Chapter 299

"Mommy, I'm done." Oliver pushed open the bathroom door. Susan quickly wiped her eyes and turned around. Oliver looked at Caleb and then at Susan as if understanding something. A faint smile appeared on his face.

"Mommy, why don't you take a shower too?" Susan, unable to meet their gaze, hurriedly entered the bathroom. Caleb watched her go in, then helped Oliver sit down and handed him a towel to dry his hair. Oliver's hair was soft and delicate, just like Susan's. As he was drying his hair...

"Uncle, should I call you Daddy?" Caleb's hand paused. Oliver looked at him with his big, dark eyes.

"I know you're my dad."

Caleb didn't know what to say, speechless and afraid to meet Oliver's eyes. "Why did you leave me and Mommy?"

"There were some misunderstandings back then."

"Even if there were, you shouldn't have left Mommy. Do you know how hard she's worked to take care of me all these years? She had to work early and late and take care of me at the same time. She also had social obligations sometimes. It was tough. Sometimes when she was sick, she didn't even go to the hospital, just took some medicine and went to work."

Oliver complained, looking at him. "You've made Mommy suffer a lot."

"I'm sorry." Caleb felt deep remorse.

"You're already married, so Mommy rejected you, right?" Caleb was at a loss for words. Children may seem naive, but Oliver was actually very smart.

"Uncle, I really like you and enjoy playing with you, but you hurt my Mommy, and I can't forgive you right now. Only when Mommy forgives you and accepts you can I call you Daddy. Since you're already married, Mommy won't be with you, and that's also wrong." The little one was serious.

"Mommy agreed to let you see me because of the surgery, right?"

"Uncle, can you honestly tell me what disease I have?" Caleb couldn't bear it, but he couldn't lie in those clear eyes. He sighed. "Leukemia. As long as you have a bone marrow transplant, you can recover."

"Leukemia sounds serious. I have your blood because you're my dad. Do you have to take your bone marrow? If you give me your bone marrow, what will you do?" Oliver asked worriedly.

"Don't worry. It's just a small part of the bone marrow, and it won't affect me much. The most important thing is that you can recover."

"Really?"

"Yes."

Oliver finally breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't want his dad to be hurt to save him.

Caleb reached out and touched his head. "You'll be fine. Don't worry."

Oliver looked at him and asked slowly, "If it weren't for my surgery, would you have shown up?"

"Of course, I would. Forgive me for being too late. I'm sorry, Oliver. I didn't know about your existence before."

"It must be because you hurt Mommy that she didn't tell you. Although I really hope that our family can be together, you're already married, so it's difficult, right?" Oliver's little face showed a worried look.

It was like an unsolvable knot, and he didn't know what to do.

"Let's talk again after the surgery, okay?"

"Okay." Oliver nodded understandingly.

" Let's keep what we just said as our secret, so Mommy won't feel more pressure."

"Okay."

In the middle of the night, Susan woke up and found Caleb wasn't in bed. She put on her coat and quietly walked out of the ward.

A smell of smoke.

Caleb was smoking in the corridor. A spark illuminated his face, his eyebrows slightly furrowed. Hearing the movement behind him, Caleb turned around and quickly put out the cigarette. "Sorry, I..." Susan shook her head. She understood his mood at the moment. "The surgery is at nine tomorrow morning. Aren't you resting?" she asked softly.

"I can't sleep a little," Caleb said, then comforted, "I've hired the best doctor, and he says the success rate is very high, so don't worry."

"Well. I still want to thank you again."

Caleb smiled bitterly. "Do you know that every time you say that, it makes me feel more guilty?"

"I don't want to make you feel guilty."

"I know, but..." Caleb paused and didn't continue.

"The surgery will be successful."

"It will be." He held her cold hand. Susan's fingers trembled, but she didn't pull her hand out, letting him hold it. This kind of hand-holding had nothing to do with love. The two of them were more like comrades-in-arms fighting side by side, or family members comforting and warming each other. They shared a common belief that the surgery would be successful.

The next day, the surgery was approaching. Susan took Oliver to the operating room door. Oliver held Susan's hand and asked, pretending not to know. "Mommy, did Uncle leave?"

In fact, he knew he was waiting for her in the operating room. "Yes. He'll be back after your surgery."

"The surgery will be quick, right?" Oliver tried to sound strong, but his voice still trembled with fear.

"Very quick. Just a nap." Susan's voice was hoarse, and she looked at her son's pale face with deep affection.

"OK. Good night, Mommy." Oliver closed his eyes.

The doctor and nurse pushed Oliver into the ward. The hours of surgery were excruciating for Susan, and she paced back and forth at the door of the operating room, her heart pounding as she watched the red light flash.

Susan heard Caleb's words in her ears.

"The surgery would be successful, and it must be."

She clasped her hands together and closed her eyes in prayer. "Oliver, Caleb, you both have to come out safely..."

Finally, after a long and anxious wait, the red light in the operating room went out.

"Oliver..." Susan rushed to the bed first.

"How is he?"

The doctor breathed a sigh of relief. "Don't worry. The surgery went well, but the recovery period is the most dangerous. The newly implanted bone marrow has not yet begun to produce white blood cells, and the patient may be infected at any time, so he requires special care. It will take two to six weeks for the new marrow to start producing blood cells effectively."

Susan nodded desperately, grateful and in tears. "Thank you, doctor. I will take good care of him. And Caleb?"

"Caleb had a local anesthetic, and he hasn't woken up yet. Let's take Oliver back to the sterile ward first."

"OK."

More than an hour later, Oliver was still under anesthesia. Susan was worried that he would be hungry when he woke up, so she went downstairs to buy him food while answering the assistant's call.

"Mrs. Susan, when are you coming back? You suddenly took a month off, and your boss is very upset, he even got angry yesterday."

"I'm sorry. I can only rely on you for now."

"I can help you, but I can't handle it with the boss. How long will you be taking leave?"

Susan calculated the recovery period and said, "About a month." She had to make sure her son was completely recovered before she could go back to work with peace of mind.

"So long, oh. Then you hurry up."

"Thank you."

Susan hung up the phone and entered the ward, only to find the bed was empty. "Oliver?"