Even in Darkness She Chose to Rise (Tatiana and Jasper) novel Chapter 167

Chapter 167 Tati

The hospital room.

Jasper rushed to the door but found himself hesitating, unable to push it open. He let out a heavy breath, oblivious to the fact that his hands were shaking.

He slowly opened the door. The first thing he saw was the person sitting on the bed.

Their eyes met. The moment seemed to last an eternity.

“Tatiana…”

Tatiana was awake. But not completely.

Her beautiful eyes were filled with confusion and fear.

When she saw Jasper enter, she shrank back. But then, a sweet smile spread across her face. Ignoring the IV needles, she jumped off the bed, yelling, “Jasper!”

She had been bedridden for so long that her knees buckled, and she collapsed.

“Tatiana!”

Jasper’s reflexes were faster. He lunged forward and caught her, pulling her into his arms.

“Are you okay? Did you hurt yourself…”

Before he could finish, she wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. “Jasper! I was so scared!”

He froze. He belatedly realized something was wrong.

Tatiana had never called him that. No, not since she’d grown up–not since he had angrily forbidden her from using that name. She had never said it again.

Hearing it now felt like a dream.

“Jasper, why… am I in the hospital?I can’t see Mom and Dad, and I couldn’t see you. They… they wanted to give me a shot. It hurt!”

She cried pitifully. Her speech was clumsy, not just from emotion but also from her old injury. She sounded anxious and muddled, as if she’d forgotten her tongue was ever damaged.

The pure, unadulterated dependence in her eyes was overflowing.

Jasper was in a daze. How long had it been since he’d seen that look in her eyes?

“Jasper, sob, don’t leave me. I’m scared… sob… it hurts…”

When he didn’t respond, she began to wail.

He finally came to his senses, his voice hoarse and laced with disbelief. “Tatiana?”

This only made Tatiana angrier. She cried until she was gasping for breath. “Sob… Jasper, you even… forgi my name! You’re mean! I’m not… not Tatiana. I’m Tati!”

As she cried, she looked up at him again, shrieked, and scrambled backward.

“No, no! You’re not Jasper! You’re not!… Bad man! Dad! Mom! There’s a bad man!”

His heart sank.

He immediately called the doctor for a detailed examination.

Throughout the process, Tatiana was completely uncooperative, running around in a panic. He was worried someone would hurt her, so he held her himself, painstakingly explaining over and over that he was Jasper.

Perhaps it was because his features hadn’t changed much since he was young. Or perhaps his scent was already engraved in her memory.

Tatiana slowly came to believe that her Jasper just looked a little “strange” now.

During the rest of the examination, Tatiana clung to him like glue. If he moved even half a step away, tears would instantly stream down her face. She looked pitiful and… completely childish.

When the results came back, it was just as he had suspected.

Tatiana’s mental state had regressed to that of a seven–year–old. Her memory stopped at that year.

That was the year she had adored him, the year she was most attached to him. It was when the Lowell family doted on her, and it was before he had come to detest her.

None of it had happened yet.

Jasper couldn’t describe his feelings. It was a complex, tangled mess, but he felt a faint, imperceptible trace

of… relief.

Relief that she was awake.

Relief that, for her, none of it had happened.

Relief that she had forgotten all the pain he had inflicted on her,

“Jasper, why… are you old? You have… crinkles! Just like Grandpa!”

As she spoke, Tatiana reached out and poked his furrowed brow.

He turned to look at her, his expression still complex. She earnestly smoothed out his frown.

When she was done, she gave him a brilliant smile and a tight hug.

“Jasper is handsome even when he’s old!”

Her tone was full of undisguised affection.

It made sense. She was just a seven–year–old child, after all. An age where one can’t hide their feelings.

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