Rainbow

Chapter 16

Irene's POV
I was looking at him in surprise when he looked at me. He nodded. "When one of my friends had an accident on our race one night, we took him to the hospital. And when I visited my friend the next day, I bumped into Dad. That day, it was his schedule for his treatment. I found out that he had Nasopharyngeal cancer stage three."

I gasped in surprise. "What?!"

He smiled, but there was a hint of sadness in his eyes, and looked away afterward. "That time, it was only eight months since he discovered that he had cancer. I was on school break that day, but I had work. So, I was absent from work and waited for him to finish his treatment to talk with him. During our talk, he told me what happened to his life. And I also told him what happened to our lives. I learned that he was staying at his friend's house after he left us. I also asked him about his current condition, and he told me that during his treatment, he easily got tired, got severe nosebleeds, felt sick, and vomited, so he was only working part-time on his job. He said it was the side effects of his treatment."

"Excuse me for asking this, but why didn't he stay with the woman your mom saw with him in the police station?"

"Dad said it was just his friend. Dad was surprised when he saw my mom at that time, leaving the station. He wanted to chase her and explain, but he was afraid that it might cause trouble in our business because he knew it was already okay back then. So Dad was surprised when I told him why Mom went there."

"Didn't he know that your business fell again?" I asked and looked in front.

"He just knew that after he just returned from their operation. And it was already months, and our business starting to rise again. He didn't know why it happened and thought that was just part of the business."

"Didn't your dad want to come back to your family again?"

"He wanted to. Actually, he intends to return to us once he has saved money and stabilized the business he is planning to build. But the situation didn't let him go as planned when he found out about his cancer. Nasopharyngeal cancer is difficult to recognize. And it doesn't have any symptoms until the cancer reaches an advanced stage. So, Dad knew it when his cancer was already stage 3. Somehow, Dad was glad that he separated from us because he said he would only give us problems with his condition. And dad even told me not to tell Mom and my sister about his condition because he didn't want to hurt them again if he didn't survive the cancer. He said it was easier for them to forget him if they hated him than to accept the truth that the one they loved was already gone. I hesitated whether I would agree to that or not. But because I didn't want to add to Dad's tribulation, I promised him I wouldn't tell them that. It was hard to keep that promise, especially every time I saw my mom longing for my dad and saw my sister loathe my dad. I wanted to tell them the truth, but I also wanted to respect my dad's decision. Time fast, and the first semester of my and my mom's fourth year of college finished. I visited Dad at his friend's house when one of his specialists called me because Dad didn't answer her call. She asked me why Dad didn't attend his treatment. And because I didn't know the reason yet, I told her I would just call her back. When I asked Dad about that, he hesitated at first if he would tell me, but in the end, he told me. I found out that dad already stopped his treatment because he was running out of money that he saved, and he couldn't work anymore because of his condition, and the side effect of his treatment was getting worse. I told it to his specialist, and she was sad about that news and said that she was the one who would pay for my dad's treatment. She even assured me that I had nothing to worry about because she was financially stable. I apprised it to Dad, but he disagreed. So I told my dad that I would ask his specialist if it was okay for her to pay for it first, and I would pay her partially every time I had money. Dad still didn't agree to that. So I had no choice but to threaten him." He chuckled.

I glanced at him. "What did you do?" I asked curiously.

"I said I would tell Mom that he has cancer because I know he can't say no if Mom was the one who would convince him. And because Dad doesn't want Mom to know the truth, he finally agrees with me, even if it is against his will. But he had a condition for me. He told me that if he survived, he would pay back the money I would spend on him. I just agreed so he could get treatment again. After our talk, I called Dad's specialist and informed her what I and Dad talked about the payment. Dad's specialist was so happy after she heard that and was fine about paying her partially."

"Why did your dad's specialist offer that?" I asked in confusion.

"When my dad was still a college student, he saved her life during a raid on a convenience store. The bad guy accidentally pulled the trigger when someone tried to take the gun away from that guy. And the bullet was going to hit Dad's specialist, so Dad blocked the bullet with his body. Their last talk when they were young was when dad's specialist and her parents visited him in the hospital to thank him formally, and they were also the ones who paid my dad's hospital bill. And dad's specialist was surprised when they saw each other again after a long time in the hospital. She didn't forget my dad because of the incident even though dad had already forgotten her face, but not the incident. So dad's specialist did that because she believed she owed dad her life."

I smiled at the story. "It's like a television drama."