CHAPTER 11: CHAPTER 11: HOW COULD SOMEONE SO YOUNG GET THIS DISEASE?

Daisy is afraid of taking the wrong medicine.

So she checks very carefully, looks at the bottle, and then reads the instructions.

Fortunately, Tiana Linden has made all the preparations, replacing the cancer-targeted drugs and painkillers with cold medicine bottles.

Otherwise, if Daisy knew she had cancer, Daisy would definitely break down.

Such a young Daisy shouldn’t have to bear so much.

Tiana Linden knows that Daisy will find out eventually, but she wants to delay it for as long as possible.

She only hopes for Daisy to have more happiness.

And for her and Daisy to create more beautiful memories together.

It’s Saturday.

After grocery shopping, Tiana Linden holds Daisy’s hand and buys a bouquet of purple eustomas from a roadside vendor with a tricycle.

It’s her favorite flower.

Back at their rental apartment, she and Daisy trim the flower branches and leaves while chatting.

"Daisy, no matter how tough life gets, you must love life."

"Whenever you feel sad, find something you love to do, or eat something you love."

Daisy helps trim off the excess leaves beside her.

Imitating her mother, she skillfully arranges the flowers in her hands.

"Mom, with you by my side, how could life be hard?"

"It’s surely sweet!"

"As long as you’re with me, Daisy won’t be sad about anything."

Just like the past few days, her father refused to acknowledge her.

It was sorrowful.

And quite heavy.

It took Daisy several days to come to terms with it.

But it doesn’t matter if her father doesn’t recognize her, as long as she has her mom, she has the entire world.

Daisy places the trimmed purple eustomas into the vase, looking happily at her watching mom.

"Mom, every second with you, Daisy is extremely happy, extremely joyful!"

"..." Tiana Linden cannot respond to Daisy’s happiness and joy.

Her face turns helpless.

The terribly bad emotions are pacified and adjusted many times.

Yet, many times they crumble completely because of Daisy’s unintended words.

How much longer can she be with Daisy?

Three months?

She probably can’t even last three months.

Should she tell Daisy the truth sooner to prepare her mentally?

But the bad news came too suddenly, can Daisy bear it?

Every time the words come to her lips, Tiana Linden swallows them back.

How can a mother bear to tell her child those cruel and painful words about death and permanent separation?

In the end, she says nothing.

The secret remains in her heart, like a spiky ball taken out and put back again and again, injuring Tiana Linden repeatedly.

Confusion and helplessness engulf her like a tide.

When should she tell Daisy?

And how should she tell Daisy?

After lunch, she goes with Daisy to the children’s park.

They ride on the roller coaster, the carousel, the Ferris wheel, the island boat, the rainbow slide, and feed many cute animals.

Actually, playing these activities, Tiana Linden’s body is already overworked.

She feels very uncomfortable.

Several times, she struggles to breathe and even coughs.

Each time she coughs up blood particles the size of watermelon seeds.

Each time she discreetly throws the blood-stained tissue into the trash, away from Daisy’s view.

In order for Daisy to have more beautiful memories, she withstands the overworked state.

After Daisy sleeps, Tiana Linden organizes the photos taken during the day.

Despite smiling in the photos, she looks pale, bloodless, with dark circles under her eyes.

From tomorrow, she needs to wear makeup.

Otherwise, she can’t hide the sickly complexion.

Picking the best-looking photos, she writes line after line behind them:

"Daisy, life is like riding a roller coaster, with uphill moments and downhill moments."

"When reaching valleys, Daisy shouldn’t be sad, Mom will become a star in the sky, always watching over you, accompanying you, loving you."

"Dear, hang in there! Mom loves you forever!"

The next day is Monday.

Tiana Linden coughs more severely.

The blood she expels is no longer the size of watermelon seeds, but an enormous patch.

Is her condition worsening?

Looking at the rotting, darkened large patch of blood in the sink, Tiana Linden panics.

Can she not be with Daisy much longer?

Thinking that she will die soon, the light in her eyes fades, even normal breathing requires tremendous effort.

"Mom, are you okay?"

Outside the door is Daisy’s gentle and concerned voice.

Tiana Linden turns on the faucet, wipes the corner of her mouth with a trembling hand.

