Her Return, His Regret novel Chapter 132

Lora’s eyes rounded at Ryan, her heart sinking to her feet.

“W-what do you mean by that?” She asked in a shaky voice. “Are you sick?”

Ryan gulped, a guilty look crossing his face as he answered, “Unfortunately, yes, I am. Before I knew you were alive, I was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome. It’s a rare blood disorder- it’s a disease that’s eating away at my ability to produce healthy blood cells-”

“Wait,” Lora interrupted, her face turning pale. “Are you saying you’ve been sick all this while and you didn’t think of telling me?”

“I…” Ryan trailed, not knowing what to say. “I didn’t want to burden you with my problems, Lora. I honestly thought I was going to get cured. We had found a donor for the stem cells. I would have told you before doing the transplant but… I received a call from my doctor two days ago that the donor was missing.”

##Flashback to two days ago.##

Ryan sat in the oncologist, Doctor Steve’s office, feeling dejected after hearing the news of the missing donor.

“So, how long do I have? Is there really nothing else that can be done?” Ryan asked, his voice hoarse.

Doctor Steve sighed, looking at Ryan before answering, “Unfortunately, you had refused to start the treatment when we found this disease. It’s too late now… at most, you have a few months to live if you’re lucky. But that’s just an estimation, you can die on any day without warning. Your MDS is high-risk and the only solution is an allogeneic stem cell transplant.”

Ryan was quiet as he listened to the Doctor, but his heart was not with him. Why did things turn out like this? Just when he took his family back, he found out he couldn’t be with them forever like he had promised.

If only he had started treatment when he was first diagnosed… however, at that time, he was filled with guilt and regret about Lora’s supposed death that he thought his illness was a punishment for his failure to protect her.

When he found out she was alive, he informed his doctor to find a way to treat him and they quickly found a donor although it took some time to find a match.

“We only found one person who was your match. But with that person missing, there’s little I can do to save you, Ryan,” the doctor said.

Ryan’s heart sank. He was dying… what explanation would he give to Lora now? That he had promised to grow old with her only to leave her after a few months?

Leaving the doctor's office, Ryan glanced at Lawrence and instructed, “We have to find the donor and find out why she’s gone off the grid.”

“Perhaps she had a change of mind,” Lawrence replied. “We can’t force her if she has second thoughts.”

“I know,” Ryan said and clenched his hands into fists. “I don’t have enough time, so I need to find her and try to persuade her once more… my life is in her hands. I can’t afford to leave my family.”