Trouble

Jackson's fingers grabbed onto the bed sheets as his hand folded into a tight fist. He then raised his eyebrows as he coldly stared in the direction of the doorway.

"What are you doing here, Leon?" Jackson calmly said, and yet his tone bore aggression.

"To see you," Leon replied with a carefree attitude.

"We are not that close, so cut to the chase and tell me why you thought it necessary to visit the man whose wife you slept with."

"Well, I wanted to know how serious your condition was for Julie to abandon her son for months."

"Well, you can leave since it's clear that my condition has nothing to do with Julie staying away from you. Oh, and next time, how about you call her instead of repeating today, okay?"

Although both men's tone sounded mutual, they were far from calm, and the rage burning in their eyes only seemed to intensify by the second.

"From the disgust in your voice when you call her name make it clear that she hasn't told you yet," Leon said with a bit of mockery in his tone.

"What are you talking about?" Jackson asked with less patience in his every word.

"This happened because of you."

"Stop talking trash and get the hell out of my room!"

"Ayah! It seems like you already guessed that Jennie slept with me because of you! This is all your fault you weak piece of shit! And now, you are playing the victim! Cut the bullcrap!"

At that moment, the door blew open and Steven stormed into the room, completely consumed by anger over the words he had just heard.

Blinded by rage, he grabbed the empty silver food tray that sat on the table and rushed for Leon.

Before Jackson could scream for him to stop, Steven had slammed the metal against Leon's face.

"Snapped out of it, man!" Jackson yelled.

The pain he felt from screaming those words was ripping him from the inside, causing his heart to hammer against his chest with an unbearable force.

At this point, Steven's ears had become deaf from rage as he collared Leon and viciously banged his fist into his bleeding nose. Then he attacked for the second time, leaving no room for Leon to counterattack.

From the look of things, Jackson knew Steven was going to do something that he will regret for the rest of his life if he didn't step in. So he pulled the IV needle from in his vein before forcing his body to get off the bed and stand on its own, even though it caused him agonizing pain.

He then strung his muscles to move his legs as he approached Steven and Leon, and each step he took felt like the worst torture he had ever experienced.

"Steven, stop!" Jackson mumbled, clutching onto his wrist before Steven could land another punch on Leon's bloody face.

Then he rested his fingers on Steven's shoulder and mumbled, "I am begging you to stop."

Finally, reality hit, and when his eyes caught sight of the blood on his knuckles, Steven's hand began to tremble uncontrollably.

He then let go of Leon and took a few steps back as he stared at the terrifying work his fist had created, painting Leon's face red, black, and dark red with bruises.

"What happened here?"

Hearing a voice he knows well, Steven turned around to see Rose, Julie, Jennie, Mr. Harper, Mrs. Harper, and Chris staring at him with different emotions plastered on their faces.

"If I knew that this was what you were about to do, I won't have waited for the others. What's wrong with you, man?!"

"I-di-didn't…" Steven stuttered as his sight rested on the tears in Julie's eye, the shock on Jennie's face, the confusion in Chris' expression, the frown on Mr. and Mrs. Harper's lips.

But what hurt him the most was when Rose walked up to him, gently held his bloody hand into her palm, tenderly rested her right hand against his cheek, and asked, "What is happening to you, son?"

With rage shimmering in Leon's eyes, he spits his bloody saliva on the floor and shouted, "You are going to hear from my lawyer, you crazy bastard!"

"No, he's not! Why are you here, Leon?" Jennie coldly said while staring at him, then her sight swayed away from Leon and gently rested on Jackson, but his eyes didn't meet hers as he focused on the space between them.

"Have you forgotten that you are a mother!"

"No, I have not. But I am also a wife and right now my husband needs me more than my son does!"

"Does he? Then choose! I want full custody of my child, and you can keep your so-called husband!"

The room fell silent for about two minutes, and Jennie just knew that all of them were waiting on her to decide which had her feeling suffocated by the pressure in the atmosphere.

Suddenly, her eyes became wet with tears and she heartedly cried, "Jackson."

Time seemed to stop in the room as everyone in the room lost their freaking mind as Jackson dropped to the cold hospital tiles, then his eyes slowly shut.

There was chaos in the midst of the calmness as everyone struggled to keep their emotions together and get to the doctor.

A few minutes later, Doctor Daniel arrived at the scene with other medical experts, and they cleared the room.

"One, two, three, clear!"

Those four words had everyone on edge as they echoed from inside Jackson's room.

No one dared to utter a word, nor did any of their brains function properly at that moment for them to think straight.

"Argh! Ahhh..." The sudden cries of Steven echoed throughout the wards with so many grievances in his voice.

"Please get him out of here, and promise me that you wouldn't leave him alone," Rose mumbled to Julie with a pleading expression.

She then sadly smiled when Julie nodded her head. Then she watched her walk over to Steven and tightly embraced him.

At first, Steven felt shocked, but the warmth from Julie touched brought him this sense of calmness that immediately gave him a bit of comfort for his broken soul.

"How about we go out for some fresh air?" Julie softly said, staring deep into his green eyes.

It took a moment of hesitation, but after seeing the worried expression on Julie's face, Steven faintly smiled and said, "Okay."

He then gave one last look at the room and everyone else before following Julie out the door with so much guilt that was buried deep inside me.

"You should get your bruises checked by someone before it gets infected," Jennie mumbled beneath her breath to Leon as they both stood a few distances from everyone else.

"Oh, now you care?" Leon aggressively replied with anger in his tone.

"Keep your voice down. Also, I am not worried about you. I just don't want my son seeing you in such a messy state."

"You have your husband and his barbarian friend to thank for my look."

"Maybe if you didn't show up, then you wouldn't be in such a state. Did you think about that?"

"So it's my fault that you are a neglectful wife and mother? Look here, I don't care about your life, but entangle my child in your disaster, and you will never see him again!"

The look in Leon's eyes was all the warning Jennie needed to know that he wasn't kidding.

She was about to speak when the door finally opened, and Doctor Daniel walked out with a look of disappointment on his face.

At that moment, Rose's heart sunk to her feet as her tear rolled down her cheeks and her eyes grew mournful.