Misery

Oh, it is raining." Steven mumbled as he sat in the backseat of the vehicle, staring at the raindrops trailing down the window glass.

"Did you say something, sir?" Joe asked while striving to focus on the road as he gave his attention to his boss.

As Steven's eyes swayed away from the window, he let out a sigh and said, "This scene seems too familiar."

The confusion in Joe's expression quickly shifted into pity as he gave a glance into the V-mirror and saw the misery on his boss's face.

"Do you think she will be able to forgive me?" Steven said while staring at his employee's face through the V-mirror.

"I don't know, sir." Joe slowly replied, choosing his words carefully.

The car grew awfully silent and it stayed that way until they got to the Harper's bakeshop. Then Steven rushed out of the car, ran under the heavy rain towards the bakery, and knocked on the door.

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

"Julie, can we talk!" Steven shouted as he aggressively beat on the door.

Finally, Mr. Harper opened the door with his eyes burning with anger, then a line appeared between his brows, and his lips pressed together as he gave Steven a dirty look.

"Hello, Mr. Harper. Can I speak with Julie?" Steven anxiously said with his eyes focused on his shoes.

"Safe your greetings, boy! And no, you can not talk with my daughter." Mr. Harper coldly said.

"Let him in, and stay out of their matter, honey." Mrs. Harper's voice echoed from within the bakeshop.

A frown appeared on Mr. Harper's face as he stared away from Steven and gazed at his wife.

"But he… Did you see how devastated our daughter was when she came home? She wouldn't even come out of her room, and it's all because of him!" Mr. Harper angrily said.

"You don't know that. Julie uttered no words to us, so how do you know that it's because of Steven, she is upset."?" Mrs. Harper softly replied.

"Our daughter came from his place and she was in tears. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to explain what happened."

"That's why you need to leave them alone to fix what happened between the both of them."

"But...but…"

"No but."

The silence that followed after Mrs. Harper's remark dragged on for a few seconds before Mr. Harper could stepped aside and allowed Steven to come inside.

"She's in her room." Mrs. Harper gently said with calmness in her tone.

"Thank you." Steven hastily said before hurrying to Julie's room.

When he got to the door, he stood still for a moment before knocking on it. Then he patiently waited.

"Julie," Steven called out a few moment later.

After five more knocks, he tapped on the door again and said, "You can't ignore me forever. We got to talk at some point."

Within a few seconds, the door finally opened and before Steven could utter a word, Julie slapped him so hard that her fingerprints were left on his cheek.

"Get out of my house." She angrily said while struggling to maintain a calm tone.

For a second Steven's hand caressed upon his cheek as he strove to get rid of the shock he felt and pulled himself together.

"I am sorry." Steven calmly said, staring deep into Julie's wet eyes.

"Sorry! Sorry! What are you sorry about? Lying to me? Cheating on me ? What about treating me as a fool? Which of the three are you sorry about?" Julie screamed.

Those words caught Steven off guard that he could barely move his lips to say the thoughts crowding his head.

"Get out!" Julie screamed.

"I…" Steven stuttered while watching her tears fall like a waterfall.

"We are over. Just leave."

"You don't mean that."

"I do. So just leave me alone."

Sadness clouded Steven's features. But after a moment a croaky smile appeared on his face as a tear threatened to fall from his eyes.

"What happened tonight with Chloe was a mistake, Julie. I love you. Damn it! I love you!" Steven strongly said as terror overtook his face.

You are the worst, you know that? You kept telling me not to worry about the both of you. Then you go and do this! How am I supposed to trust you again?" Julie downheartedly stated.

"You can trust me. Tonight would never repeat itself."

"I can't, Steven. I just can't. It was so, so painful the first time a man broke my trust, and now, my heart hurts, it hurts so bad. I can't go through this for the third time. Please leave."

They were hurting, and both of them could see the pain in each other's expressions, yet the silence in the hall grew louder by the second as tears shone in their eyes.

Suddenly, a blank and emotionless expression swept over Steven's face as the realization of the moment gradually seeped in.

Then he turned around, and the moment he did, Julie slammed her room door shut and slid against its wooden frame until her butt rested on the cold tiles.

Within a split second, she drew her legs against her chest, then bitterly wiped until there was no tear left in her eyes. So she just softly sniffed to calmed herself.

But that didn't help, and with a discouraged whimper, Julie crumpled onto the ground.

The Wanton household was peaceful as Chloe walked through the front door.

However, she did not spare a second to interact with any of her family members as she hurried past them and headed upstairs.

Once she entered her bedroom, the door got shut behind her. Then she rushed to her bed, crawled into a ball, and cried her eyes out.

"It's over. It's really over between us." Chloe cried, choking on her sob as she struggled to fight back her tears.

At that moment, her body eventually collapsed, leaving behind nothing but the essence of misery which swirled through Chloe.

At mid night, the hospital hallway felt a bit colder on this particular night as Steven headed straight towards the ward Jackson was in.

However, when he got into the waiting room, he met Rose seated on the bench, napping with her head.

"Mom," Steven gently called out as he lightly tapped Rose on her shoulder.

"Hmmm…" She mumbled while opening her eyes to meet Steven's gaze.

"Joe is waiting for you in the parking lot. Go to my place and have a rest. I will take over from here."

Rose took a moment to rub the sleep from her eyes. Then she softly smiled at Steven and said, "Thanks, son. Doctor Daniel sedated Jackson for him to get some rest. So it will be by tomorrow before he wakes up."

"Okay. Now go and get some rest. We can't have you breaking down too." Steven intoned, forcing a smile on his face to hide the pain that was ripping through his heart.

After giving Steven a brief hug, Rose left, leaving him standing in the midst of the silence echoing throughout that ward.

Then Steven walked into Jackson's room, sluggishly sat down in the chair beside his bed, gently rested his head on Jackson's hand, and allowed the tears that he had been holding back to flow.

"I am losing her, bro. I should have listened to you. I can't lose another person. It will kill me slowly if this happens. Is this how you feel too?" Steven softly cried before shutting his eyes closed.