His Discovered Love

~Chapter•43~

"I don't think I can face him..." Edward mutters frantically while shaking his head quickly. It's as if he's murmuring it like a prayer "I'm so embarrassed to even see him"

"You should've realized it earlier" I say a bit coldly pulling together the lapels of my overcoat "There's no point of regretting now"

He remains silent and we take our steps ahead in the passageway. He's been walking way too fast than me. I told him to go slow and he said 'oh okay' but again he scampers down across a few people. So I take a hold of his arm to slow him down. He looks down at me but I pretend not to notice.

"What if he ignores me?"

I look "Try to convince him. He'll listen to you"

He jerks up his brows "Why do you think so?"

"Because he always loved you like his own son"

I notice his Adam's apple roll down as he deeply stares on the tiles. I know that he thinks it's too late to cherish that feeling or those moments when Dad proved it to him "I hope he'd forgive me"

We find Mom, Julia and Aira waiting outside the room with disappointment on their faces. Mom is seated on the chrome seat looking down. Julia is leaning against the wall with folded arms. And Aira is strolling. She just stops when she sees us and gulps. I can see tears in her eyes. I can understand this pain. I lost my father at a young age, and believe me, there's nothing more painful than that.

She hugs Edward and starts crying and shaking and crying. I think Edward is about to cry as well. He brushes a hand across her head and then plants his lips on it "Relax..."

But she keeps sobbing.

He then lets out another hand for Julia who embraces him warmly. She's not crying but I can seriously say that she's holding back her tears only for Aira and Mom. He kisses her head as well and rubs her arm "He'll be fine..."

I just take a look at mom. She's seated with her head facing downwards. Her black hair tresses curtain her side face. But then, I slowly hear a sniff. Her hand reaches for her face which she rubs.

I go and sit beside her "Mom..." I place a hand on her shoulder.

When she turns, her face is all red and soaked with tears. Her eyes are half shut as if she's dizzy and swollen making it seem she hasn't slept for days. Among her messy hair flocks, some of them are stuck to her face, while the rest of her hair is tied into a lazy ponytail.

I sigh and then embrace her while she sobs a bit heavily "They said...there are less chances of survival..." says her crying muffled voice.

It shoots me very hard. Complete apprehension pierced the whole me when she said that. I've lost so many people, and when I finally felt like I found my dad...he's in pain now.

I suck in my lips while tears almost pool in my eyes as well. I want them to go back because I don't want her to see me like this. I don't want to. I pull myself and look at Edward who cupped his younger sister's face and encourages her.

So much time passes and there's no news yet. They were telling me to go back home and get a good sleep. But I wanted to stay longer. I wanted to see dad before going home. And I honestly was fine staying for longer. The back pain remains, but it does at home as well. I just got a hot water bottle temporarily and pressed it against my back to relieve the pain.

Aira and Edward went to get some snacks and a drink because none of us head eaten anything since morning. They brought chicken burrito, a garlic bread and mango juice for us. I just had the chicken burrito and gulped down some water. I didn't want to drink any juice.

"Did you tell Kiera?" Edward asks in a bit of brittle tone. He doesn't even seem to wish to know the answer.

Mom shakes her head "She's gone to Ireland because Asher's parents wanted to be with Nia for a while"

"You should've let her know about it"

I stretch my eyes and shake my head quickly and surreptitiously at him.

He pretends not to notice but I know he did.

The doctors walking out was the most relieving thing for each of us. I feel like my heart springs to life again. Everybody sitting stand up at the same time, including me.

The surgeons in teal scrubs pause and the one who's leading them, pulls down his mask with the blue rubber glove on his hand "He has regained conscious for now, but not completely"

"Okay does that mean he's out of danger now?" Edward asks.

"That's what I wanted to talk about-come with me"

Mom sits on the chair grabbing the hand rests right beside Edward. The doctor rests his hands on the table and laces his fingers. Me and the other girls and on the sofa while Aira sniffs pinching a corner of her lips. I rub a hand on her knee to assure her.

"There are basically different types of brain strokes. The one that encountered Mr. Finn is called Hemorrhagic Stroke"

"The-The bleeding one?" Edward asks.

He nods.

Mom looks at him "What bleeding?"

"This is basically a condition where the vessel which supplies blood to your brain, gets ruptured and blasts" doctor explains and when he said blasts, I felt something blast in my gut "As a result, the person may go into permanent coma-but luckily, he has regained the consciousness" he assures "But the problem that he'll be facing now is his life will be slightly different than how it used to be"

"W-what does that mean?" Mom's shaky voice stutters under tears.

"He lost his balance because of which he'll be dependent on some sort of support, and there's impairment in his cognitive senses" he's sorry while saying it "Until, he completely gains consciousness, we have to admit him in the hospital for observation. And once he's discharged, you'll have to take extra care of him at home"

I look at Aira who drops her head in her hands.

•••

"I'm sorry" Edward whispers shakily while holding the hand of his father which has a pulse oximeter clipped on the Index. He blinks continuously to avoid the tears falling from his eyes "I know it's something very less for all I had done in the past few years..."

What we can hear is only the heart monitor's beep. I want to cry right now. So bad, deep inside I want to wail. Edward was very embarrassed to meet his father when doctors allowed us to. He said two people at a time. So mom and Aira went first. Me and Julia were supposed to go second but Edward wanted me to accompany him. So it's only me and Edward now.

"Please...please, please, please wake up" He can't speak anymore "I promise I won't be like that again. I'll improve"

Dad's pinky finger jerks.

Edward turns at me in surprise. I'm not sure if he wants to smile at that movement. I rub an assuring hand on his shoulder "He'll be fine"

He slowly turns his head back at dad who lifts his finger clipped under and oximeter "You're... you're not a b-bad person E-Edward" an exhale escapes "It's just...you f-f-follow the wrong thing" I tear up seeing him struggle with his words. I can't take this anymore. My hand automatically covers my mouth as I hold back the loud sob that was about of escape and rush out of the room. I walk past the door which hinges and cry. I cry silently, rubbing my arms, letting the warm waves of tears slide down my cheeks and looking up and doing all the unnecessary stuff I think would help me calm down. 

It's really sad to see what he's going through. No child should ever face this. No child should ever mistreat their parents who really love them and try their best to give them everything. Literally, everything. They do not care about themselves. The least we can do is love them and show it to them.