It's dark and cold.
Kaiden is here again—at this place where everything hurts. How many times has it been?
He feels light. His body is floating. Is someone carrying him?
He can't tell.
He tries to move when a sharp pain shoots from his midsection. A strangled whimper comes from his throat, but it sounds far away.
A soft voice shushes him. "It's okay." It's faint but ever so gentle. "You're going to be okay."
Kaiden doesn't know what the voice is talking about. He can't think. It hurts.
Wet—something is wet. His nose is filled with a metallic scent and … of panic. Why are they panicking?
Another sharp pain shoots through him. Another groan he can't hear.
"It's okay," the voice says again. Or are those two voices?
Wait. Three?
Someone's crying.
Why are they crying?
Ah, it hurts. It's unbearable. He can't hang on. Will it feel better if Kaiden lets go?
--
Lucy is ready to set the hospital on fire.
What do they mean 'only family members' can enter? They are the ones who brought the poor boy in, so why are they not allowed to see him?
No, this is stupid. The angrier she gets, the less her brain works. She needs to calm down first, but it's proving to be more difficult than usual. Think—she forces herself to think.
Lucy is not stupid. She knows what it means—it's standard policy, after all—but it does nothing to relieve the tension on her shoulders. Kaiden is only one wall away yet none of them can see him.
It's been three hours since the doctor told them that Kaiden is out of the woods now. Thankfully, the baby is also safe. It's nothing short of a miracle, truly, but there cannot be a second time.
Primo has long been taken back home by his manager, leaving only after Lucy promised to inform him about Kaiden's condition. How can she do that when she hasn't even seen a single strand of his pink hair?
With Rosa heading to the restroom to clean the dried blood off her clothes, Lucy is left pacing back and forth in the hallway. She belatedly realizes the possible repercussions of having a celebrity accompany them to the hospital, but it's nowhere near her current priorities. Primo has his agency to deal with that. Until she sees Kaiden for herself, she can't settle down and worry about anything else.
What will it take for them to let her in? Does she need to make a fake identity? No, she already admitted they're not blood-related so it won't work. The hospital staff isn't gullible. Then, what can she do?
A middle-aged man in a suit walks past her but Lucy doesn't notice. She's too stuck in her thoughts to pay attention to the familiar-looking man.
Lucy's mind quickly spirals to the many borderline illegal activities she can get away with. Some that will be difficult to pull off, but she has enough connections to come out of it unscathed. A night spent in jail won't hurt her either. There's a short list of things she won't do for Kaiden, the Omega she deems as her younger brother, and committing a crime (or two) isn't one of them.
Too busy formulating plans, she doesn't see it when the man is given access to that one room she's trying to break in.
--
Kaiden keeps his head down.
There's no way he can look up—no way to meet those light brown eyes. He knows what he'll see if he does. He'll see that face full of contempt and revulsion, a carbon copy of Keisha's features. It's a face that holds no warmth for Kaiden.
"Look at me when I'm talking to you." The words are said in the tone a superior uses to command his subordinates, not a father talking to his son.
The scolding is familiar, Kaiden knows how the routine goes: the more he talks, the worse it will get. If he defends himself, he gets slapped. It's either he stays silent or he apologizes, but there's no way Kaiden is apologizing to this man ever again.
Although he thinks that way, there's no denying that he's scared. Trembling in the flimsy hospital gown, he clenches his fists hidden underneath the blanket. Still, he tries not to move too much, in case he agitates the person standing on the feet of his bed.
He doesn't know why he's in the hospital again, but why is Kramer also here?
It's been two years since they last saw each other, so why here? Why now? Is this a coincidence or did his father look for him? Is it because of Keisha's wedding? Is she here as well?
Just...why?
However, Kaiden has no way of knowing the answers. He is neither brave nor foolish enough to ask. He keeps his head low, remaining silent despite feeling Kramer's gaze burn on his skin.
When it's obvious that Kaiden won't raise his head, the man suddenly says, "I heard you were working at a nightclub."
Kaiden flinches. How much does Kramer know?
"I know that's all you're good for. Is that how you got knocked up?"
He doesn't flinch this time, but the words sting just as much. None of the painkillers they put him on softens the blow. Hearing someone talk about his unborn baby in that tone hurts no matter what.
"Do you even know who the father is?"
He knows, of course, but there's no way that Kaiden is telling him. Still, he neither nods nor shakes his head. He lets Kramer take the silence for what it is.
"So you won't talk?"
He bites his lips. The taste of blood is pungent in his mouth.
"I'm taking you back." Uncaring to Kaiden's woes, Kramer announces this death sentence. "You're a shame to the Wester name, but at least you won't embarrass me if you don't go outside."
No! He can't go back. Not when his life is finally starting to look for the better. He has friends here, people who care about him. He won't go back to that miserable house.
"We'll leave first thing in the morning."
The door slams shut but Kaiden still doesn't look up. Left alone, his tears fall. Fat, wet drops stain the white sheet below him. He stifles his cries, not daring to make a noise in the empty room.
After his breathing calms down, Kaiden grabs for the phone on his bedside table. It takes him three attempts to unlock the phone with his shaking fingers. His eyes are blurry but he manages to press the right buttons.
He calls the one person he knows he can rely on. It takes less than a second for the call to go through.
They exchange no greetings—no 'how are you'. She goes straight to the point when she says, "I'm on the way, Kaiden."
"Auntie," he cries on the phone, speaking for the first time since he woke up. "Get me out of here."
"I will." Jean's voice is kind, gentle, but there's no hiding her desperation underneath. She sounds out of breath, rushing from wherever she is when she says, "It won't take long, dear."
A hand over his stomach, Kaiden prays for her to arrive sooner rather than later.