Please Don't Leave Me Behind Again (Completed)

Chapter Thirty-Two

        

Well, what I had planned for the next couple of chapters changed a little but I think it's for the best. I was able to sneak in some events to set up for things that will happen later on. Thank you for your comments last chapter, they were wonderful and inspiring! Read. Enjoy. And let me know your thoughts!

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**| Sang's POV |**

I was currently having a staring contest with one Dr. Sean Green. Staring at the green in his eyes soothed me for some reason. Right now they were dancing with amusement as neither of us refused to blink.

"Pookie," he said.

"Dr. Sean," I replied.

He chuckled and I smiled, glad he wasn't as serious as he was earlier. When I had agreed to let them help me, everyone relaxed, making me think I made the right decision.

"You know, Pookie, you don't need to shoulder the world."

I raised my eyebrows, waiting for him to expand.

When he didn't say anything else I tilted my head to the side and thought about his statement.

"Is it an American thing to care so much about others?" I asked.

Dr. Green blinked and looked away, as if thinking of an answer. He turned back to me, his eyes serious again.

"It isn't an American thing, Sang. It's a humanity thing. We should care, we should take care of others if we are able to. To just walk by when someone is in need and you are able to help them is a selfish and cruel thing to do."

"Then it's sad that there are many selfish and cruel people out there."

"You can't hold everyone to the standards of your family."

I shrugged and I could see my indifferent response irritated him by the way his right eye twitched momentarily. It wasn't my family that created the standard, but those involved in the Volto situation, but that wasn't something I was going to correct him on.

He took in my appearance, the large button up shirt, the skirt, my hair that was a rat's nest. "When your stepmother first punished you, what did she do?"

I stiffened, feeling blindsided by the question. Weren't we just talking about how humanity should care? "Why do you want to know?" I whispered.

"I want to know everything about you. I want to know how you think, why you laugh at something, what entertains you, what makes you sad or happy or angry. I want to know it all."

"I'm a simple person."

He snorted. "I very much doubt that. What did she do the first time she got mad at you?"

"Called me a mistake. Said I should have been aborted the moment I was conceived."

"Oh, honey," Dr. Green moved from the chair he was sitting in and sat on the bed next to me. He pulled me into his side, hugging me but still mindful of my wounds. His support was comforting and I found myself telling him more, enjoying his warmth and the smell of ginger cedar and citrus that I now associated as his.

"Not long after she said it, I learned she was my stepmother. I still called her mamá even when I knew the truth because to me, she was the woman who raise me and that is what a mother is, right? She was my mamá until a couple years later when she got angry and I called her mamá and she responded by shoving me down the stairs. She made it clear that she didn't want me and that I was only a nuisance."

"No, Pookie, no," Dr. Green crooned. "You aren't a nuisance, you are a gift."

I snorted in disbelief.