Life After Prison by Silencieux

Severin gave it a little thought before finally deciding to walk up to the door and knock on it.

"Who is it?" The beautiful woman frowned when she heard the knock on the door and immediately walked over. She looked carefully at Severin and seemed to be a little lost in thought.

"Hi, may I ask who are you?" Severin asked in a serious tone as he stared at the flawlessly beautiful woman in front of her.

"I'm the one who should be asking you that question. You're the one who came to me, after all." The woman smiled and folded her arms. Mere words could not describe just how beautiful that smile was.

Severin frowned and said, "Oh, my name is Severin Feuillet. I'd like to know who you are and why you're helping my parents by giving them money every month. You call yourself a friend of mine, but I don't really remember having someone like you as a friend!" He had this feeling at the back of his mind that the woman in front of him was a little familiar, just that he could not remember who she was. For that reason, he decided to ask her once and for and get to the bottom of it. Perhaps she could be his high school classmate or something of the sort. Hence, it would be understandable for him not to recognize her since they had not met each other for several years already.

When the beautiful woman in front of him heard that his name was Severin, the smile on her face froze instantly.

There seemed to be a kind of burning anger in her eyes, for they started turning red as tears began to well up in her eye sockets.

In the end, the woman finally closed her eyes, exhaled heavily, and controlled her emotions before opening her eyes again. She pushed Severin back, walked out of the house, and said to Selene inside, "Could you excuse me for a bit, sweetie? I need to talk to this man." She closed the door soon after.

"We know each other?" Severin was at a loss when he saw the woman's reaction. He tried hard to remember who she was, but to no avail. It boggled him why that woman was looking at him with a somewhat murderous gaze.

"Hehe, I didn't expect you to be released so early. I thought you'd have another five years to go before they set you free!" The woman smiled, seemingly in self-mockery, and then suddenly raised her hand to slap Severin. "You jerk!"

It was likely a conditioned reflex that led Severin to grab her arm as soon as she stretched out her hand. "What's gotten into you, woman? I honestly can't remember when we last met, but I am definitely not a jerk. Did you mistake me for someone else?"

"Nope! It's you, for sure! I'd recognize you even if you were burnt into ash!" The woman looked fiercely at Severin despite him grabbing her arm tightly. "Don't you remember me? I'm Diane Shanahan! The woman whose life you've ruined! I'm Diane Shanahan! My life wouldn't've been like this if it weren't for you, you irresponsible b*stard!"

"Diane Shanahan?" Severin pondered carefully over that name, but he still did not know who she was, or when he even met someone with that name. However, her face did feel a little familiar to her.

"I swear, I don't know who you are, and I can't remember where we met. I don't recall anyone of my classmates or acquaintances with the name Diane." Severin let go of her hand, and continued, "Tell me how much money you've given to my family over the years and I'll pay everything back to you!"

"That's funny! Really funny!" Diane laughed in despair and took two steps back. Tears dripped down her face as she yelled, "You'll pay? Are you even able to pay up? What will you use to pay me back? How will you return my youth back to me? How are you going to make up for everything I suffered in the past few years?"

Severin was speechless, but he could sense that she was in genuine anguish. Clearly, her tears were real, and she was not pretending either.

"You're being too emotional now, so I'd rather not talk to you when you're in this condition. We'll talk once you calm down!" Severin looked at her helplessly. He did not know how to comfort her, so he finally decided to walk back down.

"Uwaaah!" After Severin left, Diane crouched on the ground and cried helplessly. Unbeknownst to her, the door opened slowly and the little girl inside peeked out.

When Selene saw the sobbing Diane, she came out and stretched out her small hand to hold Diane's hand. "Why are you crying, Mom? Did that man bully you? There, there. Don't cry, Mom..." Selene became teary-eyed while speaking.

Diane raised her head, wiped away her tears, and finally touched Selene's head while saying, "Okay, Selene. I won't cry. You shouldn't cry too, okay?"

"Okay!" Selene nodded obediently.

"Selene, do you really miss your dad?" Diane could not help but ask when she looked at her adorable little daughter.

Selene nodded. "Other children have dads, so I want a dad too. I don't want to be a fatherless child!"

Upon hearing that, Diane stood up, exhaled heavily once more, and said to Selene, "How about you go watch some TV? Your father will be coming back soon. I'm going to pick him up later and bring him back. We can celebrate your birthday together and eat cake. Would you like that?"

"Is that true?" When Selene heard what her mother said, her big eyes widened considerably at that moment and she clapped her little hands excitedly while prancing about. "Yay! Dad's coming back home! Will he buy me some toys?'

"He will. He'll buy lots and lots toys!" Diane felt an ache in her heart. She had been lying to her daughter all along, saying that her father had been working someplace for to earn a lot of money so he could come back and buy her lots of toys.

Selene really seemed to be looking forward to having a father by her side.

"Okay, Selene. I'll go find your father soon. You just stay home and watch TV, okay?" Diane switched on the television for Selene and closed the door as she left.

"Diane Shanahan...hmm...Diane Shanahan...dammit! Who is this Diane Shanahan?" Severin was walking on the road with a confused expression on his face. He kept scratching his head but could not remember who in the hell was Diane Shanahan.

"Am I a jerk?" Severin smiled bitterly and eventually said, "I don't think so. I probably just met some crazy woman!"

All of a sudden, an Audi A4 stopped just a little ahead of Severin. After the person inside rolled down the window, a beautiful, short-haired woman stuck her head out and looked at Severin. "Severin? It really is you!"

"Quinn? Quinn Janssen? From college?" Severin was stunned for a moment, and quickly remembered that the woman was a classmate from his college days.

The man who was driving the car turned around and smiled at Severin. "Been a long time, Severin! Our classmates couldn't stop talking about what happened to you. None of us expected that a top student like yourself would go to prison! And it's even surprising to see that you've been released so soon! You must've received a reduced sentence after behaving yourself in there!"

Then, the man thought for a while and added, "It's five years, right? Tsk, tsk. Five long years! I can't even begin to imagine it! How does prison food taste, by the way? You're the only one in our class who has experienced it, you have to tell us what it tastes like!"