Slowly, Jacob walked up to Sara, and gently held her shoulder. She leaned onto him for comfort as she
soon burst into tears.
He felt her sadness, too. He remained in silence as he continued to offer a shoulder for her to cry on.
While it was happening, he was also intently listening as Carlos spoke his mind.
"I know she loves me. I know it. But she was not happy with how I was too preoccupied and committed
to the company. I naively thought that the only way I could make her happy was through wealth, but it
was too late when I started to realize my mistake. I was deeply deluded in the idea that she doesn't
really love me."
His voice continued to sound horse as he went on. He knew that Jacob was standing beside him, but
he couldn't pay attention to anyone right now.
Now their family was finally here, and it was the only silver lining that he got out of it. In the past, what
he worried about the most was Sara's marriage. Now that he didn't have to worry about it, the only
problem he could see was now his now.
Tasha was lying in the emergency room. The cancer itself was not terrible, but it created a complication
that made it extremely difficult to save her. Carlos continued to sulk as the idea of not seeing the
person he loved the most washed all over him.
For him, it was a miracle enough to ever see her again. This was definitely worth celebrating, but at the
same time, something to mourn for.
Sara continued to cry. Although she just heard her father's words clearly, she could only imagine her
mother's heart full of regrets. Since she left, what was supposed to be a happy family ended up in
pieces.
It was because of her mother's choice. No matter how anyone looked at it, it was most definitely a
factor. However, this time, it was purely fate making its move.
"Dad, don't be too sad, now. You also need to watch out for your own health." Jacob glanced over at
Carlos and couldn't help but feel sorry for him. He could tell that Carlos had been through a lot.
"Your mother never had a hard time before. I made sure of that because I didn't want her to suffer when
she was with me. So I worked my ass off trying to keep things the way they were. I think that she got
tired of simply receiving everything from me that she gave up on me."
Eventually, Carlos stopped sobbing. For some reason, seeing men cry always brought out a certain
degree of sadness for most people. He had to be strong in front of his daughter.
"Dad, if you're sad. There's no need to hold back your tears. It's okay to cry," Sara reminded him. "You
didn't do anything wrong. And I know I am in no position to judge my mother's actions, but I think you
have done enough for both of us. It was her own choice that made her leave. It wasn't your fault."
Sara wiped her own tears as she lifted up her head and saw the world in a different lens. Everything to
her seemed so…
Distorted. She felt that she couldn't even see the things that were literally in front of her.
"I always feel that it's a blessing for my mother to meet a man like you," she continued as she tightly
grabbed Jacob's hand. Jacob, on the other hand, stood there, also bearing the same degree of
sadness in his heart.
Despite that, she could feel at ease knowing that she had someone to rely on.
Jacob gently patted her back. At this moment, he could totally understand how she felt because he'd
been through a similar experience before.
Especially the moment he found out about Michael's choice of euthanasia. He felt devastated at that
time. There was no reason to refuse or bear any more suffering. The conflict between the two had
almost torn apart his sanity.
However, he barely managed to get out of that dark times, despite the fact that it took him quite some
time before he could finally speak about it with others. After all, time would eventually heal all wounds.
As long as one could survive at the passing of time, everything would be fine.
However, right now, it was Sara who was caught in a whirlpool of disastrous events. She felt like the
world was a thin, fragile bubble, and people had no idea when the vortex would destroy it.
Everyone was just waiting and mindlessly drifting according to the current. In such a situation, not
many people could break out of the situation and have the courage to choose their own path.
Sara looked at her father with blank eyes, and said, "Dad, you will get through this. We both will, right?
No matter the result, I hope you'll be fine. You still have me and Jacob. We'll take good care of you in
the future. You don't have to worry about the company's affairs."
She bit her lips to muster up her courage as she looked at her father. Carlos didn't immediately say
anything in return. He decided to entertain only his thoughts at the moment, and the way he would
react to such an event.
"I know, Sara. Don't worry about me. I can handle myself. I know that we will all end up dying at some
point. The ground isn't always solid, and people have their own fate. I have a deep understanding of
this concept. Your mother has been gone for so many years now. It's just that all I feel is nothing but
regret."
Carlos looked down and stared blankly at his toe. Even if he said it out loud, nothing about how he felt
at the moment would change. 'What a pity, ' he thought.
He couldn't bear to see Tasha suffer this way. He regretted the fact that he hadn't fulfilled many of her
wishes. Instead, things turned out graver than he imagined. He felt that there were simply too many
things in his life that he couldn't bear to part with.
But what could he do? He had no choice. There would always be people who would try to take
everything away from him, and he couldn't help but sink further into despair. He knew it was an element
of nightmare.
After quite some time, Tasha was released out of the dialysis room. Her face was as pale as death.
She looked almost drained out of blood, but for some reason, she seemed to have swollen.
Her whole face could clearly be seen, but many of her features looked nothing like before. She was out
cold.
Soon enough, the doctor approached while taking his mask off, and said, "The patient's condition isn't
very stable. The cancer cells have spread from her chest to her other internal organs. On top of that,
we found signs that the cancer could expand to other areas as well. I suggest you stay mentally
prepared, and wait for the patient to gain consciousness."
The doctor patted Carlos's shoulder, signifying that they had tried their best, but weren't able to reverse
the worst case scenario. That way, the doctor did not need any further explaining.
However obvious, the news still shook Carlos to his core. He stood still for about a minute, completely
lost in his own thoughts. He didn't even have the guts to look at Tasha as she was being pushed out of
the room.
Sara couldn't help but look at her father. His endurance was far from what she had imagined. Although
she knew for herself even she couldn't bear it, she knew how sensitive he was. More sensitive than
anyone else.
Jacob remained silent, but he clearly understood the circumstances. The doctor's words basically
implied that the patient's family should prepare for the funeral. Despite the subtlety, Jacob could see
through those words.
He knew that doctors would normally speak with as much euphemism as they could. In other
circumstances, they would encourage the family to stay hopeful. To a certain extent, doctors were the
kind of people who wouldn't tell the bad news too boldly.
Jacob couldn't help but sigh, and thought, 'What is the most important thing now? It's not shameful for
a man to cry when he loses his lover. What was shameful was those heartless people.'
Soon, Carlos broke down and burst into tears again. His voice was so loud that even Sara, who was
standing aside, was taken aback.
She had never once seen her father cry to such extent. Back then, she had thought that her father was
a man of indomitable strength, and that there was practically nothing that could destroy him
emotionally.
But as she grew up, she learned about the difficulties her father had to go through, and the fact that he
loved her mother to the point that one could say she was his weakness. This kind of feeling would
make anyone feel bad. But Sara had never once talked about this with her father.
It was too hard for her to say something about that out loud, but she knew he had just lost the most
important person in his life. She empathized with her father's feelings, and she could tell that the
sadness was intense.
The pain would linger for a long time, and it didn't feel like one fatal blow. It almost felt like dying of a
thousand cuts—slowly and painfully marching towards death.
It wasn't something that could kill someone in a single strike, but an emphasis of pain. This was the
cruelest part of grief. Sara saw him cry so hard that even she couldn't utter a single word of comfort.
Tears also started to well up in her eyes.
They continued to wallow in despair for quite some time, until Carlos bravely walked over to the ward.
He had cried enough, and now he figured that it was time to face reality.
Tasha's illness only grew more dangerous as time went by, and it brought her nothing but pain and
suffering. As if it wasn't enough, Carlos witnessed every moment as she writhed in agony every time
the disease took its toll on her body. But as he went through it all, he understood something…
62fb1bb41dcb31934bd49bda