She's more than a stranger

Two weeks later, Miya took the bus to get to the hospital to avoid the incident that happened between her and her husband the other day. So far, they had not spoken many words to each other since the day of their argument.

Lucas did not stop his smoking and drinking, but that was not Miya's primary focus. She had been feeling a bit weird in recent times, and she could not wait to meet with doctor Christina to give her the results that she had been eager to hear for weeks. Miya felt afraid to do the home test since she was reluctant to find out the report on her own.

After a few minutes, Miya got seated in the Dr. office, and she nervously stared at Doctor Christina.

"Good morning, Miya. How are you feeling on this beautiful day?" The Dr. said.

"I feel good, but I have been experiencing an increased need to urinate, and I have been feeling a bit nauseous in the morning these past days. I did not want to assume that I am pregnant or take the pregnancy test until I met with you." Miya said with fear and hope in her words.

"Okay then, let's find out if you are pregnant." Dr. Christina said with a sweet smile.

She leaves her chair and heads over to the cupboard, then later returns with a transparent cup and sets it on the table.

"I will need you to pee inside this plastic cup so we can get your urine tested," Christina stated.

"Okay, Doc." Miya anxiously replied.

She grabbed the cup and rushed into the restroom. A few minutes later, she returned with her pee in the cup.

After waiting patiently for Christina to conduct the test, the results were finally in, and it was time for her to get the good or bad news.

"I can see the tension on your face, but from now on, you are not allowed to stress since stressing over stuff is bad for a pregnant woman." Dr. Christina said with a smile as she took her seat behind her office desk.

"Wait, what?" Miya asked in excitement.

Her heart was racing with joy, and she already knew exactly what Christina had said, but she wanted to hear it loud and clear.

"Congratulation, Miya. You are pregnant." Dr. Christina cheerfully announced.

The joy Miya experienced at that moment was something that could not be put into words. Her heart felt like it would burst out of her chest because of the overwhelming joy she was undergoing.

It had been two weeks, and Miya can finally breathe now. The result was obvious. She and Lucas are going to be parents. Miya could not wait to tell her husband, even though she did not expect a positive reaction from him.

"Thank you so much, Dr. Christina. You are one amazing human." Miya declares with a sparkle in her eyes.

'You don't have to thank me because I don't deserve your gratitude. I only hope that you and the child stay safe so that I won't have to answer to Mr. Ash.' Christina thought as she continued smiling at Miya.

"Okay, that's all for today. See you eight weeks from now. Make sure you stay healthy and take care of you and the pregnancy." Christina said.

"Thank you again, doc," Miya stated before leaving her seat and walking out of the office.

Chris had not been in the hospital for days since his busy schedule would not allow him, but today he decided to check up on Jackson's condition.

As he was heading in the direction of the intensive care unit, he got bumped into by Miya.

She looked up, and when she saw that it was Chris, she gave him a bright smile with the most cheerful expression on her face, which made Chris a bit confused.

"Hey, Miya. What are you doing here?" Chris said in shock.

"Ho, good morning. I am sorry for bumping into you. My eyes were not being attentive. Can you forgive me since I am going to be a mother?" Miya childishly pleaded with him as her face glowed with pride.

"You are pregnant!" Chris yelled with a joyful tone.

He was happy that Jackson was going to be a father. Even if it was not by the woman he loved, Chris still felt glad Jackson's child would get brought into this world instead of being aborted.

Miya was now the one who got startled since she was expecting something like "Congratulation" from him and not this kind of excited reaction.

'If only this was how Lucas would react, then I would be the happiest woman today.' She sadly thought.

However, Chris suddenly grabbed Miya, lifted her, and turned her around while shouting, "You are pregnant!"

People walking by sweetly smiled at them, some of them started clapping for both of them, and others said "congratulations." Chris gently let go of Miya when he realized that he had made things awkward for the both of them.

Miya embarrassingly gazed at all the merry faces smiling with her and being happy for her good news, and she felt a bit better about the fact that Lucas would not be glad for her.

"I am sorry." He mumbled.

"It is okay, and thank you for sharing my joy with me," Miya replied with a soft smile.

"Chris, is this your girlfriend?" Julie asked as she walked up from behind them.

"No, she is not. Her name is Miya, and she's kind of a friend of mine." Chris hastily replied.

"Right, we are just friends," Miya said as she smiled at Julie.

"Miya, this is Julie." He also stated.

"You are so beautiful and I like your hair. It is stunning." Miya said to Julie as they shook hands.

"Ain't you modest? Thank you for appreciating my beauty, but I have to say that you are gorgeous and your kid is going to be so cute." Julie replied with joyful eyes.

She was not a people person, but there was something about Miya's energy that made her feel comfortable around Miya.

Chris stood amazed as the two women chatted happily like two people who had known each other for years.

"Are you there only one in the hospital today? Also, how is Jackson's health?" Chris asked Julie a few minutes later.

"No, I am not the only one. It's my parents, Jackson's father, Rose, Steven, Jennie, and me, plus you. The doctor recently checked on Jackson, but there was no change in his condition." Julie answered.

"I am sorry to be intrusive, but who is Jackson?" Miya asked.

"Oh, he is my business partner. But he got into a terrible accident and is being treated in the intensive care unit." Chris replied.

