Ephemeral Reverie

WHISPER OF THE HEART

CH22: WHISPER OF THE HEART

Each movement she made was a reminder of her frailty. She woke up with a heaviness settled over her chest, as if her weight had been doubled. The faint aroma of flowers by her side is a bittersweet reminder of her life. She's agitated about what her health is becoming. She looks at the machines that surround her; they are blinking lights and steady beating.

She looks at her family picture frame on the side of her bed; everything on her seems so heavy. Since she has been hospitalized, she's stuck in this four-cornered room with nothing more to do. She feels jealousy when all her friends were able to go to college, but she's here and feels like dying slowly.

The doctor's word was still etched in her mind: "We just have to wait for a donor." The uncertainty of her life became clearer to her, a cloud that obscured any rays of hope. A moment later, the door swung open, and Dr. Patel entered the room wearing a mask of professional calm. With a kind eye that spoke both burden and truth,.

"How are you feeling? ," he said, gently approaching her.

She was forced to show a weak smile. "Heavy," she whispered. "Tired." Her voice was barely audible.

Dr. Patel nodded as he pulled up a chair and sat beside her. "Thalia, I wish I had better news for you, but unfortunately, we're still waiting for a heart donor."

Her eyes were once clouded with tears and fear. "How long should I still have to wait? "

With a sigh, Dr. Patel's expression softened. "I don't know. It's hard to assure you of a thing that has never been assured. The list is long, and finding a perfect match would take a lot more time too. But I'll do my very best for you, I promise."

Dr. Patel seems like someone who knows her very well; she's very kind to her, far from the kind of doctor she knows.

"Dr. Patel, do I know you? Or do you know me, by the way? I mean, you somehow know me very well, as if we've spent a lot of time together," she asked curiously. Ever since she got admitted, Dr. Patel seems a lot more caring to her; he visits her every day and asks how she is doing. He even assigned three nurses to look after her; her friends and Soren didn't know Dr. Patel that much, so she didn't suspect that they did it.

Dr. Patel smirked suspiciously. "I have nothing to hide from you anymore; it seems like you already suspect me." He paused and stared at her for a moment. "Your mother is Adeline, right?"

She's dumfounded; how does he know about her mother's name?

Nodding, she replied. "Yeah, Adeline Reyes-Sullivan; she married my dad, Theodore Sullivan."

"You might not know me, but I was once your mother's first love. I met her when we were in high school. She's a very kind woman, and a lot of students in our school admire her so much. Theo and she were once frenemies; she used to hang out with me; we became best friends later, but it didn't last; I confessed my love to her." The glimmer in his eyes was visible as he talked about his life with her mother. There are glints of happiness, contentment, and regret written all over his face.

He continued as he showed her one picture with her mother. "I once loved her; our love story came to an end when Theo threatened me to leave Adeline alone. Knowing Theo's family, they're well off while I have nothing to show off at that time, so I leave her alone and let Theo pursue her. Adeline didn't like to be in a relationship with him in the first place, so I don't know how they got married, and since college, I have never heard of Adeline. How is she? "The look in his eyes changes; the sudden rage of anger is visible in his face.

So, he's my mother's first love? She wonders.

That's why their marriage didn't get successful because the pure love wasn't visible at all, and since mom died, her father's love for was never felt. He rarely shows love to her like a father does; wealth becomes his way of showing love to her, which she dislikes the most.