Semua Bab Expired Expectation: Bab 21 - Bab 28

Astrid did not see Isaiah for the upcoming few days until the day of Coco's birthday party.She was just walking to the venue of the birthday party when they were showered by a cascade of flower petals from above.Coco put a hand out to catch a stalk of white gardenia and turned to Jerome with a smile. “Thank you for the surprise, Daddy! I love it!”“Coco, I was the one who had this surprise arranged for you. I hope you like it,” Isaiah announced as he approached her with a large bouquet of gardenias.“Happy birthday! I prepared a —”“Forget about it.” Coco's smile deflated. She entered the venue without allowing him to finish his sentence.Astrid followed her into the venue when she spotted Juno approaching Isaiah. “Isaiah, we’d been together for six years, won’t you do me a favor and celebrate Emmie’s birthday with her?"She loves you and misses you more than anything.”“I don't have time for that,” Isaiah replied crossly.As Astrid watched their interaction, she felt

Isaiah’s reckless actions gave Coco quite a fright, which caused her to develop a fever that same night. Astrid spent a frightful night by her bedside attending to her and barely caught a wink of sleep.Fortunately, her fever subsided by the next day and did not turn into anything serious.Astrid called Freida again to emphasize that Isaiah was not to appear around them again.Freida assured her sternly, “Don't worry, I’ll make sure he reins it in from now on. Please make sure Coco recovers swiftly.”The next day, Astrid was on her phone when she saw an announcement from Lear Corporation.Isaiah had been dispatched to Saints’ Hospital in Engerland for a doctor’s exchange program and would be there for three years.Astrid enthusiastically showed Coco the wonderful news. Coco seemed delighted as well. “Mommy, can I go to the amusement park after my dance lesson today?”“Of course, I’d take you anywhere you want!” Astrid said.Without Isaiah disturbing them, her days with Co

After the event had concluded successfully, Astrid left the venue with Coco and realized Isaiah was nowhere to be seen.She did not think much of it and proceeded to get into the car to head home.When they were halfway home, a dark figure charged into the middle of the road to stop the car.The sudden jerk of the car coming to a stop threw Astrid, who was seated in the back seat, forward. Jerome held her steady just in time and observed, “I think that’s Juno in the middle of the road. Let me go down and talk to her.”“Mommy, when we were leaving just now, I heard someone mention Emmie had a hard fall and broke her spine. They say her lower body is paralyzed. Is it possible to recover from that?”“It's hard to say,” Astrid said as she tried to comfort her. “Coco, just know that you have nothing to do with what happened. This is all on Isaiah. Don’t stress yourself thinking about it.”“But Emmie's mother was glaring at you, she looked so scary.” Coco seemed very distressed.

Three days later, Coco finally woke up.Astrid, who had been standing guard over her by the bed, cried tears of delight. She embraced Coco tightly and was afraid to let go even for a second.“Coco, this is wonderful, you finally woke up! “ Jerome went up to her and handed her a large bouquet of gardenias. He had been crying too.Coco gladly took the flowers and sniffed them. Then, she suddenly frowned and asked hesitantly, “Mom, did Uncle Isaiah not come to visit?“He always comes and disturbs me without warning. It’s a little hard to get used to him not showing up.”"I'm here,” Isaiah greeted her from the other side of the window and held up a music box while motioning at her. “I was worried you would be upset seeing me, so I didn’t dare to come inside.“How are you feeling? Does it still hurt?”“It doesn’t hurt at first, but it’s starting to sting now that I see you." Coco turned away and dismissed him icily, “Please go away, don’t come around here again.”Isaiah set