10

10

The hospital room was filled with the scent of disinfectant and scheming.

Father-in-law lay in the hospital bed, the heart monitor beeping, his blood pressure frighteningly high, yet his eyes were terrifyingly clear.

Mother-in-law sat by the bed, clutching a stack of documents, her knuckles white from the pressure, as if they weren't just a few flimsy sheets of paper but her last lifeline.

"Jingjing, I know I was wrong..."

She suddenly spoke, her voice trembling softly, her eyes reddened in an instant, as if she had rehearsed it a thousand times with precision.

She reached out, trying to take my hand, which I gently avoided. She wasn't angry, just wiped nonexistent tears and pushed the documents in front of me.

"I'm sorry for hiding this medical report from you all along."

Mother-in-law suddenly spoke, her voice deliberately filled with pity, pushing a document before me.

I looked down.

It was a psychiatric evaluation report.