Ascension of a Reborn Woman (Hiatus)

Chapter 24

When Isabel returned to Kelvin's room at the hospital she found Kim and a nurse waiting for her near the entrance, she also saw that Davina was awake and eating a bowl of soup under Phoenix's supervision. It was quite a funny scene.

The grown woman was sitting up on the hospital bed, her lower body still covered by the sheets, slowly bringing the spoon to her mouth to drink and by her side the little girl was leaning close, staring intensely at the spoon of soup as it made its way from the bowl to Davina's mouth and as she drank, if even so much as one drop of soup splattered on Davina's face, Phoenix would raise the napkin in her hand to wipe it away.

"Be careful, don't eat too fast, you'll get burned." Is what she said.

Isabel giggled when she saw that then turned, intending to ask Kim what in the blazes was wrong when she felt someone crash into her for the second time that day. She only stumbled slightly before looking down to see that her son had come over at some unknown time and attached himself to her leg.

Kelvin looked up at his mother and he stared intensely at her face, specifically her eyes and when he saw that there were absolutely zero traces of redness or swelling, no signs of tears, only then did he relax but contrary to his internal mindset, his expression became so grievously pitiful it could drag sympathy from a stone.

"Mummy~ I want to go home."

Kelvin's lower lip trembled and tears pooled in his big blue eyes.

Isabel stood frozen, rooted to her spot from this never before seen level of meng from her son then she whipped her head to look over at Kim, who was now pinching the bridge of her nose with one hand while the other was raking her head savagely.

"This is the problem." She gestured at Kelvin who was wrapped around Isabel's leg like a koala. "He keeps insisting that he's fine and just wants to go home; he wouldn't let the nurse check on him. He even...he even..." Kim shifted uncomfortably as if what she was about to say was absolutely outrageous.

She moved closer to Isabel and spoke softly. "Izzy, he pouted for ten minutes straight and refused to let anybody touch him until you came back or he said he would scream."

Isabel was stunned by what Kim said and she couldn't help looking down at the little boy who was now docilely leaning his cheek against her leg, his arms and legs still tightly wrapped around it and she looked back at Kim with a look that said she didn't believe it.

Throwing tantrums and being a brat? She would faster believe that about Phoenix but not Kelvin; Kelvin was her arrogant little prince, although he would pout, he wouldn't throw a tantrum; but then Kim had no reason to lie either.

Isabel didn't know what to make of the situation and she had to admit that Kelvin had been acting far more clingy and willful than ever since he woke up yesterday morning. Could this behavior be considered a sequela?

Thinking of that Isabel's chest constricted and she was overcome with guilt; she was still blaming herself for that fever.

Isabel decided at that moment to just forget about whatever might have happened earlier. It wasn't like anyone was hurt or injured anyway. Bending down, she slipped her hands under Kelvin's arms and the little boy readily cooperated by releasing his hold on her leg, allowing himself to be lifted up.

"Baby, what's wrong?"

Propping him on her hip, Isabel slightly bounced Kelvin up and down as she walked over to sit on the sofa in the corner and once she sat down she then drew up her legs, placed him in the space between her thighs then crossed her legs over him, caging him into her embrace as she hugged him.

Resting his head against Isabel's chest, Kelvin's eyes instantly sprung tears anew but he didn't let them fall as he blinked them away. "I don't want to stay in the hospital. I want to go home."

Isabel sighed. "Kelvin~~ didn't we just talk about this earlier? You said you would be good." She placed her chin on his head and rocked them from side to side, slightly frustrated.

Kelvin pouted before turning to bury his whole face in her bosom, he gripped her coat tightly in defiance. "I don't want to stay."

There was no point in him staying. He had initially fainted on Monday because of the fever and the seizures had also been because of the fever; falling unconscious for three days was for his mind to adjust to the retrieved thirty years of memory. Now that he had retrieved them, he was fine already. Kelvin didn't want to spend another minute sitting in this hospital when there were so many other things he could be doing.

When he didn't have his memory, he had prayed and asked for the ability to protect and support his mother, now that he had the means to, he didn't want to idle. Staying in the hospital was nothing but a waste of time.

Isabel could feel Kelvin's deep reluctance to stay and she became deeply conflicted.

She was worried about him, so she wanted him to stay at the hospital longer for the doctors to make sure that he was absolutely okay, but at the same time, she didn't want to leave him here and make him sad, what if he felt like she abandoned him. Isabel would never be able to live with herself if she allowed either of her kids to have feelings of abandonment in this life; she already abandoned them in the last life.

Isabel hugged Kelvin close and turned to the nurse who was standing to the side.

"Would it be possible for me to take him home today?"

Hearing Isabel's question the nurse showed a bit of a difficult expression as she replied: "I'll have to ask the doctor first."

"Then please ask him. He doesn't want to stay and if he doesn't need to then I'd like to take him home."

"I understand. Please wait a moment."

After the nurse left, Kim sighed then she shot Isabel a look, her expression full of grievances.

"You, couldn't you control your outrageous genes just a little bit? I mean, Phoenix was fine, but did you have to infect Kelvin too?"

Isabel didn't take Kim's words seriously and didn't bother replying either, only rolling her eyes and sticking her tongue out at her. At the same time, Phoenix came padding over with bare feet.

"Mummy~" She didn't say anything else but her eyes were looking at Kelvin on Isabel's lap in obvious envy.

Seeing her like that Isabel wanted to laugh, but in the next moment she couldn't because Kelvin had patted her legs which were caging him in and shoved at them a few times, obviously telling her to put them down and once she did, he shifted over to her left leg and put his head against her chest again before nodding his head slightly at Phoenix.

Receiving the message, Phoenix's eyes lit up and she immediately scrambled for Isabel's now free right thigh and in the same way as Kelvin she also put her head against her mother's chest.

Lying there, the two looked at each other and happy smiles spread on their faces. Phoenix reached across and held her brother's hand.

"Kelly, I love you. I love you lots and lots!"

Hearing her say that and seeing her smile and giggle in the same way he had once found annoying, Kelvin's eyes became heated and a lump rose in his throat.

In the last life, whenever Phoenix used to say this to him when they were little, he would say things like 'shut up stupid' or 'don't say dumb things like that' and even later in life when they were teenagers and even in college, he would just say 'I know', too embarrassed to say it back.

But after living and dying once, he knew to treasure the moments that he had with the people he loved and to hold nothing back when it came to expressing affection because in the twinkling of an eye or a twist of fate, you could end up never having the chance to again and the regret and pain that came with that was a burden too great for any one person to bear.

Looking into his sister's eyes that had the same dark blue color as his own, one of the features the two had inherited from their father, Kelvin smiled and his cheeks turned red as he returned a squeeze to the hand that was holding his.

"I love you too."