Chapter 87: Philip has cancer
-Lies! You’re lying to me, aren’t you? How can my father have cancer! I don’t believe you!? I don’t believe you!
Vanessa screamed hysterically, like a child who had accidentally lost her way. But the truth was the truth. Even if she didn’t want to accept such a tragedy, the truth would not change. After the doctor left, she cried herself to exhaustion and collapsed on the bench.
He had been in hospital for two days and had just recovered from stomach bleeding and now he got such terrible news.
It was like a nightmare!
So far, only Vanessa knew the result of the test, and neither Felipe nor Mercedes knew it. Vanessa didn’t want to and wouldn’t dare tell them.
“What can I do? What should I do? ”
“Why does a good and happy life turn into a bubble? Why do all these unfortunate things happen one after the other? Why?!”
Vanessa would even like to ask God why he had to be so cruel to her family.
That day she cried for a long time on the bench in the hospital corridor. Worried that her parents would notice something, she immediately went to the nurse afterwards and asked for a bag of ice to soothe her swollen eyes. Then she returned to the ward.
-Vanessa, what’s taking you so long? What did the doctor say? I told you to rest and let me talk to the doctor, but you wouldn’t let me. Silly girl, I know you’re worried about mummy, but I’m very worried about you too.
Mercedes couldn’t help chattering incessantly when she saw that her daughter had finally returned.
Listening to her mother talk non-stop, Vanessa’s heart ached as if it was being pricked with a knife.
“Dad’s disease was so advanced that there is no way to control it, neither with surgery nor with medication. What can I do? Mum won’t be able to bear it if she knows the truth.”
-Vanessa, what are you thinking? Is your father’s test OK…?
Mercedes immediately became anxious and grasped her daughter’s hand tightly, her face a little paler than before.
Vanessa hurried back to herself, not daring to think further. She tried to smile naturally and easily and hugged her mother’s shoulder to reassure her.
-No, why would you think that? I was just in a daze and there’s nothing wrong with dad.
-You’re not lying to me?
-Look, mum, do I look like I’m lying to you? I’m your daughter, and you’ve known me better than anyone since I was a child. Do I look like a liar?
Mercedes looked at Vanessa carefully and said:
-Of course not. Well, mum, I believe you don’t lie to me. Now can you tell me how your father is this time?
-The doctor said it’s nothing serious. Because he’s still not recovering from the brain haemorrhage he suffered last time, and this time he’s a bit sore. He will be fine after a few more days of rest and recovery.
-Then I feel relieved. You two, father and daughter, have given me quite a scare.
-I’m sorry, mum. I promise I’ll take care of myself.
“Dad’s condition can’t be hidden for long – if I don’t get better soon, who’s going to look after mum?”
“Vanessa, you have to be strong!”
They embraced each other gently, giving each other warmth and strength.
Felipe had been moved to another room after the morning medical examination. So Vanessa and her mother planned to go upstairs to keep Felipe company so he wouldn’t get bored there alone.
-Vanessa? -Felipe smiled as he saw his daughter and his wife enter. I told you I’m fine, you don’t need to be so nervous.
-How can we not be nervous? You are my husband, Vanessa’s father. If we’re not worried about you, who are we worried about? -Mercedes pointed at Felipe, grimacing and pretending to be angry.
-Okay, okay, I’m sorry, I said the wrong thing.
Philip shook his head and smiled, his eyes indulgent and soft.
-OK, now that you know.
Vanessa stood to the side, smiling as she listened to her parents argue. Despite Felipe’s drunken mistake that led to Melina’s accidental birth, the couple had always had a good relationship over the years.
Because of their deep love, these mistakes were deliberately kept buried.
It wasn’t that her mother was generous, but that she didn’t want to hurt the one she loved so much and ruin her family because of an impulsive mistake.
In fact, Vanessa envied them very much. She envied her parents’ love.
“They love each other so much that if one day daddy dies…”
Vanessa didn’t dare to think any more, her heart ached with the thought of her father suffering from cancer.
She tried desperately to hold back the urge to cry, tears welling up in her eyes, and to put on an easy smile so that her parents wouldn’t see the slightest sign that something was wrong.
“At least… at least let me keep the secret a few more days, so that mother can be happy for a few more days, and let me bear all the pain and anguish for myself.” Vanessa thought.Content © NôvelDrama.Org.
Suddenly she felt her father looking at her and almost immediately forced herself to concentrate.
She could not be drawn in front of her father, let alone show the slightest expression.
Unlike facing her mother, the calm and sophisticated temperament that Vanessa had honed in the business world was still too young for her father.
To avoid Philip’s gaze, Vanessa unconsciously kept her head down.
And he could only blink hard to keep the tears from welling up in his eyes.
-Vanessa, why are you standing so far away? -asked Mercedes suspiciously, after a moment’s discussion with her husband, when she noticed her daughter, who had been standing somewhere else a little away from them.
-I don’t want to be with you anymore. You and Dad are showing your love together publicly, I’m not going to be the extra! -Vanessa smiled and said.
-Silly girl, what nonsense you are talking!
Mercedes’ face flushed a little and she looked at her daughter who joked with her parents.
-Heh, heh… -Vanessa smiled to flatter her mother and hurried to sit down.
He sat down on the other side of Philip and took his hand, leaning down to rub his face against his father’s lovingly.
-Vanessa, you are still like a child.
-I want to be a child forever, never to grow up and to be loved by mummy and daddy forever.
-What nonsense you are talking.
Mercedes was very amused by her daughter’s innocent words.
And the atmosphere in the room was light and warm, but Vanessa’s heart was heavy and aching.
At the end of the day, Mercedes convinced Vanessa to return to her room. Philip brought in a trusted maid and hired a male caregiver so that there would be no problems.
In the evening, Vanessa returned to her room, where she was alone.
It was already very late. The lights in the room were off, and only a small nightlight remained on the bedside table. Vanessa sat on the bed, hugging herself tightly as the tears fell silently.
The vulnerability she dared not show in front of her parents during the day was revealed uncontrollably at night when she was alone.
Dylan paused outside Vanessa’s living room door when he heard the suppressed and painful cries from inside.
She was pained by the woman’s whimpering.
He did not push the door immediately, but waited for the sobs to subside before pushing it open and entering. Walking quietly to the head of the bed, he bent down and took the secretly weeping person in his arms, kissing her forehead tenderly.
-Don’t be sad. I am here with you.