Daisy opened the door, standing there like a little adult, both reproachful and worried, giving instructions:

"Mom, you must see the doctor today. What if the illness gets worse?"

"Mom, maybe Daisy won’t go to kindergarten today. Daisy can accompany you to the hospital, okay?"

Tiana Linden, feeling guilty, pretended to remain calm as she patted Daisy’s head:

"Daisy, be good and go to kindergarten. I’ll go to the hospital today and report back to you, alright?"

After dropping Daisy off at kindergarten, Tiana hurried to the most authoritative oncology hospital—Veridia Central Hospital.

Today, Aiden Grant took the time out of his busy schedule to visit Veridia Central Hospital.

His most respected mentor, who had practiced medicine his entire life, was suddenly found to have tumor cells a while ago.

The mentor was diagnosed with lung cancer, and it was even in the late stage.

As his mentor’s most prized student, Aiden rushed to pay his respects at the first opportunity.

Upon leaving the oncology department, Aiden felt very sad.

His mentor was only in his sixties, yet he had less than a month left.

The targeted anti-cancer drug developed by Linden-Grant Pharmaceutical Group specifically targeted lung cancer.

But it was still one step away from success.

Aiden desperately wanted to produce results quickly to help his mentor.

He walked back to the pharmaceutical lab quickly.

It was at this moment, while secretly swearing to produce results soon, that he saw a familiar figure.

It was Tiana Linden, who was getting her blood drawn.

The doctor drew vial after vial of her blood.

Aiden counted from a distance—seven vials in total.

Why was Tiana getting so much blood drawn?

Tiana was at the hospital for a follow-up visit today.

The doctor needed to confirm whether her cancer cells had metastasized.

If the cancer cells had already spread to other organs, it would mean she indeed had little time left.

The seven vials of blood were for a complete blood count test.

After the blood draw, Tiana felt completely drained.

She quickly sat down in the chair behind her, taking out the sugar water she brought.

But she didn’t even have the strength to open the bottle cap.

She tried several times but couldn’t open it.

Suffering from both hypoglycemia and a severe illness, she hadn’t eaten anything to come to the hospital for her follow-up blood draw; she genuinely felt as if she was about to die in the next second.

She couldn’t die.

She had to stay alive.

She still had Daisy.

At least until she settled things for Daisy, she had to live strongly.

After catching her breath, Tiana exerted all her strength again but still couldn’t open the bottle cap.

At this moment, the water bottle in her hand was taken by a large palm.

The fingers holding the bottle were clearly defined and slender.

How could Tiana not recognize this hand?

It was Aiden Grant’s hand.

Looking up, when she saw Aiden open the bottle cap and hand it back to her, she momentarily did not react.

"Aiden?"

What was he doing here?

Seeing Aiden brought back the image of Daisy’s torn picture clearly in Tiana’s mind.

She clenched her numb fingertips, the pain spreading to every part of her body.

All the bitterness and hatred made her unwilling to see Aiden again.

Her expression turned cold.

This expression made Aiden feel a tightness in his chest.

He handed the opened water bottle to her, "You don’t look too well. Drink some water first."

Seeing her, he actually wanted to turn around and leave, having no desire to interact.

But somehow, he still walked over.

Tiana was wearing makeup today.

Aiden didn’t notice anything unusual; he thought she just had a common illness.

Drinking was the last thing on Tiana’s mind.

She grabbed the bottle, turned around, and left without saying a word.

Aiden quickly caught up, "Tiana, what are you doing at the hospital?"

Tiana didn’t respond to anything.

With her back to Aiden, she went to the self-service printer for reports.

After scanning the appointment QR code, the examination reports dropped down one by one.

As Tiana bent down to pick them up, she continued to ignore the Aiden behind her.

A pair of long arms reached out over her, picking up the stack of reports from the self-service printer.

Aiden had a medical background.

He could easily and clearly understand the reports at a glance.

Carcinoembryonic antigen, Cytokeratin 19 fragment, Squamous cell carcinoma antigen...

All these index values were abnormally high and marked in red.

The MRI and X-ray results also showed that her lung cancer cells had already spread to other organs...

In shock, he looked at Tiana.

The thin and frail figure in front of him seemed like it might be blown away by the wind.

His brows knitted into a frown, looking at her in disbelief, "Tiana, this can’t be true. How could someone so young have such a disease?"