bChapter /bb236 /b

    Maxine froze for a split second at those words. Immediately, the world began to spin around her.

    Micah’s voice echoed persistently in her ears. “Go back. Someone is waiting for you. Keep moving forward.”

    A sudden wave of weightlessness washed over Maxine as she lurched backward. It felt as if the floor beneath her had be a bottomless abyss. Resigned to her fate, she closed her eyes.

    Lying in the hospital bed, Maxine slowly opened her eyes. The lingering effects of the medication made her vision blurry, and she instinctively squinted against the difort.

    “Sebastian…” Maxine murmured weakly.

    Sebastian immediately leaned in, his voice thick with concern. “How are you feeling? Any difort? Is the pain still bad?b” /b

    Before Maxine could respond, Brian popped up from the side.“Mom! How are you feeling?” he asked, leaning bin /bclose, his face filled with genuine

    concern.

    Sebastian frowned, displeased that Brian was getting too close to Maxine. He nudged the boy’s head aside. “Give your mom some space so she can rest.”

    Brian grumbled under his breath but obediently shuffled aside.

    Maxine parted her lips to speak, but her throat was so parched that only ba /bhoarse whisper escaped.

    Sebastian poured her a cup of water to soothe her throat and handed it to her. “Here, have some water first,” he said softly, “The doctor said we’ll have bto /bsee how your stomach is doing before you can eat anything.“Sebastian Mason

    Maxine tried to push herself up in bed, but her entire body felt like lead,pletely drained of strength.

    Sebastian helped iher /iraise the hospital bed, his tone gentle with concern. “Your ankle is seriously injured. You probably fractured it when you jumped off the wall, yet you still kept running on it for so long.”

    Maxine froze for a moment, subconsciously ncing at her feet. She’d barely registered the pain when she jumped down, andter, the cold nearly made her pass out. Never would she have imagined her injuries would be this severe.

    Maxine let out a weary sigh.

    Sebastian pressed the call button by the hospital bed. Soon, the doctor arrived with a nurse for a follow–up examination. After assessing Maxine’s condition, the doctor rmended starting with a liquid diet for recovery.

    With Sebastian downstairs getting her some food, Maxiney back in her hospital bed, scrolling through work messages on her phone. Brian shuffled awkwardly over to her bedside, his face a mix of guilt and embarrassment. He leaned in and said, “Mom, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have acted so impulsively.”

    Maxine tilted her head slightly toward him, her voice soft and a bit weary, “What?b” /b

    Brian’s head drooped lower and lower as he spoke, his voice thick with emotion by the end. “And about what happened before… I shouldn’t have so willful and sided with ban /boutsider.”

    Maxine looked at him for a long moment, then sighed softly. “Go do your homework,” she said.

    Maxine had indeed risked her own safety to save Brian. Whether it was pure instinct or just a mother’s reflex to keep bhim /bout bof /bbharm’s /bway, thinking bback /bbto /beverything she herself had gone through, she couldn’t just brush it boff /band say, b“/bbIt’s /bokay.”

    Maxine closed her eyes and leaned back against the pillow. “I need bto /brest for a while,” bshe /bsaid wearily.

    Brian pressed his lips together, then said in a lowb, /bearnest voice, “Mom, bI /bpromise I’ll take good bcare /bbof /byou bfrom /bbnow on/b!”

    05 bSat/b, b28 /bbJun/bb; /b

    bNo /bsooner had he finished speaking than Sebastian walked in carrying a bowl of oatmeal. “Eat something first,” he said gently, b“/bOnce byou’re /bfeeling bbetter /bin a few days, I’ll have someone prepare some nutritious meals for you.”

    Sebastian walked in, considerately setting up the tray table over Maxine’s bed and adjusting the head of the bed to make herfortable. He bgot /ba spoon ready for her and, with a gentle smile, urged, “Go on, eat up before the oatmeal gets cold.”

    Maxine whispered, “Thank you.”

    “Don’t mention it,” Sebastian paused briefly, then said with a soft chuckle. “This is the least I can do.”

    All the things Maxine had done, all the sacrifices she’d made, Sebastian knew those should have been his to bear. Yet he had failed to be there bfor /bbher/bb, /bleaving her to endure so much suffering on her own.

    Whether it was what happened to Kathleen back then or Brian’s current trouble, he bore unshirkable responsibility for both.