"Oh, my God. I am so sorry." Miya said as she felt a bit of discomfort in her chest.

"Thank you. He is getting more stable day by day, and we are grateful that the worst is getting over bit by bit." Julie sadly responded.

It was Jennie's time to go in and see Jackson. She walked into the room and sat down on the chair.

Jennie then kept quiet for five minutes as she stared at her husband lying motionless on the bed with all the equipment on him. Her heart skipped a beat as every second passed. She could see that he had endured a lot, but his appearance seemed firm.

"How long do you plan to dodge talking to me? Is that why you don't want to wake up because you are afraid of discussing what happened? I don't want you to be in this pitiful state. Please open your eyes and scream at me for my wrongdoings. Can you not understand how me seeing you in this state is taking a tore on my heart?" Jennie cried out to her husband.

She sat there for a while, and she got no response from Jackson. Her tears fell and her heart ached, yet nothing changed. It was Rose's turn to enter, so Jennie stood up to leave, but her eyes caught something interesting. Jackson's fingers were lightly moving, and when Jennie saw his five fingers shake, she did not delay in rushing out of the room to get the doctor.

Steven had just returned to the lobby with a hot cup of coffee when he noticed the doctors rushing into Jackson's room, and everyone else watching from the window.

Steven's mind thought the worst. The cup dropped from his hand, and the hot coffee spilled on his shoes, but he did not care. He rushed over to Rose and the others.

"What's going on?" He asked in fear.

"His fingers move, Steven!" Rose cried.

Steven felt his eyes getting wet as those words sunk into his ears. He had waited for a piece of news like this, and now that he had gotten one, he could not believe it because of his excitement.

"He moved his fingers?" Steven asked.

"Yes!" Jennie replied as she tried to contain her happiness.

As Chris, Miya, and Julie were walking toward the ICPU, they noticed a lot of medical workers rushing over to Jackson's room, so Julie stopped a nurse that was hurriedly walking past them.

"Can you please tell me what's going on?" She asked with a bit of worry in her voice.

"The patient in room one is regaining his consciousness." The nurse replied before she rushed away from them and headed to Jackson's room, but Julie, Miya, and Chris were right behind her.

Miya decided to tag along since it would be disrespectful if she just left in such a moment.

Chris, Miya, and Julie joined Rose, Mr., and Mrs. Harper, Steven, Julie, and Mr. David at the window glass.

"Okay everyone, you can come inside since he is awake, and not in any critical state." Dr. Ben said.

Once the announcement got made, the entire group stopped standing at the window and headed inside.

"Who is she?" Steven asked when he noticed Miya in the room with them.

He did not appreciate a stranger seeing his friend in this state, especially someone Jackson did not know.

"She's with me!" Chris said.

Steven tried not to make a fuss out of this issue. Now that Jackson had awakened was the only important thing that mattered to him at that moment.

Everyone's gaze was patiently on Jackson, who was laying down with his eyes open and tears pouring out of them. He did not do much movement, nor did he speak. But his sight remained on Jennie as the salty liquid continued to drop from his eyes.

Jennie knew what the tears in her husband's eyes meant, and the entire system in her body felt discomfort and pain.

There were so many mixed emotions going on in the room as everyone watched the man that had affected their lives one way or another, laying on the bed and staring back at them with a grievous expression.

"Doctor, what happened? Is my son awake? Why is he not saying anything?" Rose anxiously asked.

"Well, this is a good sign. A patient moving parts of their body shows that they can hear things, and they are recovering their awareness. We are going to run more tests on him, but in the meantime, I think it would be best if you all worry less and talk to him about the good stuff happening in you guys' lives to give him a reason to want to get better." The doctor told them before he left the room.

Afterward, the nurse asked everyone to leave the room, and all of them did. Steven and Julie took a seat on the bench, Jennie kept looking at her husband through the window glass with tearful eyes, and Mr. and Mrs. Harper stood together with Rose as they tried to comfort her.

Chris was about to walk Miya out of the intensive care unit when Steven left the bench and approached them.

"Chris, can I please speak with you?" Steven asked.

"I'll be right back." He mumbled to Miya before leaving to meet with Steven a few distances away from her.

"I did not appreciate the fact that you brought a total stranger into the room." Steven calmly stated.

"Who? She? Miya is not a stranger. She has every right to see Jackson, like all of us do." Chris replied.

"What are you talking about, man?" Steven said with a frown.

Chris coolly looked at Miya before returning his focus to Steven, who seemed puzzled by Chris' statement.

"When the time is right, I will tell all of you guys her identity. But for now, it is still risky. Trust me when I tell you that she would be important to Jackson like all of you guys are to him." Chris said.

"Okay, if you say so," Steven replied with a doubtful expression.

He watched as Chris met with Miya and walked her out the door before he joined Julie on the bench.

"What were you and Chris talking about, babe?" Julie asked.

"He said that the lady who stood beside him is as important as any of us is to Jackson," Steven replied with annoyance in his tone.

Julie laughed at first since she thought her boyfriend was kidding, then her laughter stopped when she noticed that he was not joking.

"What does he mean?" Julie asked since it did not make any sense to her that a stranger could be as important to Jackson as his friends are to him.

"I don't know," Steven mumbled, feeling more annoyed as he wondered about the identity of Miya.