Chapter 4

Henry's POV

I struggled to raise my head, desperate for Queenie to look at me. I wanted her to see what I had become—nothing more than a heap of mangled, rotten flesh.

Queenie snapped, "You have no right to look at me like that, Henry! Nathan got crushed by a collapsing pillar because I saved you instead! Isn't that enough for you? Why is it always you? Why does everyone always end up drowning in guilt because of you?

"I won't let Nathan end up like me, carrying the guilt of being the reason you were burned! I'm well aware that dying would've been far more merciful than that! Nathan has already paid the price for what he did! Mom and Dad are getting him a transfusion now. You'd better watch what you say later!"

Before she could say anything more, the attending physician rushed in. "Nathan is in critical condition from blood loss, and our hospital blood bank is running empty! Please come with me right away for a blood transfusion!"

Queenie followed the doctor and hurried away.

Mom and Dad were waiting anxiously outside the OR. "What on earth happened, Queenie? How did Nathan end up so terribly injured?"

Mom collapsed into Dad's arms, overwhelmed with anxiety. "Why does this keep happening? Why is it always my kids getting caught in fires? Why is it always my kids who have to suffer?"

Queenie looked conflicted. She hesitated before finally saying, "Henry accidentally knocked over the candle while he was asleep, causing the fire to spread through the entire house. I went to rescue Henry first, and Nathan was injured when a burning pillar collapsed on him."

Mom and Dad fell silent, a sudden wave of regret washing over them.

"If we had just sent Henry away back then, Nathan wouldn't be suffering like this right now!" Mom exclaimed.

Dad chimed in, saying, "I told you back then that Henry shouldn't be living under our roof anymore, but you refused to listen. Who's to say he didn't do this out of spite to hurt Nathan?

Queenie told me straight out that Henry had it in for him and begged me to send him away. I was an idiot for being so soft-hearted!"

Queenie hesitated and couldn't bring herself to defend me. She just let Dad run wild with his assumptions, leaving him to jump to conclusions with the seeds of doubt she'd planted earlier.

A doctor rushed over, saying, "Mr. Zeller's blood type doesn't match the patient's. Mrs. Zeller, Ms. Zeller, please come with me so we can check your blood compatibility."

As Queenie and Mom hurried off after the doctor, Dad went over to my hospital room alone.

I looked up from the bed and saw him. After suffering from so many grievances, I had so many things I wanted to tell him, but I ended up bursting out in tears. "Dad—"

I was just about to express my grievances when Dad interrupted me coldly. "You have no right to call me Dad! I know Queenie treated you badly before, but she's lived with that guilt every single day and only ever dared to sneak into your room late at night just to check on you!

"You suffered through burns yourself, so you know how horrific that pain is. Why would you force Nathan to go through the same nightmare? If anything happens to Nathan, I swear I'll make you pay! You are to leave the Zeller family once this is over! We won't keep a bringer of bad luck under this roof!"

I watched Dad's figure slowly disappear from focus. I struggled to breathe even as the oxygen from the ventilator filled my lungs. I had lost most of my ability to sense pain, but I still trembled from the agony.

Dad returned to the OR waiting area. Queenie was still being tested for a match, while Mom stood there staring at a report.

"What's going on, Iris?" he asked. "Did something happen to Nathan?"

Mom turned around stiffly, tears streaming down her face before her mind could even process what was happening. "How could it be Type A? Why..."

She was baffled as to how both parents with type B blood could possibly have a child with type A blood.