He Gave Me Hearing, Then Taught Me What Silence Really Means novel Chapter 168

Juniper closed her eyes, exhaustion pulling at her bones, and stayed silent.

Beatrice still couldn't grasp the reality of the situation. It wasn't just a matter of scraping together funds; it was about securing exclusive drugs and elite doctors—resources that required monumental power and connections to access.

Their family possessed absolutely none of that.

Suddenly, Beatrice squeezed her hand tight.

Her voice cracked. "When your brother gets here, we'll figure it out together."

It was blindingly obvious that Juniper had just become her sole lifeline.

Staring at the woman's desperate dependency, a crushing sense of sorrow washed over Juniper. A deep, hollow tragedy.

She said nothing, simply sitting in the suffocating quiet of the hospital room.

Brooks Lane and Nadine Lane arrived the following day.

The moment Brooks heard they needed a massive sum of cash and international specialists, the color drained from his face. How was a simple country farmer supposed to navigate that? He immediately turned to Juniper. "You went to college, you know how these things work. What do we do?"

Heavily pregnant, Nadine rolled her eyes. "What good did college do? She didn't even get her degree. So she studied three more years than us, big deal. Her brain’s completely fried over a man anyway."

Already drowning in stress, Brooks snapped and slapped Nadine across the face. "Shut your mouth! Look at the situation we're in, and you're spouting this garbage!"

Clutching her stinging cheek, Nadine’s eyes went wide with disbelief. She protectively grabbed her belly. "Fine! You haven't brought a single dime home in months, and now you're hitting me?! I swear to God, I'll march to a clinic right now and abort this baby! I'll end the Lane bloodline today!"

The hospital room instantly erupted into a screaming match, the noise deafening.

A vicious migraine spiked in Juniper’s temples, but she couldn't bring herself to intervene. These people never listened to her anyway.

Finally, Beatrice roared over the chaos. "Enough!!"

Her eyes were still puffy, her entire posture sagging with defeat. "What are we going to do about your father?"

Nadine shot a venomous glare at Juniper before scoffing. "What do you think? We don't have the cash to treat him. Are you suggesting we sell the house? Where would we live? I've got a baby on the way, and Brooks doesn't even have a job! Is my kid supposed to starve in the streets?"

A wave of intense shame washed over Brooks’ face. He avoided Juniper's gaze, terrified of being mocked for his unemployment.

Juniper had zero energy left to argue. She simply stared at the frail man in the hospital bed.

He was pushing sixty. For years, she had harbored a deep, burning resentment over the slap he had given her.

She genuinely loathed this family. It would have been so much easier if she could only remember the abuse. But her mind cruelly dragged up another memory—the time she had completely broken down, refusing to go to school.

Walter had raised his hand to strike her. "What are you going to do if you drop out? Get married at this age?! Are you trying to make me the laughingstock of the whole neighborhood?! You are going to school!"

The hand had hovered in the air, but the strike never fell.

She opened her eyes, remembering him sitting there holding his bowl, sobbing openly. "If you don't go to school, you'll end up just like us! A useless farmer for the rest of your life!"

Juniper truly hated them. When she finally escaped Oakley, the hatred was so intense it felt like it was tearing her apart.

But why, amid all the venom and resentment, were there so many confusing, agonizing fragments of love?

She genuinely didn't understand what kind of monsters her parents really were.