Chapter 20

I opened my eyes. Everything was spinning and blinding.

"Tes?"

I winced in pain. There was not an inch of my body that was not aching.

"Don't try to move. Some of your organs are badly damaged and need more time to recuperate," Nadia explained, keeping me still.

Looking around, I realized that I was at home, lying still under a blanket, feeling cramped. Had we run out of oxygen?

"Here, I've changed the water and the towel," said a woman with green eyes. That's... Scipio's wife?

"Thanks, Izara," Nadia took the basin filled with water from the woman. She wiped my sweaty forehead with a dry towel before wiping me with a soaked one.

Click. Clack.

The noise came from the center of the room, where Scipio was tinkering with guns, not wearing a mask. Confused, I squinted and asked, "What are you doing?"

I remembered him coming to our rescue. But why was his wife here, and what was Scipio doing with the guns?

"Fixing the guns for you," he replied.

"You need to learn, he'll teach you." I recognized that voice, although the usual hints of optimism and humor were lost.

"I don't want to. I've been doing fine without them," I said with determination.

"Time has changed. It's time for you to wield weapons," Aidan insisted.

"No! Guns scare me. A small mistake could be fatal," I argued, growing agitated. Nadia had to help me up, careful not to further rupture my insides.

Aidan punched the wall, sending reverberations through the whole house and the floor I was lying on. "You must! At least on me, you must use it. I don't know what I'll do to you next time."

He turned around and buried his face in his hands. His back, once broad and robust, was now hunched and vulnerable. I could see that his strength had become his biggest weakness yesterday. If he has accidentally killed me or Nadia yesterday, he wouldn't be able to forgive himself.

The room fell silent. It seemed like everyone was holding their breath. None of us dared to make a sound.

"What kind of bullshit is that?!" I yelled in frustration. When the pain in my stomach grew too intense, I had to stop for a few seconds before continuing, "There won't be a next time. My mom will find out what's wrong with you and fix you."

Aidan didn't respond.

I turned to my mother for answers and asked her about the results of Aidan's blood analysis. From the look on her face, I knew it wasn't good news.

"You have contracted an unknown virus. I'm still analyzing the source of it, but there's something familiar with the virus structure. I might get the answer after some more research. What I know for now is this: Aidan isn't the first case. I've seen cases with similar symptoms, including headaches, seizures, and red eyes. Although some people also experienced nausea and dry mouth."

My chest tightened, and I felt a sense of dread creeping up on me. Something about the situation didn't sit right, and I couldn't shake the feeling of unease.

Nadia swallowed nervously, clearly shaken by this revelation. "How are they now, Mrs. Rho? Have they fully recovered?"

Mom caressed Nadia's hand before shaking her head softly. Nadia's expression immediately fell, and I could tell that she was upset.

"We just have to treat the symptoms until we can figure out how to kill the virus," Izara added, trying to give us some hope.

"I'm just..." Aidan mumbled, his voice cracking with emotion. "I'm sorry, Tes. I'm sorry for hurting you. I couldn't control my own body. If it ever happens again, please, just kill me."

***

Scipio and Izara had returned to their home, leaving my mother and me alone in the house. Nadia had gone with Aidan to fetch our free rations for the week, and as it turned out, Scipio had given our family their share of an oxygen tank, feeling bad for taking up our precious oxygen.

I was still bedridden, constantly fed with food and medicine. Being this powerless made me angry, but I tried not to show it to prevent Aidan from feeling even more guilty.

As my mother injected the medicine into me, I took the opportunity to bring up the topic that I had been afraid to talk about.

"Mom, do you know anything about HRD-21?" I asked, my voice steady.

She stopped midway, and blood spurted from the injection site as she momentarily lost focus. Quickly fixing the syringe's position, she pressed on the wound to prevent further flow.

"You know, don't you?" I asked, getting straight to the point.

She diverted my gaze in an attempt to avoid answering, but I had another bomb to drop that would possibly force her to unveil the secret.

After she pulled out the syringe and told me to press on it with cotton, I said, "Someone told me that my parents are dead."

That must have come as a shock to her as she couldn't stop coughing. I didn't do anything to soothe her and stop this conversation. I was determined to get the answer now.

My heart pounded. The fear in my stomach was bigger than the physical pain right now. I expected her to deny the statement right away, telling me that she was here, alive and breathing. But she remained silent.

The longer the pause, the more my anxiety grew.

She finally spoke up, her voice shaking, "It's true. Erika and Linus Ash were your real parents. They passed away when you were just a baby. I wanted to protect you from the pain and didn't want to burden you with the truth."

My world collapsed. My parents were gone, and I never knew. Anger and frustration boiled inside me, but I held back the scream I wanted to unleash. Everything that I had believed to be true was a lie.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked, struggling to keep my voice calm. "Why did you pretend to be my mother?"

Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked down at her hands. It seemed that my words were too harsh, considering that she had raised me with everything she had.

"Pretend..." Mom repeated that word with a chuckle while her expression darkened. "I adopted you and thought it was best to move on."

I didn't know what to say. My mind was a blur of emotions and thoughts. The silence was heavy, and I couldn't bear it anymore. I took a deep breath and spoke up.

"Move on? Why is it so easy for you to say that? You also told the twins such a heartless thing. Do you even realize the weight of death? Especially when it befalls people you love? Oh, I guess you don't know because you don't love anyone." I asked, squeezing my hand to find strength.

"Wrong!" Mom's tone was sharp and aggressive. Her jaw clenched, and she was tense. "I could take whatever words you throw at me because I know my flaws. But don't you ever say that I don't love anyone! There was someone I loved, and there is someone I love."

Her mouth quivered, her forehead creased and her eyes blinked. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she tried to compose herself.

"I loved your dad. I knew it was indecent to love a married man, but my feelings were genuine. And, mind you, I was loving him from afar. Never had I tried to do anything that could destroy your parents' relationship. In fact, I also admire your mom, in a professional sense."

She made fists as she balanced her uneven breath and continued, "They complemented each other. Erika was a brainstormer, constantly coming up with potential solutions. Her creative problem-solving had produced numerous drugs, including HRD-21, the one you asked me about. It stands for Human Rectification Drug. It was perfected on the 21st try. Hence, the name."

All the truth was now on the table, exposed. However, hearing my Mom telling this story made it seem fictitious.

I kept my mouth shut to give her space to tell me as much as she could about my real parents. Suddenly, she burst into tears, as if thinking of something tragic.

After a while, she wiped her cheek and bit her lower lip, seemingly contemplating whether to skim over certain parts of the narrative. But she decided otherwise and said in a weak voice, "HRD-21 was their greatest invention but also the catalyst of their deaths."

To be continued...