“Hayden, you almost hurt Mom!”
My son glared at me.
“She’s paralyzed. She can’t even feel pain, so what are you so worked up about?”
“So annoying. I lost our qualifying match again!”
He muttered a curse under his breath and stomped back to his room, eager to get back to his game.
My daughter, still shaken, checked me carefully from head to toe to make sure I wasn’t hurt.
Only after confirming I was fine did she turn her attention to the wheelchair, ignoring the blood dripping from her own hand.
When she noticed a clasp had come loose, she immediately brought out the toolbox. She tightened every bolt and screw, working until late at night.
Meanwhile, the live-stream comments were full of outrage.
[I can’t stop crying. Where can you find such a good daughter? Her hand is bleeding badly, yet she only worries about her mom.]
[The real question is, how can someone so kind have such a cold and unfair mother?]
[Exactly! How could her heart be so hard? Her daughter gives her everything, and she still treats her like this!]
[No wonder they say pitiful people can be hateful too. A mother this blindly biased, no surprise she ended up paralyzed!]
[This is unbearable. Girl, run! A mom and brother like that aren’t worth it!]
The live stream was flooded with insults. Even the reporter called me.
“This is the three-day secret live stream you asked for? Do you know how much people have been cursing you these past two days?”
“Your daughter has done everything for you. Are you trying to make people hate you on purpose?”
I looked toward my daughter in the living room, quietly tending to the wound on her hand, and said calmly, “There’s still one more day.”
“By then, you’ll understand everything.”
The next morning, my daughter came into my room right after waking up. “Mom, how are you feeling today? Do you have a better appetite?”
Her voice was soft as she checked my condition.
I stayed silent, my eyes falling on her hand wrapped in gauze, where faint blood still showed through.
Even without my reply, she continued as she always did, massaging my limbs and moving my joints to keep them from stiffening. Her every touch was gentle, as if I were something fragile.
“Mom, look, the weather’s nice today.”
“After breakfast, let me take you out for a walk. The doctor said getting some fresh air will help your recovery.”
She glanced out the window, trying to find something cheerful to say.
But I stayed cold. “I don’t want to.”
Her hands paused for a second, then she said nothing. After finishing the massage, she brought warm water to gently wipe my face and clean my hands before heading to the kitchen to cook.
The live-stream comments kept coming nonstop.
[This old woman still has that blank look; just seeing her annoys me.]
[Right. Her daughter’s hand is still bleeding, yet she’s still serving her, and the mother doesn’t even care?]
[So awful. Some people don’t deserve kindness!]
That day, my daughter didn’t go to work. She said she wanted to stay and spend the whole day with me.
After finishing all the chores, she pushed me out to the balcony to sit in the sunlight.
She combed my hair, trimmed my nails, and carefully cleaned my ears. She wanted me to look clean and tidy from head to toe.
When she was done, she sat on a small stool beside me, held my thin hand gently, and spoke in a soft voice, “Mom, do you remember? When I was little, you always brought Hayden and me out here to the balcony to sunbathe.”
“The year Dad passed away, you handled everything by yourself and raised both of us. No matter how hard life got, you never cried in front of us.”
“You always said that as long as Hayden and I were around, you would never fall.”
Her eyes grew slightly red as she spoke. Just then, her phone rang, but she didn’t pick up. She looked at me for a long moment, then ended the call.
Smiling, she stared at me and said, “Mom, it’s about time.”
I gave a faint smile. The moment had finally come.
After saying that, my daughter straightened and gave me a meaningful look. Then she did something no one in the live stream could have imagined.
