My Family Regret When They Lose Me Chapter 09
Marco spent that night in the ER, holding Chloe in his arms until dawn while the IV dripped.
Burning with fever, Chloe drifted in and out of consciousness, repeating only one word.
Mommy.
Marco was reaching his breaking point. He repeatedly tasked his assistant with finding me.
If this went on any longer, he was going to lose it.
I knew nothing about the chaos unfolding back in New York.
After arriving in London, I settled in quickly.
By my second day, I was already in the lab.
My supervisor, Dr. Bennett, was fast-paced and direct. She put me on the first round of clinical testing for a sensory-interaction device for autistic children.
For the next month, I practically lived at the treatment center, recording data and comparing the changes on the screen.
Leo was one of the children. He was six, a year older than Chloe.
His father, Julian, was one of the project’s key investors.
When Leo was little, he’d witnessed his mother’s death in the car crash that he survived. After that, he stopped speaking entirely.
The first time I met him, he was curled up in a corner, chewing on his sleeve, his eyes empty.
Once, while I was crouched in front of him adjusting the equipment, he suddenly reached out and touched my hair.
Later, he pushed the building blocks in his hand toward me.
Little by little, he started lifting his head to look at me whenever I walked into the room.
He still rarely spoke, but there was finally life in his eyes.
One time, he mumbled and called me Mommy.
The moment he said it, my entire body went still.
It took me several seconds to answer him.
After that, I couldn’t help but dote on him a little.
I would wipe the cookie crumbs from the corner of his mouth and zip up his coat so the wind couldn’t get in.
A few times when he woke up frightened in the middle of the night, I would pat his back gently and hum to him.Â