Chapter 649. I Can Barely Hear

A faint, bitter smile crossed Sophia’s lips. Her mother’s mistakes had left wounds on the Hayes family, even costing Michael’s father his life. That truth stayed inside her like a thorn she could never pull out.

"Michael," she asked softly, almost unsure, "doesn’t the past bother you? Everything between my mother and your father…"

Michael held her shoulders, his eyes fixed on hers.

"What are you thinking?" he asked quietly. "I wasn’t there to see it, so I don’t know what really happened. And if I don’t know, I’m not going to believe rumors."

For him, the past was over. It wasn’t something that should stand in their way now.

Back then, he had been too young to understand anything. All he knew came from his mother’s words.

One thing had become clear to him: he couldn’t judge what he didn’t fully understand.

Sophia looked at him in surprise. “You don’t hate my mother?”

Michael gave a faint smile. “What’s the use of hating her? Wo