Caleb didn’t even hear him. He turned on his heel and walked straight out of the small office, his head spinning violently. Every step down the corridor felt heavy, as if weighed down by the guilt pressing on his own shoulders. He had trusted them. He had believed every slick promise because it was easier, less painful, than facing the awful truth. At the end of the hall, he looked into Ethan’s room. The boy was sitting up in bed, a small bandage near his ear. He offered his father a weak, tired smile. He looked so small and fragile, but he was alive and aware.
Caleb’s chest tightened. For the first time in his life, his son was looking at him and could actually hear him breathe. “Dad,” Ethan said quietly, his voice still shaky. Caleb froze. He found he couldn’t even answer. Tears welled up in his eyes before he could blink them away. He walked slowly to the bed and sat on the edge. His hands, still trembling, reached out to touch Ethan’s face. “You… you can really hear me?” he whispered. Ethan nodded, and a small smile touched his lips. “Where’s Grace?”
The question landed harder than any physical blow. Caleb looked away, his shame washing over him. “She’s… not here right now, son.” “Bring her,” Ethan said softly, but with a new, strange conviction. “She helped me. She’s not bad.” Caleb’s throat tightened. For a long, difficult moment, he couldn’t speak. Finally, he stood up, turned to the nurse who was standing by the door, and said in a strained voice, “Tell my guards to release the maid. Immediately. And bring her here.”
A few minutes later, the hospital room door opened again. Grace walked in. Her uniform was wrinkled and creased, her face pale, but her expression was calm. She looked like someone who had cried for hours and simply had no more tears left to shed. Ethan’s face, however, lit up like the sun. “Grace!” he called out, his voice weak but filled with pure joy. Grace covered her mouth, a small gasp escaping. “You can still speak,” she whispered, her eyes wide. He nodded, managing a soft, breathy laugh. “You helped me.”
Caleb stood silently by the window, watching the two of them. Something hard and brittle inside his chest cracked wide open. All the suffocating pride, the sharp anger, the stubborn disbelief… it all just began to melt away. What rushed in to replace it was guilt—a deep, painful, overwhelming guilt. He looked at Grace, and his voice was quiet. “How did you know? How did you even think to look inside his ear?” Grace hesitated, her voice low. “I just… I noticed him touching it, every day. I could tell he was in pain. I thought maybe… maybe just something small was stuck in there. I didn’t want to hurt him, sir. But I couldn’t just stand by and watch.”
Caleb’s hardened gaze softened. “And you… you pulled that object out?” She nodded. “I still don’t know what it was, sir. It… it moved. It looked like it had been in there for a very long time.” Caleb turned his head toward the doctor, who was still lingering by the door. His voice trembled with a new, cold anger. “All these years. All these ‘specialists.’ And not one of you ever checked properly. Not one single time.” The doctor looked utterly defeated. “I’m sorry, Mr. Thompson. This… this never should have happened.”
Caleb let out a long, shaky breath, his eyes wet. He looked back at Grace, who was just standing there quietly. “You saw what none of them could,” he said softly. “Because you were the only one who actually looked.” Grace didn’t answer right away. She just lowered her head. “I didn’t do it for any thanks, sir. I just… I couldn’t let him suffer like that.”..
