Chapter 1456
“Deal!” Gabriela exclaimed, her face beaming.
Since they had scheduled an appointment in advance, Eileen’s prenatal checkup was quick. Afterwards, Bryan and Eileen took Gabriela to the vaccination room.
Bryan sat down, settling Gabriela on his lap and holding her securely. Gabriela kept her head lowered, muttering a string of reassurances to herself. “It won’t hurt; it won’t hurt. Needles are soft… My skin can’t feel anything, and it can’t talk, so it can’t say it hurts.”
Eileen bit back a smile, finding Gabriela’s demeanor cute.
The nurse chuckled. “What a brave girl! It really doesn’t hurt. Just a tiny pinch, that’s all.”
The moment the cold cotton swab touched her arm, Gabriela let out a yelp. She looked up, surprised to see that the needle hadn’t even been used yet. “It’s cold!” she said.
“It is a little chilly,” the nurse agreed. “Just be brave for a second, okay?” She prepared the injection and then suddenly pointed towards the door. “Look! What’s that?”
The instant Gabriela turned her head, she felt a sharp prick in her arm. As she was injected, the stinging sensation intensified.
Her little body tensed up, her eyes widened, and her mouth twitched, but she bravely held back her tears.
Seeing this, Eileen said, “Sweetheart, it’s okay to cry if you need to. You are so brave. I will also buy you a piece of candy, alright?”
Before Gabriela could answer, the nurse had already taken the needle out of her arm.
“You were so brave!” the nurse said. “Do you like candy? I’ll give you one, too!” The nurse opened a drawer, took out a lollipop, and gave it to Gabriela.
Gabriela automatically reached for the lollipop with the arm that had just gotten the shot, but then quickly switched to her other arm. “Thank you,” she said. Her voice was shaky, but she managed not to cry.
When the bleeding on Gabriela’s arm stopped, Bryan threw away the cotton ball and carried Gabriela out of the nurse’s office. Eileen followed them and noticed that Bryan had sweated a lot.
Eileen realized that Bryan must have felt for Gabriela, even though he was trying not to show it.
Once they were back in the car, Gabriela said, “Don’t forget to buy me candy! I didn’t cry!”
“Okay, okay, you were really brave earlier,” Eileen said, patting Gabriela’s head and wiping away the few tears that had escaped from the corners of her eyes. “We’ll buy you three pieces of candy.”
Gabriela shook her head. “Nope, four,” she said.
Eileen was confused. She looked at Bryan, silently asking him why Gabriela would think that.
“Well,” Gabriela explained seriously, “I get three pieces of candy from Daddy and one from Mommy. Mommy, you said you would buy me candy when I got the shot.”
Eileen was rendered momentarily speechless.
Bryan frowned slightly. He believed that if he and Eileen kept spoiling Gabriela like this, she would become even more demanding in the future.