4. You can choose to

Keenan said that consciously, but the woman in front of him accused him of being crazy. His jaw hardened with a piercing gaze at Lily. "You will regret your words."

"What a strange man," Lily muttered. She quickly turned around and moved quickly away from Keenan.

            The first thing she saw was her son's dazed face as he looked back and forth. Lily smiled and approached the gurney.

"Where's Dady, mom?" Farel asked without even acknowledging her presence. "I didn't dream, did I? We met him in the hospital garden. Grandma didn't believe in me." The mother's silence caused the boy to turn to the middle-aged woman who had been guarding him. "It's true, Grandma. Daddy is here with me. Right, Mom?"

"Really?" asked Lily's aunt who looked doubtful.

Lily shook her head weakly. She quickly changed the subject. "How is it, dear? Did the infusion hurt, hmmm?"

"I haven't answered that one yet," Farel said in a stern voice. "I want daddy. I don't want anything else."

            As a mother, Lily understood the meaning of his sarcastic remark. Whatever she did would not affect Farel's attitude. An intelligent character far beyond his years made the boy stubborn and difficult to deceive.

"That wasn't your daddy."

Farel didn't care about the statement. "The car is just like daddy's."

"Honey, it's just a car, right? What if the one who brought the car was your grandfather? You'll think of him as your daddy too, huh?" attacked Lily who didn't know what to do. "Come on. You're smart my son. He's not your father."

"But, Mom-"

"Don't act up, sweetheart."

            Lily was silent when her son was about to pull out the IV again. Only her aunt tried to persuade her not to do anything dangerous.

Suddenly!!

            Blood poured out of Farel's wrist as the tube was pulled out. However, Lily persisted with her stance.

"Get the nurse, Lily. Hurry up!" pleaded Auntie with a panicked face.

"You don't love me anymore. I hate you!"

            A statement that certainly made her sad. Lily rushed outside the treatment room and called for a medic who happened to be passing by. Then she did not go inside anymore. Choosing to be alone to absorb the fate that felt suffocating this time.

            Her position, which had been in a crouched state, gradually turned into sitting on the hospital tiles. The thin woman's gaze was directed at the expanse of green grass in front of her eyes. Physical and psychological fatigue now converged into one. Even the wind that blew coolly greeted her thin face. Sleepiness began to creep in slowly.

            Love was the reason she and Adrian chose to get married. However, it was not enough. It takes a strong foundation such as trust and understanding of each other. Things that she did not get as a wife. Until then the household storm began to hit. The beautiful image is instantly dashed when Lily realizes that her mother-in-law will never approve of them even though they have been given a grandson like Farel.

This culminated when their baby was three years old. Her husband seemed increasingly unable to behave sensibly. He continued to be depressed until the man who had once made sacred promises to her at that time was willing to grant his mother's request, namely divorce. The man did not know how to conduct himself as the head of a household and a son as he should. So the sad decision was made and agreed upon.

"Lily." The voice instantly shattered her brief dream. Lily quickly straightened up when she received a gentle touch on her right shoulder.

"Farel? Who's he talking to?" asked Lily as she gathered her senses again.

Her aunt had a puzzled look on her face. "Why, Farel said that the person in there is his father," muttered the aunt in a low voice.

            Hearing these words, Lily knew who the person was. She quickly got up and entered the room. Two men of different ages were talking. Where Farel with a very cheerful face.

"Mom, Daddy's here again," Farel said with a glance at her. A second later the boy turned his face to Keenan.

"Baby, I don't know what to do anymore. Earlier when you were sleeping, that handsome man called the doctor. Farel's examination results are normal, it seems to be true what his fake papa said that ... your son is depressed," his aunt whispered very carefully. "Poor Farel."

            Lily remained where she was. Watching her son who continued to babble to Keenan, while the adult man did not say much. Choosing to be the only listener.

           Unexpectedly. It turned out that Keenan was still in the hospital after Lily had left the room to buy something. What surprised her even more was when the aunt told her that her son had now been moved to the VVIP class treatment section.

"Hurry up and eat. You have to get better soon," Keenan said in a tone that still hadn't changed. Cold and flat. Yet. Somehow Farel did not feel strange at all with such an attitude.

"I'll feed you, dear," murmured Lily who had arrived at the most luxurious classroom.

"No need, Mom. I can do it myself," Farel refused. The boy's tiny hands quickly reached for the cutlery nearby. He chewed voraciously with a smile that looked so bright.

            When a caregiver was about to administer liquid medicine into his IV tube, Farel shook his head quickly. "When I wake up, papa won't be there. I don't want to."

"I'll stay here. Trust me," muttered Keenan with a forced smile.

"Really?" asked Farel, who was immediately nodded by Keenan. "Do you promise, Dad?"

"Sure."

            Half an hour later, Farel was right. The boy had fallen asleep under the influence of the drugs that had entered his body. Now it was time for Keenan to talk to Lily again.

"Why did you show up again? Do you want to make my son feel dependent on you? Isn't it?" asked Lily with an unhappy look in her eyes.

"You're very smart," Keenan admitted later. "That way you have no choice, right?"

"You are very cunning."

"I'm just good at creating opportunities. The choice is yours. Let the boy go crazy or you have to follow my will."

Lily burst out laughing. Again. She was being played by fate again. "What will I get if I agree to marry you?"

"Everything you want I will fulfill. Except...," The speech was interrupted when Keenan felt the air of victory on his side.

"What? Except what?" asked Lily who felt very depressed.