Aside from the Hart extended family who barged into Lola's home, some nosy neighbours, with Mrs Clover being the ring leader also followed suit.
Rosemary's inflamed eyes almost popped out of its socket when she found her precious son, clutching his chest and gritting his teeth like some about to have a cardiac arrest.
"Sweet Jesus... Brain!" Rosemary ran over to her son to help him sit down.
"Calm down, baby. Shhhh... whatever the problem is, mummy is here to handle it." Rosemary engulfed her broken son in a motherly embrace, stroking his back tenderly and whispering encouraging words to him.
"She should.... h...have just...allowed me to...to die, mum." Brian's whole body shook with so much anguish as though he had just lost his lovely wife.
"You treacherous witch!" Clara stormed over to her sobbing sister-in-law, who was currently on her knees.
Whoop!
Clara released an eye-blinding slap on Lola's left cheek.
"Ah..." Lola felt blood and bile rush up to her face. Her tongue tasted a metallic and salty substance, as the inner side of her cheek collided forcefully with her teeth. She instinctively raised her left trembling hand to her hot and stinging cheek, whimpering in pain.
Sadly, Clara was just getting warmed up.
Smack!
The adrenaline activated Clara gave her sister-in-law another fiercer slap on her right cheek. She was about to dish out a third slap when Uncle Melvin's wife, Justina, swiftly pulled her back from disfiguring Lola's face.
"Stop this, Clara!" Justina reprimanded the young lady angrily. "That is your elder brother's wife you are hitting and she is way older than you. Allow your uncle, aunties and mum to fix this..."
"Nooo... I won't! Allow me to teach that old hag a lesson that you will never forget! She wants my brother dead. But I will kill her before she succeeds." Clara shouted at the top of her voice.
"Justina... Don't make me come over there and pull out every single one of your hair from its scalp. Allow that girl to unleash justice on my behalf." Rosemary's bitterly enraged voice reverberated in the semi-crowded room.
"I'm...s...s...s...sorry..." Lola's broken voice came out like an annoyingly screeching CD player.
"Everyone, please...calm down!" Aunty Florence tried to be the voice of reasoning in the chaotic atmosphere.
"What did she do to Brian that is causing him so much grief?" Aunty Martha queried in her stern repressed voice.
"She slept with her boss, got herself pregnant and infected with HIV." Mrs Clover's malicious voice echoed from the back.
"What!"
Every pair of eyes turned to the sobbing fragile lady on the floor.
"N....oooo...it's a m... mistake....it's not true..." Lola raised both her trembling hands in the air, pleading for mercy. She could sense a fierce beating come up if no one came to her rescue.
"I'm not lying..." Mrs Clover happily made her way to the front, as every pair of eyes shifted in her direction. "I heard everything word for word from Mr Brian. I can also prove it."
Mrs Clover's hawkish brown eyes dart around the living room for the brown envelope.
When she saw it and some white document lying behind Lola's leg, she briskly moved closer to pick it up.
Big mistake.
"You nosy, backstabbing, homewrecker!" Lola's animalistic instinct kicked in. She pounced on Mrs Clover like a wounded cat about to prey on its victim. She clawed at Mrs Clover's face and started to choke her neck.
"Help! Someone help me!"
Poor Mrs Clover shrieked like a mouse caught in a viper's deadly embrace. She had finally met her match in the feisty enraged Lola.
"Someone should get that mad woman of Mrs Clover before she commits murder."
While some amused neighbours cackled from the backstage, the confused Hart family swung into action.
A visibly baffled Uncle Melvin and Aunty Florence quickly pulled Mrs Clover from Lola's bone-crunching grip to safety. While Aunty Martha picked up the controversial document from the floor.
"She has broken my windpipe." Mrs Clover's terror-filled raspy voice echoed in the room as she was carried outside.
A wave of laughter amid the chaotic and sorrowful scene engulfed the living room.
"It serves you right for always being forward." One of the neighbours' voices echoed from behind.
"I can bet two bowls of my sweet orange fruit that Mrs Clover will never stop fronting." Another neighbour couldn't stop herself from laughing.
"Please...if you are not a member of this family, I implore you to leave this house now. This is a sensitive family matter that needs utmost privacy. This house is not a marketplace to exchange gossip. People's lives are on the line and you all should show some respect." Aunty Martha announced between gritted teeth after confirming Mrs Clover's claims.
"Sorry..."
"I just came to help..."
"Did we do something wrong showing our concern..."
"I'm so out of this house..."
Different comments filtered in the air as both the genuinely concerned neighbours and gossip seeker shuffled their feet while leaving the house.
After Uncle Melvin had secured the entrance door to prevent any unwanted visitors, all eyes turned back to the calm and sobbing Lola.
"Martha, please tell me what that nosy woman said is not true." Rosemary's vengeful voice echoed in the room.
Martha's heart sank as she shook her head from side to side and let out a long sigh.
"I'm sorry to break your heart, sister but it is true. This document right here from one Glove Clinic..." Martha raised the medical report in the air for everyone to see. "... confirms that our dear Lola is pregnant and infected with HIV."
"Sweet mother of God!" Justina gasped, placing her intertwined hands on her head. She instinctively moved away from Lola as though the latter had leprosy.
"Is this a stupid prank?" Uncle Melvin's irritated voice echoed in the room.
"I always knew that she is a freaking whore." Clara spat out in Lola's direction.
"Please...I can explain!" Lola raised both hands up helplessly, as her twitching eyes darted from one piqued family member to the other.
"Explain what... Lola!" Brian flared up.
"Brian, please... Allow me to handle your promiscuous useless wife." Rosemary pleaded as she tried to pull her son to sit down. "Your heart is not strong for all of this. I can't afford to lose you because of the wretched woman you married."
"No...mother..." Brian shook with so much bitterness and anguish as he imagined Lola naked in the arms of Ian.
"I want Lola to explain to me and everyone standing here, why she chose to hurt me this way after all we have been through together." Brain tears clouded, and bloodshot eyes glared at his crying wife.
"Didn't I love you enough? Is it because I'm not as rich as your boss? Is it because we cannot make babies yet? Tell me, why...?"