CHAPTER 144
ROBERT’S POV
~ “Go!!!” He blew the whistle so hard I saw the veins in his neck bulge.
The athletes like bulls released from a gate took to their heels. However, as Liam was about to take off, one of his feet slipped off the track, sending him crashing hard on the ground. ~
Loud gasps echoed from every corner of the field and bleacher where the parents and sponsors sat as though the audience could feel Liam’s pain as he crashed on the floor.
At that moment, my heart pounded so hard I thought it would burst, and I stood frozen on the spot as if caught in a nightmare. Liam wasn’t moving. He just lay there motionless, his elbow covering his face as he buried it on the floor. A wave of fear unlike anything I’d ever felt gripped me at the thought that he might be paralyzed. With the way he fell, it was obvious he’d suffer a very bad injury.
Before I could react, I saw Lily running down the stairs of the bleachers like one whose house was on fire.
“Liam…” her voice broke out in sobs, her chest rising and falling heavily. “My baby…”
I got off my seat. The parents in my line of seat quickly made way for me, staring at me with sympathy and saying some things I couldn’t hear properly due to haste. I rushed down the stairs with my gaze still on Liam, almost missing a step. The medical team had already arrived on scene with a first aid kit, ready to assess him.
Lily had knelt beside him while I crouched close to his face.
“Liam honey, are you okay?” She asked in a tone laced with fear and alarm as she nudged him a little. “Honey, please tell me you’re alright…”
A wave of relief washed over me and I deflated with a sigh as I saw him move his body to lie on his back, though with difficulty, wincing as he did, his face twisted with pain.
He wasn’t paralyzed as I feared, just probably ashamed of what happened. He had looked forward to this day for long only for this to happen. That was why he buried his face inside his elbow. But he needn’t be. His health was far more important than any other game. People were no longer interested in seeing the rest of the game as all eyes were focused in our direction. The speakers sounded and the announcement that the 100m race has been cancelled was made.
Seeing the extent of damage on his right knee, a shiver of panic ran through me, my heart beating faster. But I kept a calm demeanour, trying not to show it because if I did then I’ll only be making Liam more terrified. The little guy was in shock and even on the brink of tears.
His knee was bent at an unnatural angle, the skin there was already swelling and darkening. Crimson blood trickled from the deep scrape. But what sent a jolt of terror gushing through me was the way his shinbone jutted awkwardly beneath the skin, showing it was clearly broken.
My heart thumped in my chest. Was it completely broken? Did this mean he wouldn’t be able to use that leg again? That he’d be permanently injured…? I prayed silently for none of these fears to come true. He was still nine. I couldn’t bear to watch my son grow up without being able to walk or use both legs properly.
“How bad is it?” Liam asked while keeping his gaze up, his eyes wide open as he avoided blinking to stop the tears from escaping. He clenched his small fists, his breath coming in short, panicked gasps.
He tried to look at the injury as one of the medical team members assessed it, careful not to move his broken leg and hurt him further. But I stopped him from looking.
“Hey little man don’t look at it,” I said, cupping his cheeks and making him keep his gaze on me. “Focus all your attention on me, okay? You’re going to be fine. Just keep looking at me. I’m here. Everything’s going to be fine.”
He nodded. Even though he tried to remain brave, I could see the painful terror in his eyes. Tears glistened in them and his body was cold and trembling. From the severity of it, it was no ordinary injury. Even the medical teams weren’t saying anything, occasionally glancing at us with worried expressions as if afraid this was something beyond their expertise.
“Don’t touch him” Lily snapped, ripping my hands off him. “Stay away from him. Stay away from us. This is happening because of you. Ever since you came into our lives bad things have been happening to us.”
I grimaced intensely, staring at her in disbelief. How could she say that? This wasn’t the time to drag superstition into this and try to push me away. Liam needs me. He needs the both of us. Not to mention we were in front of the whole school who were observing the unfolding event with rapt attention. This wasn’t the right time or place for us to engage in any fight or alteration.
“Lily please, we can do this later but not here.” I pleaded with a frail voice, tired of her fighting me all the time. “Please I’m begging you.”
She scoffed, tear-soaked eyes narrowing at me in a mix of exasperation and disbelief. “Really? Our son is severely hurt and the only thing you’re worried about is your image? Your stupid image??…”
“What are you even talking about, Lily?” I said helplessly, and another intense wave of shock hit me. “What image? How can you seriously think like that at a critical moment like this? My kids mean a lot to me than whatever image you think I’m trying to protect.”
“Just go, Robert,” she muttered desperately, making a fraction of my heart split in my chest. From her defeated tone, it was quite obvious she too was tired of the unhealthy back-and-forth fights. So why don’t she just call an end to it? “For the past nine years that you weren’t with us, I have been handling situations like this on my own without complaining. What makes you think I’ll need your help now? Just go back to New York or wherever it is you came from because we don’t want you. We don’t need you in our life, Robert. We were fine without you and we will continue to be fine without you.”
Her words came at me like a missile straight to the heart, shattering the remaining fragments of it. It was taking everything in me to act like I wasn’t affected by it. What more do I need to do to prove to her that she and the kids mean the world to me and that I have come to stay? I can’t leave nor live without them.
Or maybe, looking at it from another angle, she could be right. What if my presence in their lives was truly causing this? Because of me, she was almost fired from work and probably having issues now with her boss Noah. If not now then later. Because of me, Nana Mae quit being the kids’, nanny.
I was straining her relationship with the kids, dividing the love they had for her and it was clear my presence was like a thorn in her flesh, making her suffer and pass through a lot. And now this. Liam lost focus because we weren’t sitting together. I noticed the sadness that flickered in his eyes when he saw it. The disappointment.
Maybe it was truly time to leave. If leaving will bring them peace and free them from the troubles that came with me being around, then I guess it’s time to walk away for good. I don’t want them suffering because of me.