Chapter 252
Wearing clothes that revealed every curve of her body, leaning calmly against him, acting like it was nothing…
“…No. Rest.”
Rubens regretted speaking out in anger.
‘What if Macy senses I still have feelings? Would she refuse to continue the Name treatment?’
Didn’t he look like someone with feelings left? Macy might reject further treatment.
He worried and fretted he might have ruined it all again.
* * *
“Haa.”
“I’m helping you, so be grateful.”
“Yes thank you very much.”
Anna said proudly as Rubens came to see the baby, unaware he’d nearly let his feelings slip.
“You don’t look very happy. Once her leg heals, you won’t need to go through this so just enjoy it.”
“What?”
“When her leg’s healed, she won’t need to step up the treatment. You’ll just hold hands again and have fewer sessions.”
“……”
Rubens felt like he’d just been hit in the head.
“What treatment schedule was she thinking once she was fully healed?”
“Macy thought about every two months.”
“Two months…”
That meant treatment only enough to keep the rigidity from starting.
Two months between sessions sounded short compared to the year he’d been in the dark about her whereabouts.
But knowing where she was, yet unable to visit, already made him feel tight in the chest.
There’s a boy clinging to her, too. What if he still has feelings for Macy?
And then there’s Kieran, who spends half the day chatting about art.
The wish to just survive, even if not close, was growing heavier.
‘Can I bear to see another man next to Macy? Can I tolerate someone else holding her?’
Though it seemed impossible, a voice inside scolded Rubens: “What will you do if you can’t?”
He wanted to warn the others off from pestering a woman with a child, but felt he had no right anymore.
If he said that and Macy heard, it would undo all the Name treatment.
Rubens was nothing to Macy now. Nothing more than a Name treatment subject—no more, no less.
The easy woman who used to be Rubens’ puppet was gone. Having faced Macy’s coldness, Rubens could no longer get his way.
His aching heart fiddled with the baby’s tiny toes again and again.
The baby smiled without a care, unaware of his father’s worries.
“If only she could smile like you, I wouldn’t be so anxious…”
As Name treatment sessions decreased, so would the days he could see Adrian, who resembled Macy.
Then what would Rubens live for?
Macy was steadily getting healthier, but his future felt utterly bleak.
“Stop taking your frustrations out on the baby, I’ll change the sheets, and hold Adrian for a bit.”
“Uh…”
Whenever he wanted to see Macy smile, Rubens would come to see the baby. He had surprisingly gotten good at caring for the baby.
Adrian settled in Rubens’ arms more comfortably than with Anna.
Before seeing Adrian, Rubens had only seen him as a link to Macy, but how could he dislike a living creature who resembled her?
Naturally, Rubens looked fondly at Adrian, his lips curled up as he saw the baby smiling. It was as if the baby was comforting Rubens, telling him not to be so gloomy.
“What are you doing?”
A voice came from the doorway.
Macy frowned as she looked at Rubens and the baby.
“Why are you holding the baby?”
“……”
Macy quickly closed the distance, snatching Adrian from Eren’s arms. Her sharp gaze was like thorns pouring down.
“Get out of here.”
Startled by Macy’s sudden appearance, Rubens stiffened.
‘Why should I leave? I’m clearly Adrian’s father.’
Just as he was about to protest the unfairness, Macy limped.
No, Rubens wasn’t the father.
His role was only as a Name treatment subject. If he resisted, he risked losing even that.
“……”
Rubens clenched his fists tightly and had no choice but to step away.
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