(OG!Cale's backstory was heavily inspired by A Stepmother's Fantasy. I love that manhwa so much I couldn't help but write it on my own ff involving Cale.)
~*~
Whether you like it or not, everyone is meant to be born in the world. Cale was also born that way and didn't live doing what he wanted to do, but he had lived normally and was contented with his life.
But no one knew life's true intention, and some of them are stories broadcast on television and are absurd enough to win lotteries, or wander around as a laughingstock in the community.
The reality was nothing like these stories.
When his mother died in a car accident, his loving father was devasted. However it didn't take long for his father to remarry another woman. She was kind enough to leave him be, so Cale paid her no more than minimum attention and treated her like any other normal person would.
One day, his father passed away from an illness. His stepmother followed soon after he did, leaving Cale and her three other children to fend for themselves. Her death hung heavy on Cale's two brothers and sister. Even though her death had nothing to do with Cale, the siblings blamed their older brother Cale as if he was the one who killed their mother. Their insensitivity was so relentless the 14-year old Cale almost began to believe that he was really the one responsible for their mother's death.
And if anything were to ever change, it always changed for the worse, never better. His relatives only wanted their family's wealth, so he prevented any of them from stepping inside the estate forever. Cale had no one but himself to rely on to take care of the children.
Of course, the children were indifferent and despised Cale in return.
Cale wanted to leave, but he couldn't have had the courage to let his children survive on their own. So, he studied hard until he graduated with high honors. It paid off when he was accepted into a prestigious university. Until then, he would wait for the second-eldest, Jude, to turn into an adult and take over the business Cale had been working on for over ten years.
Of course, it's a bit awkward to call them ‘his children’ since they were practically the same age as any brother and sister. They were Cale's half siblings, but they were his children regardless. Even though they never acknowledged him as their older brother, Cale still raised those three children. Moving out was his number one option though.
It wasn't because he hated living with his children. However, would you still want to live with the kind of children who found your presence a nuisance?
Cale worked hard to get into a prestigious university just so he could have a valid reason to move out and escape the children's cruelty.
At the age of 24 years old, Cale may finally be able to see the fruit of his labour. It was the second-eldest son, Jude's Marriage day! It's finally that day!
As soon as he becomes the Henituse Company's new leader, and says his wedding vows towards his soon to-be wife, Cale would be out of the house in no time!
Ah, it was like yesterday when Jude was almost dying over a high fever and was telling Cale to electrocute the Virgin Mary for picking on him. And the countless tough times he's been through at last have come to an end, Cale felt rewarded for all the troubles he went through. “Let's drink and celebrate tonight!” he says.
.... but it was all an illusion.
Where did everything go wrong? He couldn't even think straight anymore. Cale felt so dumbfounded for a moment. Cale had never experienced such a case, so he never knew what to say.
“Jude doesn't want me to attend his wedding?” Cale repeated those words quietly. A beautiful lady nodded her head anxiously as he took in the information slowly. She was the daughter of a wealthy businesswoman and Jude's fiance, Marilyn Gold.
“I deeply apologize for this, Mister Henituse. Jude went crazy a few days ago and told me to cancel your invitation.”
“Wait, wait, wait a second. Regardless of what that bastard said, I am obliged to attend your wedding at Yuriana! No matter what anyone says, I'm his....”
...
Cale opened his mouth to talk, but his voice cracked at the end. He sighs tiredly, running his hand through his hair in frustration.
“To be honest, it had only been nine months since his mother remarried to your father back then. I heard that you two do not share a single drop of blood, so he couldn't help it because it is only natural for him to blame his unrelated older brother objectively.”
Yeah, so what?
Cale remembered a conversation he had with his younger brother. When Jude found out what Cale had been planning about leaving the house, Jude asked Cale if he'd gone bat-shit crazy. However, Cale responded nonchalantly.
“Do not fret if it's an inheritance you are worried about. I have no intention of getting married at all. You may take over the business and all of the assets father gave to me, because I have no need for them.”
“That's not the point!”
Jude, the 22 year old young man, hit the innocent wall beside him and yelled. “You kicked out all of our relatives when we were younger so that you could inherit father's assets earlier! And now you're giving it all to me? What kind of scheme are you planning now, brother? You think I'm going to fall for it, you think I'm just going to sit and watch you do all this crap?!!?”
There were many reasons why Cale had to do it, but not a word came out of his mouth. The back of his throat was burning, even after reminding himself that he was used to the pain.
Cale swallowed a lump stuck on his throat, but couldn't manage to keep his emotions in control.
“What are you going to do about it then...?” He questioned, his eyes darkened, glaring at the man standing against him. “... Do you think... I wanted to be here? To play the role of a parent...? Please just leave me alone for god's sake!”
Shatter!
A light magnitude could be felt from where they were standing. Multiple vases fell from their respective places and broke into tiny pieces when it met the marble floor.
“Until you marry and become the head of the family, I have no obligation to listen to someone like you! Go play with your friends, have fun, or talk dirt about with the twins...! It must have been fun spitting on your own house and talking shit about me! Just do whatever you want! I don't care! I've never been happy since you showed up in my life!”
“.....”
The red-haired male paused for a second. He looks at Jude directly in the eye and gives him a withering look, before retreating to his room.
The moment Cale entered his bedroom, he wondered if the ceiling would crack because he closed the door aggressively as he went in. Then he fell on the floor and began to cry on his own.
Cale normally didn't tear up whenever his sibling insulted him, or made up false rumours about him. But now, he couldn't help the tears that stung his eyes and let it all out for the first time.
*~*
“This should be enough.”
It was snowing outside. He was doing leftover paperwork when he caught his face reflecting in the white transparent window. Cale was startled from his own reflection that looked like a monster, even though he was born with skin as white as snow, it still reminded him of a ghost.
Anyway, it is snowing lightly. When the children were young, whenever it snowed like this, the children would go to the yard and play. While Carcel would focus on his snowman, Chanel threw snowballs all over the place, and Jude loved to roll around on the snow and make angels. And Cale watched them play from here, in his room.
He will miss them quite a bit, he guesses.
“Master.”
By the time he had done preparing his things, his personal maid and butler stood side by side. They were faithful members in the estate who has served in the Henituse family for the longest time and the only people he trusted with the kids.
“I'm going to Everwinter to visit my mother's grave. Don't let anyone know but, I'm not bringing the children with me.”
“Everwinter... Ah, yes. Do you plan on staying there for a few days?”
“I'm not coming back.” Cale flatly says.
“.... What?”
The Henituse Everwinter is the only place that can be said to be entirely his belonging. His mother gave it to him as his first birthday gift. Although it was too much for his first gift, it became a useful asset to him now that he was moving out.
“Master, what, what are you saying all of a sudden—”
“What will happen if they find out?!”
As he crosses his arms on his chest, Cale laughed while their faces stiffened. True horror in their faces couldn't be described with just words.
“Take it easy. I'm sure Jude will handle it.”
“Master!”
“You know Jude's the new head of the family now, right? Don't get on his nerves! He has really bad temper, and serve the new lady well!”
Cale, with a lively smile on his face, dismisses the two servants. In fact, he pushed them out of his bedroom and (this time) quietly shuts the door. Finally, he's never had a peaceful life because he was working so hard, Cale would have to start anew for himself.
But the thing Cale is most happy about is that he's now free from being the head of the Henituse's family! Everything's going to be fine.
.... But that was just another one of his illusions.