Hanita searched her father's eyes and face, looking for any hint that something was either terribly wrong or alright. She prayed that it was the latter. But as her father's mouth opened to respond to her question, Hanita could feel her heart sinking into the depths of her stomach.
"Your mother would explain to you better, " Deveron said as he stepped aside for Hanita to properly enter the room. He walked through the door, leaving mother and daughter alone so thy could talk. His face didn't carry a happy expression at all, but Deveron had to hold it together as he was the man of the house -- even though his heart was breaking within him.
'Why shouldn't he just answer her directly?' Hanita questioned in her thoughts. She walked past her father and headed straight for where her mother was lying down. Hanita hardly saw her mother in the state that she was in now. The woman was so active and was often in the kitchen, cooking something or trying out a new recipe from the internet. But today was different and Hanita feared that was how it was going to be from here on out.
"Mum?" Hanita called as she got closer to the bed that her parents shared.
Daliana's eyes had been closed as the painkiller that she was given made her drowsy. However, she'd taken it a few moments ago and it hadn't knocked her out yet. The room was a little bit dark and only one lamp was on -- the one that was where their walk-in closet was, which was beside the bathroom as well. So it was quite a distance from where the bed was situated, making the bedroom dim.
"How was work today?" Daliana asked.
"What?" Hanita questioned as she perched on the side of the bed, near her mother's hand.
"Sit properly," Daliana said, shifting a little to make enough room for her daughter to sit. Then she was about to repeat her question again when Hanita cut in.
"You shouldn't be asking that."
"Why not?" Daliana said with a little groan as he head hammered as a result of the little movement she'd just made.
"Don't move so much, Mother..." Hanita said with a low tone, "And work was fine..."
"Okay..."
Hanita looked at her mother, wondering if this was the right time to talk about what the doctor had said. She didn't want to stress Daliana but at the same time, she needed to know. She was going to travel out of the city in two days and needed to know the state she'd be leaving her mother in or if she should even leave at all.
In silence, Hanita held unto her mother's hand and squeezed gently. She felt Daliana return the squeeze and her heart went out to her mother. The sound of the fan filled the room and the air freshener that was all too familiar to Hanita enveloped her nostrils.
"We returned from the hospital not too long ago..." Daliana began.
Hanita remained silent. She wanted her mother to go on at her own pace. She didn't want to rush her even though she wanted to get to the bottom of the matter as quickly as possible. She nodded her head and listened closely to what Daliana had to say.
"Th-They examined my test results..." Daliana trailed off.
"Are they good?" Hanita asked, unable to help herself any longer.
Daliana shook her head a little on the pillow that it rested on and a stream of tears rolled down the left side of her face.
Hanita wiped it off as her bottom lip trembled a bit. She didn't want to cry too and needed to be strong for her mother. She waited for what Daliana had to say.
"It's a growth..." Daliana began. "It started as a lesion on my brain stem...and now, it's graduated into a growth," Daliana finished with a whimper. "All those headaches... all those dizzy spells and blacking out from time to time... I didn't think I needed to go to the hospital. If I took aspirin, they all went away...however, temporarily. But the doctor said that was when I should have come in for management. Now, it's deteriorated, Hanita... badly."
Hanita stared wide-eyed. She could hear her heartbeat in her ears ad it felt like her head was swelling.
"The growth has spread to my spine and it would have to be operated upon as soon as possible before it affects my mobility..." Daliana said. "The doctor said I was lucky to have come into the hospital when I did. If I'd continued ignoring the signs and suppressing the pains with painkillers..." she trailed off void of the strength to repeat what the doctor had said to her.
"Wh-What must have caused th-this, Mum?" Hanita asked. "I don't understand... a growth from a lesion? Is a lesion not like a scar of some sort?" Her eyes were red now and there was a vein evident in the middle of her forehead. That usually appeared whenever Hanita was under a huge amount of stress.
Hanita's question made her mother turn her head to the other side of the room. She burst into tears as her mind went back in time to what she'd suffered.
"I thought I'd escaped all that..." Daliana said.
"All what?" Hanita asked, utterly confused at her mother's behavior. She stretched her hand and gently touched Daliana on the chin, steering her face back toward her direction.
"Stop crying, Mummy...please," Hanita pleaded, knowing that it could make her mother's condition worse. "Escaped what, mum? What are you talking about?" Hanita asked again, with such a gentle voice that appeared to have made her mother's heart break again.
Daliana sobbed even harder. She squeezed her eyes shut and took Hanita's hand in hers. She sniffed and used her other hand to wipe off her tears. Daliana wasn't happy that her daughter had to see in her in the state she was in but this was something that Hanita needed to know.