The candle's flame was not big; something else led to the disaster. Quill felt bored while waiting, so he navigated through the darkness to his room to find his drawing pad.
He thought he should draw a picture of him and his parents as well as his grandfather together. Although Quill was only five, he was already a skilled artist. After he was done, he held the drawing up, joyous.
However, he grew upset next.
Although it was his birthday, his grandfather did not come to accompany him. He couldn't understand why his grandfather wouldn't acknowledge his father when he was great.
He decided to give this painting to his grandfather the next day in hopes that his grandfather would let go of his prejudice against his father.
With that thought in mind, Quill got up to put the drawing away. However, as he was too deep in thought, he accidentally kicked the chair next to him when he got up and fell forward. Then the drawing pad in his hand flew out and fell directly on the candle.
The fire from the candle ignited the paper.
As Quill hurt his knee, he held it for quite some time. By the time he realized it, the fire had already spread to the side.
Quill lived in a small rented house; it was filled with stuff, and they were mostly flammable. Before Quill could register what was going on, the fire had gotten worse with time.
When he finally realized how bad the situation was, he grew horrified. He vaguely remembered that his teacher had said in class that children should not play with matches. Otherwise, they could easily start a fire.
"Oh, water can put out the fire," That was all he had in his mind.
He immediately ran to the kitchen and came back with a basin of water in his arms. But since he was just a weak child, the water splashed out as he walked. Hence the remaining amount of water in the basin was far from enough to extinguish the raging flames.
The fire was growing bigger and bigger, and Quill was so frightened that he ran to his father, Haward, for help. At first, he wanted to handle it himself. His father worked till late every day. However, he left work early that day to celebrate his birthday; he just went to take a nap as they hadn't begun celebrating.
Therefore, Quill did not want to disturb him.
Haward could smell a hint of something burning in his dreams. It was rather subtle at first, but it gradually became unbearable. He wondered if his wife had burned the dinner again.
Alas, she couldn't cook, but she always tried for his sake. Phoebe was the daughter of the Hanover family, and she had servants for everything. She should be living in a mansion and wearing beautiful clothes, yet she chose to marry him and endure the hardship.
He did not want her to suffer, so he worked hard to support their family. However, because of that, he'd neglect her. He'd also felt guilty every time he saw her burned hand from cooking when he came back from work.
He truly thought he was useless; he couldn't even give his wife a good life. She should not have had to suffer like this. She was supposed to live a life free from worries.
As the thought crossed his mind, Haward no longer laid in the bed but got up. Probably because he had worked overtime for days on end, his head was spinning so badly that he couldn't stand up straight. Haward shook his head and massaged his temples.
What was going on with him? Why was his head so heavy all of a sudden? Was it because he had worked overtime for days and hadn't had enough rest? No, he couldn't fall. His wife and son needed him. Moreover, it was Quill's birthday that day. He wondered if Phoebe had bought a cake.
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