206: Not much time left

Not much time left

Jack Si asked, "Can you tell me everything from the beginning?"0

Caihong narrated the whole chain of events, choking and gasping in tears in between. "A-and then he suddenly collapsed. He clutched his head and screamed. We don't know what happened and immediately brought him to the hospital…"

There was silence on the other end.

"Hello?" She asked as she got no response.

Zhiyuan narrowed his eyes and nudged her shoulder. "Caihong."

She handed Xiaosi's phone to him. Zhiyuan put it on speaker. "I am Han Zhiyuan. Jack Si, right?"

"Yes."

"Xiaosi's condition...Do you know anything about it? How did you meet Xiaosi?"

"I know everything about his condition and him. I am his doctor, after all."

Caihong widened her eyes.

"His doctor?" The bad feeling intensified in her chest and her face slightly paled.

Zhiyuan blinked his eyes. "Doctor? For what?"

Liang and Ah Cy glanced at each other in hesitation. Xinyi looked at their expressions and wondered what was wrong.

Jack Si pressed his brows on the other end. Xiaosi didn't want anybody to know about his condition, but it seemed that everyone now suspected that something was wrong.

Plus, the doctor at the hospital treating Xiaosi right now would reveal everything anyway.

With a trace of panic in his gaze, Zhiyuan asked, "What's wrong, Jack Si? Your silence is making me anxious here."

"Yes…" Caihong stammered. "I have seen Xiaosi frequently taking some medicines, but I didn't get to know much about them," she nervously laughed, "Xiaosi is fine, right? I-It's not anything serious, isn't it?"

They heard him taking a deep breath as he slowly and quietly said, "Xiaosi... doesn't have much time to live."

Zhiyuan froze. He almost dropped the phone from his hands in shock. Xinyi and the others felt as if thunderstruck them. Only Ah Cy and Liang knew what was about to come.

Caihong blankly stared at Jack Si's name that was flashing on Xiaosi's phone. "H-Huh? This is not the time to joke Mr. Jack."

"I am dead serious, sister-in-law. When it's about Xiaosi's health, I won't dare to joke about it."

The seriousness and gravity in his voice shook her hard. The words buzzed in her mind like a curse. She trembled and broke out in a sweat.

Shuang, who had been listening from a corner too, remained stunned and frozen on her spot.

Zhiyuan asked in a low voice, "Tell us everything." His voice was shaking and so was his hand that held the phone.

Jack Si tapped his finger on the desk as he began, "Xiaosi and I met for the first time around four years back. It was when Xiaosi started to get frequent headaches. The pain, at first, was dull and would quickly disappear. So, even though he got them frequently, they didn't stay for a long time. Nevertheless, it was painful and annoying to bear. But later on, along with the frequency, the pain began to grow unbearable too. They were almost like seizures. Something was wrong in his head and when I did a scan, I found the source of it."

He took a pause, gathering his words to break it out to them.

"Xiaosi has a malignant tumor in his brain."

Caihong stumbled back in shock. She gasped and covered her mouth in horror.

"That tumor was the cause of his headaches. I am a neurosurgeon and I have seen my fair share of cases, but Xiaosi's condition is delicate. If he didn't have surgery soon, the tumor would endanger his life. His lifespan would quickly shorten."

Caihong exclaimed. "'If' he didn't have? What does it mean!? If-if he has a tumor, why hasn't he done his surgery yet!"

"Two reasons. The surgery had low chances of it being successful. That's why I kept him on his special medications to keep him safe and ready for the surgery later on. The chances of a successful surgery would increase if he took proper medications on time. But that wasn't the reason why Xiaosi didn't have his surgery. Last year, when I checked his reports, I advised him that he was ready for surgery. His condition was better than when we first met. But he refused."

Zhiyuan listened to everything in silence and suddenly, he got an inkling. His heart raced in trepidation and he somewhere understood Xiaosi's reason.

Caihong was dumbfounded. "Refused? Why would he refuse! Does he want to die!"

Jack Si gave a faint smile on the other end. "Yes…"

Her tearful eyes rapidly blinked.

"He wants to die. He thinks that is his punishment for hurting you years back and doesn't deserve to live anymore."

Zhiyuan shut his eyes in despair.

He knew it. After learning the truth today, he realized Xiaosi's intentions because if he had been in Xiaosi's place, he would have made the same decision as him.

Her knees went weak and she collapsed on the bench. 

"Caihong!" Xinyi rushed to her side and held her. 

Jack Si continued. "Xiaosi and I grew quite close in those years. We became really good friends. So, Xiaosi told me everything about what happened at the graduation party. He broke down before me when he confessed everything. He said that he was actually happy to know that he was suffering from this condition because he thought that he deserved the pain after what he did to you. He didn't want to live anymore after making you go through that hell. He only agreed to my treatment because he wanted to go back and have revenge and until he had that, he wanted to live."

Caihong stared ahead with an empty gaze.

"He wanted to spend some more time abroad, but he became irregular with his medicines again, and his condition worsened in the later months. I told him that he had only a few months to live, so he hastily decided to go back to China. Before it grew any worse, he wanted to finish things where it all started."

****

Join my discord for sneakpeeks and fun! https://discord.gg/CbhNys444r

Follow me on Insta - enthu_reader7

pqdm.com