His Destructive, Toxic Love

Casper froze for a second. He knew Brock was nothing like him, but he also knew why the kid was so timid.

Ever since Eliza left a few years ago, their son had grown up without a dad around. Brock's over-sensitivity made him cautious about everything. How could a kid with no one to back him up be expected to be bold and carefree? That was on him as a father. No matter what, he could never dislike his own child. And this was the child of the woman he loved. What was she even thinking?

"You've got it wrong," he said.

Eliza shook her head slightly, her mind seemingly made up. "I haven't misunderstood, Casper. Let's just leave it, alright?"

Leave it? Leave what exactly?

"What I mean is..." He tried to explain why they hadn't recognized each other yet, but Eliza cut him off. "Casper, I get what you mean. Let's just leave it. Pretend his dad is already dead, gone without a trace." Casper: ...???

"Eliza, don't be so stubborn. What do you mean by 'you get it'? What do you think you understand? Why don't you ever listen to explanations and just jump to conclusions?"

He was genuinely upset, and his tone showed it.

Eliza, already feeling wronged, burst into tears. "What right do you have to yell at me? Just because you paid for my eye surgery? Let me tell you, Casper, I went blind because of you. You owe me, not the other way around." Angered, she reached to tear off the bandages over her eyes.This content © Nôv/elDr(a)m/a.Org.

Casper quickly stopped her, "What are you doing? Joking with your own eyes? You just had surgery, and it's not healed yet. Do you want to go blind again? Can't you be a bit more sensible?"

"Not sensible?" She gave a bitter laugh, his anger only proving her point. "Yeah, I must be really foolish to believe that you would willingly be Brock's dad. You never really cared."

"How can you say I never cared?" He couldn't understand her accusation. "If I didn't want to be his dad, why would I treat him so well? What are you even upset about?"

"Casper!" Eliza was nearly hysterical. He always had so many excuses. But each excuse seemed like a blatant rationalization. He still wouldn't admit that he didn't want to acknowledge Brock.

"Casper, have you forgotten? Back then, you did everything in your power to prevent me from getting pregnant was you, always you who didn't want me to have children. So... you never liked the child gave birth to. Did I get that wrong?"

Casper frowned. How had it come to this again? The past was the past, and now was now. What had he done so wrong? Just because of her assumptions, she could unjustly accuse him? "Eliza, people need to have a conscience."

Ha. He dared to accuse her of lacking a conscience. She had too much of it, which was why, after he had saved her numerous times, she agreed to give him a chance. It seemed she had made a huge mistake. A colossal one.

"Yes, I don't have as much conscience as Mr. Casper, so the best thing for us is to go our separate ways."

She groped her way off the hospital bed, ready to leave this place. She didn't want to stay in Casper's hospital any longer.

Helplessly, Casper grabbed her shoulders, softening his voice, "Okay, okay, I was wrong. I shouldn't have argued with you. Don't get worked up; your eyes haven't healed yet. Where will you go?"

"If my eyes won't heal, let them be blind. Being with the conscientious Mr. Casper, I truly feel unworthy."

Faced with her sarcastic tone,

Casper could only laugh softly, trying

to appease her, "Alright, I'm the one who's unworthy, okay? Listen to me. About acknowledging Brock, I never intended to take it lightly. I wanted to make it a special occasion, introduced by you, to me and my family. Wouldn't that be nice?"