Chapter 553:

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Nell flung herself into Dayna’s arms, her lower lip trembling into a pout so raw it looked like tears might spill at any moment.

Dayna stiffened at the sudden embrace. She’d never seen Nell so shaken. “What happened?” she asked, placing a comforting hand on her friend’s shoulder.

Nell slowly pointed toward the little boy curled up on the studio sofa, breathing softly, as if sleep itself was protecting him from the world.

“I took him to several hospitals,” she began, her voice thinned by exhaustion. “Every doctor said the same thing—there’s no cure. They even looked surprised he’s still alive.”

Dayna crossed the room and crouched beside the boy, careful not to wake him. She studied his face, so serene it almost hurt to look at.

“And then?” she asked without lifting her eyes from him.

Nell’s next words cracked under their own weight. “They told me it’s congenital. Untreatable. He might fall asleep one day and never wake up again.”

A tight pang twisted through Dayna’s chest. She hadn’t expected it to be this serious.

Her gaze lingered on the boy. He looked like any other child lost in a sweet dream, and yet… the next time he closed his eyes, he might never open them again.

He didn’t even know. He was far too young to understand the shadow looming over his small life.

Nell exhaled a shaky breath and dragged her fingers through her hair, as if trying to pull the helplessness from her scalp.

𝘙𝘦с𝗼m𝗺𝖾𝗇d g𝗮𝘭ո𝗼v𝖾𝗹𝗌.𝗰о𝘮 𝘁о уo𝘂𝗋 𝗳𝗿i𝗲n𝗱s

“I’ve been watching him all afternoon—checking his breathing, over and over, afraid he would just… you know. Dayna…” Her voice cracked. “Can you help him?”

Dayna didn’t answer immediately. She took the medical report from Nell’s hand and skimmed through the details with practiced eyes.

After a long silence, she gave a reluctant shake of her head. “It’s complex. Deep-rooted. I can’t promise anything.”

Nell’s heart dropped like a stone. That wasn’t the answer she’d hoped for.

She slumped into the nearby chair, her voice barely holding together. “What are we supposed to do now? He’s such a gentle, sweet soul. I can’t bear the thought of losing him.”

Dayna was the best there was—if even she hesitated, it felt like a silent verdict. As if the universe had made up its mind about the boy’s fate.

“Congenital diseases are the hardest,” Dayna said gently. “They’re written into the body, into the blood. There’s no clean removal.” She reached over and squeezed Nell’s hand with quiet reassurance. “But I can try—do everything I can—to prolong his life. At the very least, we’ll make sure he doesn’t slip away in his sleep.”

With that, Dayna sat down on the edge of the sofa, studying the boy again. Something about him tugged at her memory. There was a familiarity in the curve of his mouth, the slope of his brow. Where had she seen that face before?

But the thought wouldn’t settle, so she set it aside.

“You’ve been with him all afternoon. Did he say anything? His parents? Does he know they abandoned him here?” she asked, turning to Nell.

Nell shook her head, eyes heavy. “I checked the studio’s surveillance. Someone in costume dropped him off—completely covered. You can’t even tell if it was a man or a woman.”

Dayna pulled out her phone and flipped through the photos Nell had sent earlier. Her eyes narrowed slightly. “Judging from the handwriting on the note… it feels like a man’s.”

Nell’s gaze drifted back to the child, and then she sighed again. “He’s so young. He doesn’t deserve this. Why would fate be so cruel?”

“I’ll examine him again tomorrow,” Dayna said after a pause. “And I’ll start making a treatment plan as soon as possible. But neither of us is sleeping tonight. We’ll stay with him.”

Nell leaned into her hand, unable to resist another defeated sigh. “Raising a child with a condition like this… his parents must’ve been drowning in it.”

Dayna nodded. “Children are part of their parents. When they suffer, the pain slices through the parent too.”

Nell hesitated, eyes on the sofa. “Maybe he’ll sleep more comfortably in a bed? But he looks peaceful now, and I’m afraid to move him. What if we wake him?”

Before either of them could decide, the boy stirred.

His eyes fluttered open—wide, clear, and impossibly bright—and settled on Dayna.

“You’re so beautiful,” he murmured. “Are you an angel? Am I already in heaven?”

It twisted Dayna’s heart. She knelt beside him and extended her hand with a soft smile. “Would an angel ask you to touch her? See for yourself.”

The boy reached out slowly, fingertips brushing her skin. “You’re warm,” he whispered. “So… I’m still alive?”

The question hit like a quiet explosion. Both women froze.

The boy knew. He understood more than they thought.

Nell blinked through the sting in her eyes and managed a gentle smile. “Of course, you’re alive. And we’re going to do everything we can to keep it that way.”

But even as the words floated in the air, the boy’s gaze drifted—clouding, dimming—as if he no longer believed it himself.

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