The Officer's Runaway Wife and Secret Son novel Chapter 496

Take medicine on time. Check.

He had indeed done that.

Clara used to portion out his medicine every day, and later, Felix learned to do it too. Every time it was time for his dose, the little guy would run over with a cup of water and say in a commanding tone, “Daddy, time for your medicine.”

If he missed a dose, Felix would deduct points from his score sheet, so he never dared to be lazy about his medication.

Play LEGO with me. Check.

Cook and wash dishes. Check.

There was also a new item: Protect me and Mommy from bad people. Check.

Next to it were bonus points: Daddy’s cooking is yummy (+10 points), Daddy took me shooting today (+10 points)...

No wonder Clara had said he’d passed long ago.

By the time he read the fourth item, Rhys felt his eyes grow hot. He took a breath and continued reading down to the very bottom of the chart, where four words were written:

Live a long, long life.

Those four words pinned Rhys’s gaze, and he couldn't move.

What was Felix thinking when he wrote that?

Did he know that some illnesses couldn't be cured with medicine and shots, that some countdowns had no pause button?

Rhys figured a four-year-old wouldn't know any of that.

In Felix’s world, being sick meant you got shots and took medicine, and then you got better. Bad guys were caught by the police, and good guys lived for a very, very long time.

“Live to be a hundred” was a blessing, not a desperate hope.

The finish line was there. It was just a matter of whether it was near or far.

He slowly looked up, his eyes filled with a bewildered panic.

Felix had been a little nervous. After all, this was the first time in his life he had given someone a “red envelope.”

He thought his daddy would praise him.

Or say something like, “Not bad, kiddo,” like Daddy Simon would.

But he waited and waited, and his daddy said nothing. His eyes just got redder and redder.

Clara's mom had been smiling as she watched her grandson’s antics, but when she heard Felix’s words, her eyes instantly reddened.

She had, in a way, watched this man grow from his twenties to now. As much as she had resented him and been angry with him before, seeing him now, willing to tear his heart out to protect his wife and child, made her ache for him.

Clara's dad sighed beside her and patted her shoulder without a word.

Simon blinked several times, then lowered his head, wondering if he’d been blinking too much.

Felix looked at the strange, evasive reactions of the adults around him, completely baffled.

Why were they all making such faces all of a sudden?

Was what he said wrong?

But he still had his ultimate trick up his sleeve.

So, as the others tried hard to hide their emotions, the little boy leaned closer to Rhys’s ear, his voice not softening in the slightest.

“Daddy Simon used to say I have really good luck. When I go to the claw machine, I win every single time.”

“I’ll give you all my luck, so you’re not allowed to die, okay?”