Chapter 236 He Found Out

Chapter 236 He Found Out

"You're being so unreasonable…"

She didn't get to finish. Sean kissed her again.

This time it was much gentler. His lips pressed against hers, his tongue softly tracing the shape of her mouth, like an artist drawing a careful outline.

"Yeah, I am unreasonable," he murmured against her lips. "When it comes to liking you, I've never played by the rules."

Susan's head went fuzzy from the kiss, and most of her anger melted away.

She let out a sigh, raised her hand, and pushed against his chest. This time he actually stepped back.

"Okay, go back and stay with Liam. I'll finish feeding Perry his soup and come up after."

"No." Sean caught her wrist.

"Now what?"

"I'll feed him the soup," Sean said. "You go be with Liam."

Susan looked at him suspiciously. "You're not going to start a fight with him in there, are you?"

"I won't." Sean's face was completely serious. "I'm going in there to take care of him. I'm grateful he saved Liam. I mean it. I promise."

Susan wasn't entirely convinced, but she nodded anyway.

Sean carried the soup into Perry's room. Susan waited in the hallway for a bit, and when she didn't hear anything unusual from inside, she finally felt okay to head toward Liam's room.

She was almost at the stairwell when a nurse came hurrying over. "Ms. Johnson, Liam in bed thirteen just woke up. He's asking for his mom."

Susan's heart jumped. She picked up her pace and ran upstairs.

When she pushed open the door, Liam was sitting up against the headboard. His face was still pale, but his eyes were bright. The moment he saw her, his lips started to tremble and tears came streaming down.

"Mommy!" He opened his arms wide. The movement pulled at the wound on his shoulder and he sucked in a sharp breath from the pain, but he kept his arms stretched out stubbornly.

Susan crossed the room in a few quick steps and carefully pulled him into her arms, making sure to avoid the bandage on his shoulder. She rested her chin on top of his head, and her own tears started to fall.

"Mom's here, Mom's here." She rubbed his back, her voice shaking. "Liam's okay, Mom's right here."

Liam trembled as he cried, his small hands gripping her clothes tightly, like he was afraid she might suddenly disappear.

"Mommy… that bad man… he took me to this dark place… it was so dark… I was so scared…" He could barely get the words out between sobs. "Uncle Perry came to save me… the bad man stabbed Uncle Perry… there was so much blood… Mommy, is Uncle Perry going to die?"

"No, he's not. Uncle Perry is okay." Susan cupped his small face in her hands and used her thumbs to wipe away his tears. "He's already awake. Once you're better, you can go see him."

Liam nodded through his sniffles, but the tears kept coming.

Susan pulled him back into her arms, one hand gently patting his back, the other stroking his hair.

There was a small patch shaved at the back of his head where they'd put in stitches. It felt a little prickly under her fingers, like fresh grass just starting to grow.

She bent down and kissed the top of his head, closed her eyes, and felt tears slide down the bridge of her nose and drop into his hair.

The door to the room opened.

Sean walked in.

He was holding the now-empty thermos container, his face unreadable, but there was a faint red mark at the corner of his mouth.

Susan looked up and noticed it right away. "What happened to your mouth?"

"Nothing." Sean set the container on the bedside table, pulled over a chair, and sat down. "I bumped it by accident."

Susan stared at him. She didn't buy it, but with Liam right there, she let it go.

Liam peeked out from Susan's arms, looked at Sean, then back at Susan, a puzzled look crossing his little face.

"Daddy, Mommy, why are you both acting weird?" he asked quietly, his voice still thick from crying, a little hoarse and scratchy.

Sean and Susan exchanged a glance.

Sean reached over and gently ruffled Liam's hair, his touch so light it was like handling something fragile. "Nothing's going on."

"Really?" Liam's eyes darted back and forth between them.

Susan quickly nodded. "Are you hungry? Want Mommy to feed you something?"

Liam made a small sound of agreement.

After he finished eating, they chatted with him for a while, then got him settled back down to sleep, tucking the blanket around him and patting him gently.

Liam fell asleep almost right away.

Susan sat at the edge of the bed, holding his small hand, watching him sleep.

Sean sat beside her, his large hand wrapped around hers, slowly rubbing his thumb back and forth.

"Did you get into a fight with Perry?"

"You think he's in any shape to fight me?"

Susan gave him a skeptical look. "Really nothing happened?"

Sean said nothing.

"Then I'll go check on him in a bit."

"We fought." Sean sighed. She'd find out the moment she walked in there anyway.

"Sean, are you trying to drive me crazy?"

Sean pressed his lips together. "He kept taking little digs at me."

"That still doesn't give you the right to hit a patient!" Susan rubbed her forehead. "You're going to apologize to him later."

Sean gave a reluctant grunt.

After that, neither of them said anything.

Under Susan's supervision, Sean went and apologized to Perry.

"It's fine, Nina. He was just worked up, that's why he couldn't stop himself from going after a patient." Perry said it between coughs.

Sean's brow furrowed. "You—"

Susan cleared her throat loudly.

Sean shut his mouth.

He forced out a smile. "Right. I got carried away. I was out of line. I'm sorry."

"But there's something I need to say. I already know Nina is Susan. There's no point in keeping it from me anymore."

Perry looked over at Susan in surprise. Susan gave a small nod.

He was quiet for a moment. "I'd like to talk to you alone."

Susan glanced at Sean. Sean took the hint. "I'll step out. You two talk."

"Susan, how did he find out?"

Susan walked him through what happened. Perry let out a long breath. "Funny how things work out. So what are you going to do now? Stay with him?"

"Looks like that's the only option for now." Susan honestly wasn't sure what she wanted. But the way things were didn't feel bad, so going along with it for a while seemed fine.

Perry's hand curled into a fist on top of the blanket. "You…"

"Never mind. As long as you're happy." Perry felt a quiet ache inside. To him, it felt like Susan had turned her back on the version of herself who had suffered so much.

His voice went a little flat. "You should go. I want to rest."

Susan pressed her lips together, not sure what to say. "Okay. Get some rest." She got up and left.

Half a month later, Liam was discharged.

His shoulder had healed well. The stitches at the back of his head had been removed, leaving a small scar hidden under his hair, invisible unless you were really looking for it.

Perry was still in the hospital. His injuries were much more serious than Liam's, and he needed at least another week.

Susan visited him every day and brought him soup. Sean always came along, never saying much, quietly taking the soup from Perry's hands, occasionally exchanging a few words with him in a tone so polite it didn't even sound like him to Susan.

Eventually Sean just took over looking after Perry entirely. He fed him by hand himself. Susan, worried he might pick another fight with Perry behind her back, made him send her video updates.

Sean did exactly that.