Six years passed in a blink of an eye.
Sophia sat in front of the mirror, unusually tense as she stared at herself in the mirror. Her face was wrapped with layers of bandages, only revealing her eyes that were currently filled with anxiousness.
She lost count of how many operations she had already undergone in the past few years. Although she never had much hope with each surgery, she could not help but feel nervous when the time came to remove the bandages.
Well, every woman was vain to a certain extent, and she was just the same.
"Mrs. Harris, there's no need to worry," the surgeon told her, "The other surgeons and I have calculated the success rate and if nothing goes wrong, we should be able to restore eighty to ninety percent of your face."
In the past few years, Harris Corporation had invested tons of resources in this area of research. Research progress had been slow for the past five years, but they finally made a breakthrough when Dr. Hemingway discovered an extraordinarily talented plastic surgeon early last year and pulled some strings to invite him over to help with the research.
"Eight... Eighty to ninety percent?" Sophia stuttered in disbelief. She had never dared to hold so much hope with her recovery. As long as they could do forty to fifty percent, she would already be grateful enough to look like an actual human.
Frankly, it would be much easier if she was willing to do plastic surgery, but she did not want to look at a face that she did not recognize when she looked into the mirror.
The doctor nodded confidently. "That's right!"
"Mrs. Harris, are you ready?"
Sophia took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "Okay, let's do it."
"Alright." The doctor was incredibly excited a swell. If all went well this time, it meant that their research in this area of facial recovery had made new progress.
However, as soon as his hand touched the bandages, she suddenly opened her eyes before he could proceed.
The doctor jumped up in shock. "Mrs. Harris, are you alright?"
"Is the door locked?" Sophia asked.
She didn't want Charles or their son to see her when she was removing the bandage, worried that the more hope they had, the bigger the disappointment.
She was not that concerned about Charles, at least he would promise her to keep his word, but her son... Sophia let out a gentle sigh. That little rascal completely inherited all of Charles' smarts and she was no match against him.
"It's locked it's locked! Mrs. Harris, can we proceed now?"
"Okay."
Sophia took another deep breath and closed her eyes again. Her heart was racing so quickly against her chest it felt as if it was about to leap out of her throat.
She could feel the bandages slowly being removed from her face, and with each roll, she felt her heart beat faster and faster.
It had been six years. Although her face had recovered from most of the wounds, it was still covered with scars, scars that could not be concealed even with makeup.
"Alright, Mrs. Harris, you can open your eyes now."
The doctor's voice sounded in her ear but she did not dare to open her eyes. She did not want to be disappointed again.
She licked her dry lips and her eyelashes fluttered lightly. She opened her eyes slightly, but before she even looked at her own reflection in the mirror, she squeezed them shut once again.
She was scared.
"Mrs. Harris, the restoration worked, don't worry and open your eyes!" The doctor cheered her on from beside her.
The doctor had told her this every single time and Sophia just did not believe his words anymore.
She clenched her fists, and just as she finally mustered the strength to open her eyes, she heard a loud thump followed by a series of noises that sounded like objects dropping to the floor.
"Oh no!" A childish voice rang through the air.
Sophia opened her eyes immediately and searched for the source of the sound, only to find a beautiful little boy sitting beside her vanity table, clutching his small head with a pained expression on his face.
"Christopher!" Sophia rushed toward him, unsure if she was angry or amused. "Does it hurt?"
Worried that he would get into trouble, the little boy quickly shook his head and immediately pushed the blame to his father. "Daddy was the one who asked me to play hide and seek with me and asked me to hide here!"
"Oh, is it?" Sophia gently rubbed his head, and seeing that he did not injure himself, she felt a sense of relief. "Then why hasn't Daddy come and find you?"
The little boy was caught off-guard with his mother's question. "Uhm... uh... You should be asking Daddy this..."
"Liar." Sophia tapped his nose gently and carried him in her arms.
The little boy chuckled and wrapped his arms around her neck tightly as he buried his face in her chest embarrassedly.
"Don't hide around like this anymore, okay?" Sophia said, "If you bump into something and hurt yourself, Mommy and Daddy will be sad."
The little boy raised his head right away and thumped his chest. "Uncle Ster told me that I'm a boy, I am strong and I won't get hurt so easily if I get a little scratch or
bump."
Sophia, "..."
How could her own son prioritize her brother's "wise words" over her and Charles'?
Oblivious of what was going on in
et
his mother's head, the little boy cupped his mother's face and exclaimed, "Wow Mommy, you're so pweety! You look just as
breath taking as you do in the
el
photos Daddy always shows me!
He had just learned the word 'breath-taking' yesterday and he already knew how to
use it, was he not smart? Oh, he was the very best!
Pretty?
Stunned, Sophia quickly ran to the mirror with her son still in her arms.
The woman that stared back at her in the mirror bore two shallow scars on her face. In fact, they were so faded that if you did not look carefully, you might just easily miss them. If she put on some makeup, they would certainly be able to be concealed.
She opened her mouth in shock as her throat suddenly tightened.
Charles and her son had never minded her appearance, but people at dinner parties and parent-teacher conferences always did. That was why she stopped attending those functions, she was worried that everyone else would look differently
at Charles and her son. Content
She could not care less about what people thought about her, but her biggest fear was hearing things like "why does Christopher's mom look like thatâ, âWhat happened to Mrs. Harris' face..."
"Mommy?" The little boy immediately noticed her eyes that were slowly turning red
and was shocked. "Why are you crying?"
Oh no, did he do something that upset Mommy?"
"I'm okay." She placed him down on the floor and wiped away the tears that had mysteriously misted over her eyes.
Oh dear, he upset Mommy so badly that she was crying. His eyes blinked rapidly as he tried to think, and he quickly scurried out of the room to get help from Daddy. Sophia was confused as to where her son was running to, but she decided to not bother him. She stood up and turned to the surgeon with a smile. âThank you,
Doctor."
"This is just my job, you're most welcome, Mrs. Harris," the surgeon replied, "As for the scars on your body, we'll get there slowly, alright?"
As the two continued talking, Christopher returned to the room with Charles in hand.
Charles was completely stunned when he saw Sophia's restored face, and after freezing for a whole solid minute, he slowly walked to Sophia as his son continued
pestering him.
"Why are you crying?" He wiped the tears away from the corner of her eyes, his voice unusually hoarse.
Sophia smiled and leaned into him to put her arms around his waist. "I'm just
happy."
She was happy that he had never abandoned her throughout all these years, and
she was happy that she could finally stand beside him without anyone pointing fingers at her judging her appearance.
The surgeon could no longer stand the lovey-dovey couple, and he quickly packed
up his things before he fled the scene quietly.
The little child, on the other hand, was filled with jealousy. Why was Mommy only
hugging Daddy and not him?
He squeezed between the two with all his strength, and just as the two were about
to kiss, he pushed his dad away with a firm push of his butt. "Mommy, I want a
huggy!"
Atrophy of Love: Mr. Harris, Stop Fooling Around!
Chapter 494 Victor Hemingway's POV 2