Who loves her more?

"Who is he?" Sam asked, looking at Karen and turning to look at Carey as well.

"He is … he is…." Karen started but stammered.

"Her boyfriend. The father of her child. She didn't tell you about me?" Carey answered with arrogance, "Get your hands off them."

"Boyfriend," Sam repeated, laughing loudly that even the dead could rise. "I thought you were the husband, and it turns out you are just a mere boyfriend."

He had just said the words when Carey landed fists on him. Shocked, he stood still, and Carey landed another fist, then another.

Sam shook his head and blocked Carey on time from beating him again.

He then kicked Carey on the knees, and when he bent, wreathing in pain, Sam beat him up on the back.

"Stop it," Karen said, moving in between the two men.

Carey was up on his feet by then, and the two men were fighting each other in whatever parts of the body they could lay their hands on.

Karen was pushed aside, and Frank started crying when he saw his mother on the ground.

When they heard Frank crying, the two men stopped fighting, and one rushed towards Karen while another rushed towards Frank.

"I don't know what you saw in such a stupid man," Sam told Karen, cursing.

"Dad is here. All will be well," Carey told Sam.

Sam helped Karen up, and she rushed towards Frank, who had stretched his arms, ready to be in his mom's warm embrace.

She turned to look at Sam and told him that she was leaving.

"I will come with you," Sam said.

"What! Are you nuts! Karen," Carey called out.

"Please leave me alone. Where were you all those days when I was calling you? Who were you with, and why are you here?" Karen asked.

"You're going to regret this. He doesn't love you," Carey said.

"He was here for me. In all the months, I was jobless and struggling. I will be with him, Carey, and you can't stop me," Karen said.

Carey rushed to hold her, but Sam stopped him midway, telling him that Karen had spoken and he ought to respect that. "Goodbye, and just so you know, I now have a job. I won't plead with you to help take care of him."

"Listen, Karen, she was a mistake," Carey started before realizing that he had betrayed himself.

"She! It's because of a woman that you forgot about your child. I used to call and sound desperate, and all along, you had a woman on my bed," Karen said disgustedly.

"It doesn't matter because I can also see that you had a man to keep you busy. We're even so we can cancel our bad deeds against each other," Carey argued, and Karen got disgusted all the more by his arguing.

With that, Karen, Sam, and Frank got into the car and drove away.

Sam was bleeding slightly on his fists, and Karen encouraged him to drive into a nearby pharmacy and get first aid treatment.

Throughout the dinner, Sam didn't talk much. He didn't even kiss her goodbye when they parted ways after he had dropped her at home.

She didn't ask for it since she understood that he might be harboring hard feelings after what happened, but she wanted him to assure her that nothing would change between them.

Carey had left the compound by then, but Karen knew that he would be back anytime, and she had to act in speed in moving out.

~

Evans, Zac, Calvin, and Peter were all in the hospital. The parents had given their consent for the procedure to be carried out.

Evans had gotten into some room, from where he would be wheeled into the theater room.

"Since we're not having a full operation, I would prefer that we do the spinal anesthesia," his doctor recommended.

"No. I prefer general anesthesia. I can't watch this," Evans answered.

"Well, that's also understandable," the doctor answered as he left the room, giving Evans time to change into the theater clothes that were beside him.

Minutes later, he was well dressed, and the doctor walked back in, gave him the anesthesia, and he was wheeled out of the room.

The family rushed to look at his peaceful face on that stretcher and moved along with it till they got to the door of the theater room.

Inside the theater, the surgeon checked for a pulse next to the area he intended to cut and compared the skin temperatures of the damaged parts with those of the healthy parts.

Having decided on the area to cut, the surgeon removed as many damaged tissues as possible and left the healthy tissue.

He also removed the crushed bones. He smoothed uneven crushed bones and sealed off blood vessels and nerves.

He then cut and shaped the muscles so that the end of the limb had a prosthesis attached to it. He then closed the wound by sewing the skin flaps.