43. Pain

"Why did you hide this, dad?"

The silence that followed was deafening and thick. A knife could even cut through. Gerry shifted gazes between Dominic and Miriam, clearly confused. What was this paper and what did it mean? She could see all blood drained from Dominic's face.

"What is this, Miriam? What is on that paper?" Gerry asked and made her way towards Miriam, whose eyes were fixed firmly on her dad.

She couldn't let any little flicker of emotions on his face leave unnoticed by her. She didn't even realise she was shaking and a tear had already managed to slide down her cheek. And it was because of the look on her father's face when she pulled that paper.

She had planned on asking him about his visit to the hospital. But knowing her father and his sweet mouth, he would deny. And how would she know if the report was his or not? So she decided to ask directly and watch his reaction. But right now she regretted it because of how fast the truth came out. The way his face paled as soon as he saw the report could only mean one thing. And that was because he had seen it before and it was his.

So now what? He was going to die?

No!

No! That wasn't going to happen, right? She shook her head in denial as her eyes kept fixed on her dad. And he wasn't even going to say anything to deny It!! Right now she felt like she would be relieved if he denied it, even if when it was so obvious.

Miriam's head continued its left and right rapid movements as she slowly backed off from her dad. Her hand was now shaking and the report slid through her hand and fell in a wavy motion onto the floor. Her eyes were still fixed on him as she took slow steps back, and he broke their eye contact to look down at the report.

How? How did she find out? Or was that a trick to make him admit that he was sick? His eyes widened with the realisation as he lifted his eyes quickly to Miriam's face again. He walked over and picked the report to take a proper look. He stiffened when he saw the content up close. This... this was hia report. His most recent one.

"Where did you get this fr..."

Too late! Miriam thought.

"This is your report, dad!" She said in a low but firm voice. "Why? Why did you have to hide this from all of us?" Her voice accelerated with every word. She felt angry now more than sad. How could he be so selfish?

Dominic shook his head and sighed in defeat. He could talk his way out of this if he really wanted to. Well, he was known for his sweet talks. But right now he felt there was clearly no way out of this. Coming clean was the only option now. He knew they would have to hear of it someday, but he didn't know it would be this soon, and like this.

"Wait, what is going on here!!" Gerry shouted. She shook Miriam by her shoulder as she seemed to have fallen into a daze watching her father. "What is on that sheet Miriam?" She snapped in anger. Why were they not telling her anything?

Miriam's lips quivered when she tried to speak and she shut it again and swallowed the hard lump in her throat. Her gaze didn't leave her father's face. She took a deep breath to calm herself, but a tear managed to fall down her face.

Gerry's gaze darkened as she shot Dominic a hard glare and turned to him, walking slowly.

"What are you hiding, Dom?" She spoke through gritted teeth as she approached him, but Miriam's voice stopped her midway.

"Dad... dad has..." Her voice shook as more tears fell. Gerry turned back to her, so worried and angry at the same time. What was it that no one was telling her? "He has... brain tumour."

Finally, she dropped the bomb. The world seemed to have come to a momentary halt.

Shock. Disbelief. Denial. Anger.

Silence! It felt like the calm after a mighty storm. But only God knew that this calm was rather before a great storm.

Miriam broke down completely after those words left her lips. It felt strange coming from her. She never thought she could be bold enough to make such declaration.

Brain tumour??

Gerry repeated the words in her mind till it left her lips.

"Brain tumour?" A frown settled on her face as she said it. Her husband had brain what? No! She shook her head in denial. She turned back to Dominic with shock written all over her face.

"Dom..." It came out hoarse as her throat hurt from holding back from crying. "This... tell me this is not true. Please."

Dominic had his head bowed all this while, and upon hearing Gerry's voice, he slowly raised his head. And her heart stopped for a moment when she saw tears on his face. Gerry held her breath. waiting for his response. His face already gave her the answer, and she hoped he would say it wasn't true even though it was so obvious.

"I'm sorry..." Dominic finally breathed, his tears now falling freely on his face.

Miriam let herself fall as she sat on the bed with a plunk. So it was true. And Roland told her it was at the severest stage...

Thinking of all these, her tears seemed not to stop. Gerry was also crying now. And Dominic... Miriam had never seen her dad cry before. Like ever. It broke her heart and she knew she couldn't really blame him so much for hiding such a big issue from anyone.

"I... I am so sorry. I was planning to tell you..."

"Tell us? Tell us, dad? When?" Miriam interjected. She knew he was trying to find excuses. "When you die? Was that when you planned on telling us?"

Dominic looked down. He really wanted to tell them but no time seemed right. And she was right to be mad. He himself knew the condition was getting worse by the second and he could die any time soon.

"I tried, believe me, I did. I..." His voice trailed off and shook his head. "I was paying for the best of medications. The expensive ones. And I thought it will help better the condition but..."

Gerry looked at him with resentment although she was very sad.

"You. Are. Very. Selfish!!" She fumed. "How could you? Oh, so all these while I wasn't lying when I said you looked really sick? And you kept telling me you were fine. How stupid I was that the truth was right before my eyes but I refused to see." She cried.

Miriam's phone rang at that point, but she ignored it. She didn't even check the caller ID. Now was not the right time, she thought. But the call came a second time, and she checked.

Lordy. Oh, yes, he needed to hear this.

"It's Lordy." She announced. "He needs to know."

She answered the call and sighed.

"Lordy?"

"Sorry Mimie, did I interrupt something? I can call later if you're busy."

"No, Lordy. I'm not busy. How're you?"

"I'm fine but, are you okay? You sound low. Is everything alright?"

"Lordy..." She sighed again. She had lost count on the number of times she had sighed in the past few days. "Where are you now?"

"I was on my way to see you. But you didn't answer my question. Do you need me to come over now?"

"I need you to come home." Miriam said.

Lordy was about to affirm when but, "Home? Home where?" He got confused for a second. Did she mean home to their parents?

"Home, to mum and dad." Miriam confirmed his thoughts, and he suddenly became concerned. Did something happen?

"What happened?"

"Please come over. As soon as possible."