Chapter 40: We’re going to call your doctor tomorrow (‘◉⌓◉’)
Leo then stood at the window for a long time, his back to the quiet. The apology from Sarah’s father did little to calm the anger and betrayal burning inside him...
It was just a word, and it couldn’t undo the months of lies. He heard her mother’s sobs slowly subside, replaced by her shaky breaths...
Finally, he turned around. His face was hard, his eyes were dead cold. The initial, explosive anger had burned away, leaving behind a grim and focused determination...
"I want to know everything," he said, his voice blank and devoid of emotion. "Right now. What is it, exactly? What did the doctors say? What’s the plan?"
Sarah’s father, looking tired and defeated, gestured toward the living room couches. "Let’s sit down, son. We’ll tell you everything."
This time, Leo didn’t argue. He walked over and sat in an armchair, perched on the edge of the cushion, his body was tense and ready. Her parents sat together on the couch opposite him...
"It’s called dilated cardiomyopathy," her father began, his voice full of emotion. "The walls of her heart’s main pumping chamber, the left ventricle, are stretched and thin. It can’t pump blood as well as it should."
Leo listened, absorbing the clinical terms. It sounded unreal, dreamy, but he knew the reality was the terrified girl upstairs...
"She was diagnosed about six months ago," her mother added, her voice trembling. "She’d been feeling tired, getting out of breath easily. We thought it was just stress from her modeling shoot. But then she fainted one day. We took her to the hospital, and they ran tests."
"The doctor put her on medication," her father continued. "Beta-blockers, ACE inhibitors... things to help her heart work more efficiently and prevent the condition from getting worse quickly. He said that for some young people, the condition can stabilize. That with careful management, she could live with it for a long time."