Sorry, Dio, Dad Was Wrong

Locke dozed fitfully on a plastic chair in the hospital corridor, his cowboy hat tilted over his face. His mud-stained work pants looked glaringly out of place against the pristine white hallway.

The twenty-four-hour vigil had utterly exhausted him.

Even the hushed conversations from the nearby nurses' station had become a hazy lullaby.

"That's the farmer from the cornfield."

"I heard he rushed into the meteor impact zone all by himself."

"Oh my God, are those bloodstains on his pants?"

Their whispers drifted into Locke's ears as lightly as feathers.

Drowsily, he tried to raise a hand and adjust the brim of his hat, only to find his arm as heavy as lead.

In his daze, he heard the crisp click of high heels approaching from afar.

"Shh! Keep it down!"

An older nurse lowered her voice. "Didn't you hear? The blood test results for that blond boy."

Locke frowned beneath his hat.

He should have woken up. He should have warned them not to discuss Dio's test report.

But the exhaustion of recent days washed over him like a tide, and his consciousness sank back into darkness.

Until—

"Ahem!"

A deliberate cough startled the half-asleep Locke awake.

He jerked upright, and his cowboy hat fell to the floor with a slap, revealing bloodshot eyes and messy brown curls.

His attending physician stood before him, holding a medical chart, with two embarrassed-looking nurses behind him.

"Mr. Kent, your son is awake." The doctor deliberately raised his voice, casting a meaningful glance toward the ward. "He's just a little rest—"

"Hey!"

Locke's hearing allowed him to catch Dio's weak yet arrogant voice coming from the ward:

"Where am I?! Who are you people? Bastards, let me go!"

That familiar shouting finally eased Locke's tightly wound nerves.

He nodded his thanks to the doctor, then rushed into the ward in a few long strides.

Dio was trying to pull out his IV, while the nurse beside him scrambled to stop him.

"You little brat!"

Locke grabbed his son by the shoulder, his voice trembling slightly. "Can't you settle down for once?!"

"You scared me to death, old man. Where the hell did you go? I woke up here and nearly got scared out of my—" Dio looked up as he spoke, but when he saw his father's reddened eyes, half his swagger vanished at once. Awkwardly turning his head away, he said, "Fine. I'll settle down a little."

Thud, thud, thud!

A burst of hurried footsteps came from the ward entrance as Martha stumbled inside.

"Locke, I heard from the nurse at the entrance that Dio was awake."

"Oh God! Dio!"

Her chestnut hair, usually arranged in an immaculate bun, now hung loose over her shoulders. Tears still lingered at the corners of her eyes as the haggard woman threw her arms around the blond boy, holding him so tightly it felt as though she wanted to crush him into her bones.

Dio's entire body stiffened, his ruby-like eyes going wide.

"L-Let go of me! Aunt Martha!"

He struggled futilely, only to discover that this normally gentle farm woman possessed astonishing strength at that moment.

Just as he was about to call for his father to rescue him, a warm drop suddenly landed on his cheek.

Dio froze. Looking up, he saw Martha's reddened eyes and trembling lips.

And Clark and Jonathan standing at the foot of the bed.

Tears glimmered in the former's blue eyes, while the latter let out a long sigh of relief.

But what shocked Dio most was Locke—

The man who had always been as strong as a mountain, the man who had never shown a tired face.

He was actually leaning wearily against the wall.

"Do you have to be this mushy?" Dio muttered awkwardly, but he stopped struggling and let Martha hold him.

He even stiffly patted Martha's back. "Aren't I perfectly fine?"

"You silly child..." Martha's voice was muffled. "Do you know how worried we were?"

"Dio." Clark quietly leaned closer and added in a soft voice, "Mom fainted yesterday too—"

"Clark!"

Jonathan hurriedly interrupted his son, but it was already too late.

Dio's body visibly stiffened.

He stared in disbelief at the gray-white strands at Martha's temples—

Those definitely had not been there yesterday.

A strange feeling suddenly rose in his heart, as if something were lodged in his throat.

So I...

"Aunt Martha." He awkwardly poked her shoulder. "Y-Your hair..."

Only then did Martha lift her head. She wiped away her tears with a handkerchief and forced out a smile. "It's all right. It's only a few gray hairs. Compared to that..."

Her voice choked up again. "Seeing you safe matters more than anything."

The ward suddenly fell silent.

Dio lowered his head, his blond hair hiding his expression.

After a long while, they heard him say in a muffled voice, "...Sorry. Maybe I shouldn't have gone to save them?"

Those words were as soft as feathers falling to the ground, yet everyone present was stunned. Martha even sprang to her feet in shock.

After all, getting Dio Kent to apologize was harder than making the sun rise in the west.

But in the next moment, Locke strode over and pulled Dio into his arms.

"Sorry, Dio. Dad was wrong."

"?!"

This time, Dio was the one stunned. His dad was actually apologizing to him?!

But before he could think about why Locke was apologizing—

"Dio!"

Clark shouted and joined the embrace as well, while Jonathan and Martha also moved closer.

The five of them ended up huddled together beside the hospital bed.

"All right, all right." Dio's voice came from within the pile of people, filled with obvious embarrassment. "You're going to split my wounds open!"

Only then did everyone hurriedly let go, only to see that Dio's wounds were perfectly fine. His cheeks, however, were as red as ripe apples.

He angrily straightened his hospital gown, complaining nonstop. "This is way too much! I'm not a three-year-old!"

Martha laughed through her tears and reached out to ruffle Dio's blond hair. "In our eyes, you'll always be a child who needs looking after."

Just as Dio was about to retort, there was suddenly a knock on the ward door.

The attending physician stood at the entrance with a report in hand. "Mr. Kent, regarding your son's blood test results..."

Without drawing attention to it, Locke positioned himself in front of Dio's bed. "Is there a problem, Doctor?"

The doctor pushed up his glasses, his face full of confusion.

"The problem is... there's no problem at all. In fact..." He flipped through the report. "Not only are all his indicators completely normal, they're even healthier than those of ordinary people. This is simply..."

"A medical miracle?" Jonathan interjected at just the right moment, wearing the guileless smile unique to a farmer.

The doctor nodded. "Exactly. Considering the radiation effects the meteor may have carried, this situation is truly..."

"Thank God!" Martha suddenly interrupted loudly, clasping her hands in prayer. "This must be a miracle from God!"

"Yes, Doctor." Clark hurriedly chimed in. "Dio has always recovered especially well since he was little."

"All right, all right, everyone. But please don't interfere too much with the patient's rest."

Amid everyone's overlapping chatter, the attending physician finally left the ward with a head full of questions.

The instant the door closed, the four people in the room let out a long sigh of relief at the same time.

Clearly, although Martha and Jonathan usually acted as though nothing was unusual about Dio, they had formed a rough guess about his condition.

After all—

How could anyone sit in the living room and take a blueberry pie straight out of the oven into their hand to eat it?!

"You..." Dio leaned against his pillow and suddenly chuckled. "Your acting is terrible."

"Shut up, you little punk." Locke ruffled his son's blond hair, his eyes full of affection. "We've worried ourselves sick over you."