Chapter 195: Chapter 203

“You just woke up, so you need to eat something to replenish your strength. Have some, okay?”

Angeline said softly, but the boy just continued staring at her in fear.

Angeline let out a helpless sigh and tried to pull the blanket off. When her fingers were about to make contact with the blanket, however, the boy freaked out and shifted himself to the corner of the bed.

Caught off guard by his sudden outburst, Angeline spilled the oatmeal all over herself.

“Take it easy with the boy. You need to be more patient with him. Have you forgotten what the doctor told you?” Nancy said as she entered the ward. She then helped clean Angeline’s clothes with a paper towel.

Angeline could only let out a helpless sigh in response.

She pulled up a table, placed the bowl on top of it, and flashed the boy a gentle smile. “I won’t touch you, but you need to eat some of this.”

After that, Angeline stood up and stepped away to put some distance between them.

The boy, who was still staring cautiously at her up until then, finally relaxed his tense shoulders when he felt a little safer.

Seeing him slowly sticking his legs out of the blanket, Angeline breathed a sigh of relief and dragged Nancy aside to have a private conversation with her.

“What’s going on?” Nancy asked.

Angeline had to fight back her tears as she explained, “The doctor said his condition is stable for now, but he’s badly injured by the beatings he received. Not only does he have severe autism, but he also has a congenital heart disease.”

Nancy’s eyes went wide with shock. “What? How did things get this serious? Is there no way to treat him?”

“The doctor told me they could try to treat his autism, but the chances of them successfully treating his congenital heart disease are extremely low. That’s especially the case here in this country.”

Angeline suddenly felt her legs go weak and had to lean against the wall to stabilize herself.

“You poor thing.”

Nancy’s eyes were filled with sympathy as she looked at her.

Angeline has suffered so much lately… She rejected all job offers and stayed at the hospital to look after that boy… Her hair is in a mess, her face is really pale, and she didn’t even bring her clothes with her…

Angeline glanced at the boy on the bed and saw him awkwardly scooping the oatmeal with the spoon.

Although she was relieved to see that he was finally eating, her tone was still filled with guilt as she said, “I haven’t heard him say a single word since he woke up. In fact, I don’t even know his name. I’m such a failure of a mother!”

“No, you’re not. You need to pull yourself together, Angeline.” Nancy gave her a comforting hug. “It’s not your fault that he was beaten. His adoptive father is the one to blame for all this. Now that we’ve found him and brought him back, there’s hope!”

Angeline patted herself on the cheeks and took a deep breath to regain her composure.

“Yeah, you’re right. I’ve had my foreign friend contact the most famous cardiologists in the country. I’ll bring the boy over once all the preparations are complete.”

“All right. I’ll try asking my friends for help as well…”

Right then, they heard a loud noise.

As Angeline turned toward the bed, she saw that the boy had dropped the bowl because of the lack of strength in his arms. The bowl shattered upon contact with the floor, and the oatmeal spilled everywhere.

Frightened by the loud noise, he quickly hid under the blanket and shivered in fear.

Angeline quickly ran toward the bed and cleaned up the mess while comforting him, “It’s fine. It’s just a broken bowl. There’s nothing to be afraid of.”

Unable to stand how cautious she was being, Nancy frowned as she lifted the blanket and scooped the boy into her arms.

The boy immediately started thrashing around in response.

“Be a good boy and stop struggling,” Nancy said in a slightly stern voice.

The boy was so scared that he froze and stared at her in fear.

Nancy breathed a sigh of relief when she saw him complying with her instructions.

If Angeline can’t bring herself to educate him, then I will do it for her!

“Have you calmed down yet? Good. Now, listen to me very carefully. We understand that you’ve been through a lot of pain in the past, but do you know why your parents used to hit you so much?”

Having been reminded of his past, the boy teared up in response to her words.

“That’s because they’re not your real parents!” Nancy then pointed at Angeline. “She is your real mommy. Just remember that no one’s going to hurt you ever again. We’re all going to take good care of you, so you don’t have to be afraid. Just tell us whatever is on your mind. Do you understand?”

The next thing they knew, the boy was completely frozen and didn’t even blink.

Angeline quickly ran up to him and said, “Don’t put too much pressure on yourself. If you’re unable to accept me as your mother, you can always treat me like a caretaker or something. I just want to take good care of you.”

Having finally found her child, Angeline was determined to protect him at all costs.

She didn’t even care if she had to humble herself before her own child.

The boy suddenly blinked and pointed at the nightstand with a trembling hand.

“What is it? Are you thirsty?” Nancy asked in confusion.

Angeline, on the other hand, instantly understood what he meant. With a look of disbelief in her eyes, she quickly grabbed the pen and sketchbook from the nightstand and handed them to him.

She had been researching treatment methods online ever since she found out about her child having autism. Fearing that he would get bored, she had bought him some stationery for drawing.

However, he had never used them until this very moment.

“Is this what you want?” Angeline asked while handing him the pen and paper.

The boy took them and frowned as he thought long and hard about what he wanted to write. After what seemed like forever, he started writing something down.

Despite having attended school, he still didn’t know how to write and struggled a lot just to write a single word.

“Sebastian? What does he mean by that?” Nancy asked in puzzlement after taking some time to make out what he wrote.

Angeline’s eyes were red as she patted the boy on the head. “This is his name!”

I’ve been wondering about this for so long now! So, his name is Sebastian. Who would’ve thought a kid from the countryside would have such an elegant name?