Chapter 242 - Which uncle?

....

Meanwhile, inside a suite in Hotel W, a man was sitting on a couch in the living room while wearing nothing other than a pair of joggers. His eyes were on the huge flat-screen TV perched on the wall, and he had a conflicted expression on his face as he stared at the paused scene on the TV. 

"Dingxuan..." he thought as he stared at the huge close-up shot of Tay Dingxuan.

When he heard soft footsteps, he glanced out of the corner of his eye and saw a woman dressed only in a huge t-shirt that reached her knees. 

"I thought you're sleeping..." he mumbled while turning his eyes back onto the screen. 

The woman smiled and went to him before sitting down on his laps. "How can I let you watch this by yourself?" she said softly as she stared up at him. When she asked to come and see him, she thought he would reject her, which was his usual response to her. But instead, he allowed her to come, and he even spent the last few hours in bed with her. 

"I can watch it by myself, Wing... I'm not a child." 

"Xuan, you don't have to force yourself to be strong. We are not at the Shenlong Family, nor are we on a mission now... There's just you and me here, and I won't judge you," Dr. Wing said as she gently touched his face. 

Head Manager Han glanced down at her for a few seconds before sighing. "Sit properly if you want to watch it with me." 

Dr. Wing smiled and nodded. She got down from his lap and sat next to him. With her head rested on his shoulder, she stared at his broad left hand. After taking a brief glance at him, she placed her hand on his left hand and placed her fingers between his. She thought that he would not reciprocate, but she was wrong. 

A few seconds later, Head Manager Han's fingers twitched slightly before he grabbed onto her tightly. "Quiet now." 

"Mm..."

He then pressed the "Play" button. 

They watched as Tay Dingxuan made funny faces at the camera. Ever since Head Manager Han told Tay Dingxuan about the hidden camera, the little boy had been looking at the hidden camera constantly. 

When he had some strength and no one was around him, the little boy would pick up a book and sit in front of the huge stuffed toy. He would then read loudly, as if he were reading to a person. However, he would get tired easily, so it would often take him a few days to finish a simple book. 

"Uncle Bear, are you seeing this? I'm being strong... I like to think that you're here with me," Tay Dingxuan said with a weak smile as he looked into the camera. 

Creak!

When he heard a creak, the little boy quickly rolled his wheelchair to his bed. However, before he could climb back onto his bed, a noise could be heard scolding him. 

"Dingxuan! I told you to stay on the bed quietly, didn't I? Why did you move around? You're still sick!" 

"I'm bored, Grandma," Tay Dingxuan said with a pout. 

His grandmother then moved over to his side, coming into the view of the camera. 

When her face appeared on the screen, Dr. Wing could feel a slight tightening in the way Head Manager Han was holding her hand. It was very subtle, but she felt it nevertheless. She looked up, but his face remained expressionless. 

"He's still bottling everything in..." she thought with a sigh as she rubbed her cheek against his shoulder. 

"Grandma..." 

Tay Dingxuan's voice brought Dr. Wing's attention back to the screen. 

"Yes, my cute grandson?" Old Mrs. Tay said with a loving tone as she sat down on a chair next to Tay Dingxuan's bed. 

"I feel better now. Can I go out for a walk?" 

Old Mrs. Tay smiled softly as she gently tapped her grandson's tiny hand. "Give it a few more days, Dingxuan. Once you're a lot better, I'll take you out for a long walk. At the beach, maybe? You love... the beach, right?" 

She gulped as a knot formed in her throat. They found out about Tay Dingxuan's sickness not long after they returned from a trip to the beach.

"I'd like that..." Tay Dingxuan smiled. He looked at his grandmother and asked, "Grandma, have you been visiting my uncle?"

"Which uncle?"

"Dad said you went to visit your other son yesterday. That's why you couldn't come to visit me. Did you go to visit that uncle?"

"Oh?" Old Mrs. Tay smiled sadly. "Yeah." 

"Did you manage to talk to him?" Tay Dingxuan asked with a c.o.c.k of his head. 

"No," Old Mrs. Tay said softly as she gently rubbed her grandson's hand. "Your uncle is still angry at me. I've hurt him greatly before."

"I'm sure if you keep going, he would accept you one day," Tay Dingxuan said, and his eyes looked over at the giant teddy bear with the hidden camera. 

Head Manager Han frowned as he watched the boy's subtle movement. "The kid knew..." 

Dr. Wing was slightly surprised by it as well. "I think so."

Head Manager Han glanced at Dr. Wing, but before he could say anything, Dr. Wing said, "I've never said anything to him. The kid is perceptive. He probably found out about it yourself." 

She then looked back at the screen and said, "Perhaps that's why he asked me not to give this to you immediately. He must have known..."

She sighed softly. No one could have foreseen it, yet no one could say that they were surprised by the boy's sudden passing. Tay Dingxuan had been energetic during that day, but at night, his condition worsened, and he suddenly went into cardiac arrest. Despite the doctors' attempt to revive him, it was futile. 

After all the treatments he went through, Tay Dingxuan was simply too weak, and his body gave in.

They looked at the screen again. 

Old Mrs. Tay smiled and said, "Dingxuan, do you want to listen to stories about your Uncle Xuan?" 

Tay Dingxuan nodded. He patted his bed and said, "Grandma, sit here with me. I'm a little cold."

Old Mrs. Tay nodded and slowly climbed onto the bed to be with her grandson. Tay Dingxuan grinned and pulled the blanket so that it would cover both of them. 

"Grandma, your legs are too long," he complained when he saw his grandmother's feet poking out at the bottom of the bed. 

Old Mrs. Tay laughed. "Well, when you're older, you'd have legs even longer than mine."

"Dad's not that tall..." Tay Dingxuan mumbled as he rested his head on his grandmother's shoulder.

Old Mrs. Tay gently patted her grandson's shoulder as she replied, "But your Uncle Xuan is tall, so there's a chance that you'd be like him." 

"How's Uncle Xuan when he's my age?" 

"Hmm... He's very quiet. Your Uncle Xuan was really brave when he was your age. Whenever he... fell, he would just slowly stand up and dust himself off. And he would never cry no matter what." 

"No way!" Tay Dingxuan shook his head. 

"Yes way!" Old Mrs. Tay nodded with a loving smile. "He's always an independent boy, and he's so smart that I thought I might have accidentally swapped him with someone else at birth. You know, he knew all his alphabets when he was two and could read by the time he was three. He can do so many things by himself that I felt bad."

Tay Dingxuan looked up at his grandmother's face and asked, "Why didn't he live with us, Grandma?" 

Old Mrs. Tay's hand that was patting Tay Dingxuan's shoulder continuously hovered in mid-air. After a while, it landed on Tay Dingxuan's shoulder, and she said sadly, "Because Grandma was afraid of... someone. Grandma was a coward, and I left him. That's why he's angry with me."

Tay Dingxuan could feel that his grandma was upset, so he did not press on that. Instead, he said, "Grandma?" 

"Yeah?" 

"Did you miss him?" 

"Every single day."

"Do you love him?"

She nodded. "More than anything in this world..."

Tay Dingxuan smiled and asked, "As much as you love me?" 

Old Mrs. Tay nodded and placed a kiss on his bald head before saying, "Yeah, as much as I love you... You are both my babies." 

Tay Dingxuan chuckled. "But I'm your favorite baby, right?" 

Old Mrs. Tay laughed softly and hugged him. "Of course... So get well soon, alright? I want my favorite baby to go grocery shopping and watch movies with me."

"Erm!" Tay Dingxuan said with a broad grin.