"...That's what the doctor told us."
Tangerine choked back a sob.
"...She told us to prepare ourselves..."
To prepare themselves for the possibility that their child could leave them at any moment.
The doctor's words were like a basin of cold water poured over her and Child's Dad.
They felt a bone-deep chill slowly spreading through their bodies.
They were almost in a daze.
The joy that had risen in their eyes and at the corners of their mouths when their child woke was still there.
How had everything changed in the blink of an eye...?
They were utterly distraught.
They asked the doctor again and again to confirm what she had said.
They didn't believe it.
They didn't want to believe it.
How could this be...?
How could this be the result?
They didn't believe it!
Their child had woken up...
After sleeping for so many days...
Their child had finally woken up.
When their child had been sleeping, hadn't the doctor said everything would be fine as long as they woke up?
Why had the doctor changed her story now that their child was awake?
They couldn't accept it!
Their voices rose from low to high.
They couldn't control their tempers.
With desperation and pleading in their eyes, they asked the doctor again and again.
The doctor looked at them, calm yet full of compassion.
The doctor's answer remained the same.
Unless a miracle happened...
A miracle?
They wanted to laugh.
Were they really left to rely on something so elusive?
The doctor told them to spend more time with their child.
They suddenly came to their senses.
They hurried back to the hospital room.
Standing outside their child's room, they felt completely different from when they had left.