My Husband Stayed With His Childhood Love—Our Daughter Called Him Stranger Chapter 05

My Husband Stayed With His Childhood Love—Our Daughter Called Him Stranger Chapter 05

After a full night of emergency treatment, Grace pulled through.

“The child suffered prolonged oxygen deprivation. There’s damage to the language center of the brain.”

I stared at the doctor. “What does that mean?”

The attending physician removed his mask, sympathy in his eyes.

“She has developed traumatic aphasia.” He paused.

“For the time being… she can’t speak.”

I stood in the doorway of the hospital room, looking in.

Grace lay still in the bed, her eyes open and fixed blankly on the ceiling. There was no light left in them.

I walked over and gently took her hand. “Grace, I’m right here.”

No response. Not even a blink.

Footsteps echoed down the hallway.

Nathaniel appeared at the far end of the corridor.

“Where’s Grace? How is she?” He rushed toward the room and reached for the door.

I stepped in front of him. “Don’t go in.”

“Sylvie,” His voice was rough and strained. “let me see Grace.”

“She doesn’t want to see you.”

He went still. “What do you mean?”

“The doctor said she has traumatic aphasia.”

I slapped the diagnosis report against his chest.

“She can’t speak anymore.”

Nathaniel’s hand closed around the paper, his fingers tightening until it crumpled in his grip.

Then he looked past me. He saw Grace in the bed, an oxygen mask over her face.

At the same moment, Grace saw him.

Terror exploded in her eyes—a terror so raw and overwhelming it had no place on a child’s face.

She began thrashing wildly.

The heart monitor erupted—frantic, screaming alarms filling the room.

Doctors and nurses rushed in from both sides.

“Sir, you need to step outside—now! The patient’s severely agitated!”

They pushed him out of the room. Nathaniel stumbled back into the hallway.

The diagnosis report slipped from his fingers and drifted to the floor.

He leaned against the wall. His lips trembled.

“I didn’t know…” His voice cracked. “I swear I didn’t know it would come to this…”

I ignored him. I went back to Grace’s bedside and gently took her hand again.

“It’s okay, sweetheart.”

I brushed a strand of hair away from her forehead.

“Don’t be scared. I’m here.”

“That man’s gone.”

The struggling gradually stopped. The alarms slowed.

Grace turned her head and looked at me. Her lips parted.

She tried to speak. No sound came. Not a single word.

Only tears slid silently from the corners of her eyes, soaking into the pillowcase.

Half an hour later, I told the staff I needed to arrange a transfer to another hospital.

Two security guards approached Nathaniel, who was still crouched in the hallway.

“Sir, we’re going to have to ask you to leave. The patient needs rest.”

They pulled him to his feet.

As they escorted him backward, his eyes remained fixed on the hospital room door.

“Sylvie! Let me just say one thing to Grace. Just one thing—”

The door closed in front of him. I never looked back.

Holding Grace’s hand, I led her out through a private exit. She walked slowly beside me.

After a few steps, she looked up. Her lips moved. No sound came out.

But I got it. She had mouthed, Let’s go.