Serina looked at Derek with widened eyes. Is he going to sleep in the hospital?’
It was a VIP private ward because Serina was afraid that Blueberry disliked the noise in the ordinary ward and would run away.
So, she reserved the one at the lowest price. There were only two beds in the large room. One was for the patient and the other for their caretaker.
The bed was only big enough for Serina and Blueberry.
If Derek stayed, where would he sleep?
“Sleep here,” Derek answered casually.
Serina looked at Derek and pulled him aside. “What the hell are you doing?”
“What do you think?”
“How would I know? Anyway, you must leave tonight. You trouble us!” Serina lowered her voice to keep the kids from hearing their conversation.
“How do I trouble you?” Derek asked knowingly.
“Derek! That’s enough!”
“Cherry, let me take you to wash up,” Derek turned to Cherry.
“Sure!” Cherry opened her arms, and Derek picked her up to the bathroom. Serina was irritated!
“Daddy, can you sleep with me and tell me bedtime stories tonight?”
“Sure.”
“Great! Daddy is awesome!”
An impulse of anger arose in Serina as she heard the laughter from the bathroom.
“Cherry! How can you forget your mom for a giraffe?”
Serina muttered to herself. “I kept you in my belly for almost ten months, and now you betray me for a giraffe bought by Derek!”
She felt a little regret for not buying Cherry the giraffe toy last time.
“Mommy, I’m on your side,” said Blueberry, tugging at Serina’s clothes.
Serina looked down at the Blueberry. “You’re my sweetest kid! Promise never betrays me.”
Blueberry nodded seriously.
In the peaceful evening, Derek slept with Cherry, and Serina slept with Blueberry.
Serina fell asleep in frustration. It seemed that she was paranoid. Derek didn’t get some sordid image in his head.
But now she was angry at why he didn’t get that image!
Women were complicated!
After breakfast, Serina was going to face the most challenging moment because she would give Cherry an injection.
Cherry had been scared of injections since she was a baby. According to the rules, Cherry would wail like a car alarm even if she was vaccinated.
The nurses usually gave transfusion while she was asleep, but now the prescription had changed into injection once a day.
This gave Serina a hard time.
After breakfast, Cherry’s loud cry filled the ward as the nurse entered.
“I hate injection! I don’t want it!” Cherry stood on the bed against the wall, opened her hands, and asked Serina to hug.
Serina held Cherry in her arms. “Cherry, this is the last injection. After this, we can go home!”
“Mommy, you said it yesterday,” Cherry said as she sobbed.
“But it’s true. Listen to me. It doesn’t hurt. You’ve tried it so many times. Does it hurt?”
“No! It hurts!” Cherry’s tears didn’t stop.
Serina couldn’t do anything about Cherry. Last night, she had a poor sleep because Derek was in the room.
She had run out of energy to handle Cherry’s desperate whine.
And she had suffered a lot yesterday after learning what had happened in her books.
“Cherry! Listen to me, okay? Mommy is tired.”
“No! I don’t want it! I want to go home!” Cherry’s arms looped around Serina’s neck tightly.
“Cherry! Don’t make me say it again! Get down and take the injection!” Serina raised her voice.
But it didn’t work for a whining kid. Cherry cried harder as Serina shouted at her.
Derek pushed the door open and walked in. He was on the phone when he heard Cherry crying in the ward. Then he hung up and returned.
“Let me do it,” Derek extended his hand towards Cherry.
Serina gave him a side glance. She didn’t believe Derek could do better than a mother who had raised Cherry for three and a half years.
Derek cradled Cherry to his chest. He took out a tissue and wiped her tears away.
“Cherry. Tell me, why are you crying?” Derek said in a soft tone.
“I don’t want the injection. Daddy, I want to go home. I don’t want it!”
“But if you don’t take the injection, you won’t be healthy. If you are sick, we can’t go home.”
Cherry pouted, and tears flooded in her eyes.
“Stop doing that,” Derek said in a chiding tone, “If you can cry us home, then do it.”
“Daddy, I want to go home.” Cherry sniffled and blinked back her tears.
“When you get better, Daddy will take you home. Tears can’t make you better. Cherry, you will have to get an injection today no matter how much you cry.”
Cherry curled her lips, and tears streamed down her face.
“You have two choices. One is to keep crying and get the injection today, tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow. The other one is to stop crying and go home after getting the injection.”
Cherry sobbed.
“On the count of five. You have to tell Daddy your answer. One, two…”
Derek wiggled her fingers in front of her face.
Cherry sobbed and nodded in response.
“Cherry is Daddy’s sweet girl, right? When you get better, we’ll come home with the giraffe toy. Daddy will buy whatever you want.”
“I want a turtle toy, okay?” Cherry raised the conditions as she sobbed.
“Alright.”
Cherry leaned towards Derek, and he nodded at the nurse to move.
Finally, Cherry got the injection. Although Cherry cried during the injection, she did much better than before.
Serina was surprised to see that.
‘Derek is quite good at the kid!’
After the injection, the nurse let out a long sigh. “Now I see why a family needs a dad.”
She seemingly talked to Serina.
But it was awkward.
Cherry’s arms didn’t leave Derek’s neck. He whispered something to Cherry, probably promising to buy her something.
Someone pushed open the door and entered.
Serina looked at the door and saw Ernest.