The Beginning Of All Sins

Tyler stopped bothering Olivia. After looking at her for a long time, he got up and left. The door clicked shut behind him.

As soon as he left, Olivia slumped, her thoughts weighed down by Julia’s words and the memory of

the slap.

The following day, she visited the hospital and stood outside Naomi’s room. Tyler and Julia were present as well.

Olivia didn’t make eye contact with anyone as she walked in. She immediately offered her apologies, ” I’m sorry, Naomi.”

Everyone, including Tyler, who sat by the bedside, turned their attention toward her.

Naomi responded gently, “What are you apologizing for, Olivia? This is my fault. How can I blame you for this?”

Naturally, Naomi had learned about the situation. She turned to Julia and questioned, “Mom, why did you hit Olivia? It might not have been caused by animal hair.” She felt guilty about the incident.

Julia did feel regret for her actions the other day. However, her emotions had gotten the best of her, and she couldn’t control herself. She awkwardly admitted, “I acted impulsively, Naomi.”

Naomi then turned to Tyler. “Why didn’t you stop her, Tyler? Olivia suffered so much.”

Tyler’s voice remained flat and calm as he explained, “I was in the emergency room.”© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

Only then did Naomi remember that Tyler had been with her in the emergency room. She sighed and said, “Right, I forgot about that. I thought you would’ve protected her,” she continued, “My mom went too far. How could she hit Olivia?”

Tyler had little reaction to her comments. He comforted her, “She didn’t do it on purpose.”

In truth, Naomi had been observing Tyler’s expressions throughout the conversation. She noticed that not only did he not seem to care, but he even seemned to side with Julia. This put her at ease.

Naomi then pressured Julia into apologizing, “Apologize to Olivia, Mom.”

Julia, reluctant to upset Naomi and affect her health further, approached Olivia. “Olivia, I was too impulsive the other day. Don’t be mad at me.”

Indeed, the doctors had not definitively attributed the allergy to animal hair. Given her current frail state, they couldn’t rule out animal hair as the cause, but there were many other potential factors they couldn’t confirm yet.

“It’s my fault, Aunt,” Olivia responded to her apology.

Julia was unsure what else to say. She was not one to easily apologize to anyone and had only done so

for Naomi’s sake.

Just then, Naomi asked, “Did you keep a cat, Olivia?”

Olivia looked up, quickly explaining, “It was a rescue, not something I bought.”

However, Naomi found Olivia’s explanation lacking. Tyler, who typically didn’t like animals, had surprisingly agreed to have a cat in the house.

He chimed in, “Mm–hmm, it was a kitten that had just been born. We were planning to take it to a pet

store later.”

“Olivia adores animals. But I heard that you got rid of it after what happened to me?”

Olivia cast her eyes downward in response.

Tyler looked at Naomi and stated, “It’s better not to keep pets at home.”

Naomi felt relieved and responded half–heartedly, “It was just a cat. Why blame it? Olivia would be

sad.”