Reality

The moment Jackson and Jennie came back into the living room everyone tried to act natural.

Without looking up for even a second, Steven was intensely staring at his blank phone screen while Julie clutched onto Steven's arm and rested her head on his shoulder, gazing down at his phone.

Swaying his sight from the entrance, Chris hastily stared at his watch without taking his eyes off it even though he already knew the time.

Suddenly, Mr. Harper took the box off the table and began eating the donut that was meant for Jackson while Mrs. Harper tried to get him to stop.

And Rose, well, she continued playing with grandbabies like she had been doing all these while.

However, Miya was the only one who made eye contact with Jackson, and when their gaze fixed on each other, Jackson looked the other way.

"I'm leaving," Jennie mumbled.

For a second she stood quite still as a feeling of embarrassment held her hostage.

Then Jennie walked out of the living room, and when the sound of the front door being shut echoed into the living room, everyone started behaving like themselves again.

"I should get going. I got a meeting by twelve." Chris said as he stood up from the couch.

Then he walked over to Jackson, tapped him on his shoulder, and whispered, "Take care of yourself and avoid alcohol for the time being. You need to stay sober because you have a family to take care of now."

"Kids." Jackson coldly said as he glanced at Miya before staring back at Chris.

"What?"

"I got my kids to look after and that's it."

Giving silence as his next reply, Chris frowned at Jackson then he walked past him and headed for the front door.

"We should get going too. It's almost time for the bakeshop to open." Miss Harper softly said.

Then she took the donuts box from her husband and settled it back on the table. Afterward, both of them stood from the couch and approached Jackson.

For a short while, Mrs. Harper hugged Jackson and said, "You are a good man, and I know that you will be a great father to these kids. But you have to be a decent human to their mother. I saw the look of anger in your eyes when she gazed at you just now."

"I hold nothing against her," Jackson whispered back, and yet his heart felt a bit guilty.

"I know that. But you do hold a grudge against love. All I am saying is don't let your past stand in the way of your future, and You should give your heart the chance to heal and learn to forgive yourself so you will be able to forgive others and fall in love again."

"I understand. Thank you for the advice."

Mr. Harper smiled as he stood a few distances away from Jackson and his wife. Even though he didn't hear the words his wife had said to Jackson, he could tell by the look of remorse on his face that it was something important.

"You kids take care of yourself and no funny business." Mr. Harper jovially said as Mrs. Harper joined him. Then both of them headed out.

"Today must have been tough on you guys, so we should give you guys some space. However, I will be back to properly visit my niece and nephews." Steven said while getting up from the couch.

After playing with Milo, Mila, and Milu for a bit, he smiled at Miya and Rose before advancing towards Jackson.

Then Julie stayed back, smiled at Miya, and said, "Let's catch up later, okay?"

"Umm sure," Miya replied with a soft smile on her lip.

Both men stood for two seconds as Steven coldly stared at Jackson. Then he frowned and mumbled with a hint of anger in his tone,

"You owe me a lot of explanation."

"I know," Jackson muttered.

Afterward, Julie met with Steven. Then he held onto her hand, and the two of them walked out.

"Mom," Jackson called out.

"Oh, I am not ready to leave just yet," Rose said, barely focusing on her son as she played with the babies.

"Please excuse me," Miya said to Rose with a faint smile on her face.

Then she stood from the couch, walked right past Jackson without looking his way, and headed upstairs.

However, he took off after her, and when they finally arrived in the guest room, Miya stood and turned around to face him.

"What is it?" Jackson asked when he saw the stress in her expression.

"Lucas called me from prison. That's what I came downstairs to tell you earlier this morning, and well your family was there so I couldn't." Miya mumbled.

Feeling a raise of anger in his chest, Jackson scowled and asked, "What does he want?"

"He said that he wanted to see me and I should visit him at the station," Miya said as terror washed over her, raising the fine hairs on the back of her neck.

At that moment, she felt a wave of fear taking control of her, and a feeling of dread crept up from the pit of her stomach as the image of their burned-down house reflected in her head as she had just woken up from a bad dream that she couldn't forget.

Suddenly, her mind subconsciously made her relive all the multiple times he had abused her, his cold expression when he did it, the way his eyes shown no remorse each time he watched he cried from the bruises he left on her skin, and then reality became clearer and she finally saw him for the man that he was.

As color quickly drained from Miya's face,

she whimpered and her legs collapsed underneath her.

Then she dropped to the cold tiles, pulled her legs towards her chest, and rested her head against her knee.

"It's not something normal. All those times when he beat on me, I thought it was okay and that's how couples are because I grew up with my dad doing the same to my mom. But just now, when you and Jennie had an argument, she left with not a single bruise on her." Miya shakingly mumbled as her tears fell upon her thighs.

The sense of guilt he felt only built up as when Jackson heard those words and as Miya's soft cry echoed into his ears, he felt like he should have not judged her so harshly for staying with an abuser.

At that moment, Jackson knew that his silence was more important than the thousands of words he could tell her, so he approached Miya, sat down on the floor, brought his knees up to his chest, and kept quiet.

The two of them sat there for what looked like hours. Then Miya slowly lifted her head, stared at him, sniffed back her snot, and said, "I am so stupid for ignoring all the signals."

"You are not. The only one who's stupid is Lucas for taking advantage of your innocent and abusing the love you have shown him. So stop blaming yourself and let the wants who did you wrong own up for their mistakes. You don't have to meet him if you don't want to." Jackson softly said.

Then he felt his heartbeat increase as they gazed into each other's eyes, and he knew that feeling so well, but he chose not to act on it since both of them were vulnerable to all their emotions at that moment.

"I want to see him." Miya abruptly said.

"What?" Jackson asked in shock.