The Unwanted Wife and Her Secret Twins (Mia and Kyle) novel Chapter 442

Mia's POV

Hugo and I walk a few steps away. Far enough the children can't hear. Close enough I can still see them.

"I apologize," he begins. "The story was inappropriate."

"You were trying to help."

"I was trying to practice medicine without consent. There's a difference." He pauses. "But as a physician, I have an obligation to provide accurate medical information. Even when it's uncomfortable."

"Hugo—"

"Please. Let me say this." He looks at me directly. His eyes serious. "Bone marrow donation from a child is not without risk. Anesthesia. Pain. Small chance of complications. I won't minimize that."

"I know."

"But." He holds up a hand. "The risks are manageable. The pain is temporary. The marrow regenerates completely. Within weeks, the child is physically exactly as they were."

"Physically," I repeat. Catching it.

"Yes. Physically they recover. Emotionally is more complex. Some children process it positively. They helped someone they love. They were brave. They made a difference." He pauses. "Other children struggle. They remember the hospital. The fear. They associate their parent's illness with their own pain."

A car pulls in nearby. Parks. A family gets out. Two kids. Both older. Maybe ten and twelve.

We wait until they're inside.

"But here's what I know for certain," Hugo continues. His voice is lower now. More intense. "The loss of a parent creates a wound that never fully heals. It shapes everything. How they see the world. How they trust. How they love."

He's quiet for a moment.

"I lost my father when I was seven," he says. "Heart attack. Sudden. One day he was there. The next he wasn't."

I didn't know this.

"Hugo, I'm so—"

"It was a long time ago. But I remember it. The emptiness. The confusion. How my mother tried to fill the space and couldn't. Because the space was father-shaped. Only a father fits there."

From the car, Alexander's voice: "CAN WE GO NOW?"

My mother: "In a minute, sweetie."

Alexander: "That's what adults say when they mean ten minutes."

"And if it doesn't work? If they go through all that and Kyle dies anyway?"

"Then they tried. They did everything they could. There's peace in that."

He steps back.

"I'm not telling you what to do. I'm giving you information. So you can make an informed choice."

"Kyle's already chosen."

"Kyle is terrified. Terrified people make decisions based on fear, not wisdom. They choose what they think they can live with. Not realizing that sometimes the thing you thought you could live with becomes the thing that destroys you."

Inside the car, Alexander has pressed his face against the window. Making faces. His nose squashed flat.

Madison has her thumb in her mouth. Something she only does when she's tired.

Ethan is explaining something to my mother. Using hand gestures.

"Think about it," Hugo says. "Talk to Kyle. Give him time to move past the fear."