all—though for a long time, she was unsure if it was an enemy, a reluctant ally, or a loved one.

However, after many weeks of carrying it in her body… she did end up loving it in the end.

When did it start? Was it when she first felt intense cramps?

It felt uncomfortable and painful, but it felt like her baby was trying to capture her attention, much like her own vain attempts to capture her parents’ back then.

Her own longing mirrored to the child and perhaps that was why she fell in love. When she told this to Juliet, she just said not to overthink things and just enjoy the process—even if it was a bit painful.

“Miss Kimmy!” Milky voices sounded around her, pulling her back to the present.

Kimmy looked at the simple-minded children in front of her, and her heart softened to mush.

“Hmm… the person I consider my mother isn’t the one who gave birth to me…” she said, answering the question. “But I did have one—I call her Nana.”

Nana, her nanny, died about a year before the tragedy. She lived a full life and she treated her like her mother, as she treated her as her child.

Her eyes softened, patting the nearest boy’s head.

“All children deserve mothers,” she said, her eyes gravitating to a certain aborigine. “Even if some mothers don’t deserve their children.”

This was not just targeted at Yelena and any other neglectful mothers. Kimmy didn’t think she was exempted from it at all.

She once thought of killing her own child, so Kimmy believed she also didn’t deserve it. However, she promised to love it with all her heart moving forward instead.

As for Yelena, she hoped to change her mind to do the same.

Her dark eyes shifted back to the children, immediately lightening up. She smiled at them. “The point of the story is… all of you should be happy and grow well. We will be watching over you—always—even if you don’t see us.

“So—I hope—at no point will you be lonely,” she paused, looking at them. “If you feel sad, or hopeless, know that there is always someone out there looking out for you and praying you receive the greatest fate you could receive. Okay?”

At this, the kids sparkled, and yelled their answer— as if afraid she would not hear. “Yes, Miss Kimmy~”