Chapter 305: JOKE GONE WRONG
"The patient is awake now, you can go in and see her," one of the nurses announced to them after they were done tending to Erika.
The family members stayed behind, waiting for Ethan to go in first and see her. He was the most worried out of them all and even though Michael and his fellow doctor hadn’t disclosed any news to them yet, they already assumed the worst.
Ethan placed his hands on the door, gathering as much as much air as possible and releasing it. He readied himself to shoulder her pain—their pain.
He pushed the door open and immediately, he made eye contact with Erika. It was as if she was already waiting for him to come inside already.
As soon as her eyes met his, Erika sobbed uncontrollably.
Ethan walked towards her with long strides and quickly hugged her.
"It’s fine," he said to her, his hot breath fanning her hair. "We will make more babies. There’s still time," he told her, hoping his words would soothe her but he doubted that at the moment. Her tears wetted his suit, and he could feel its hot warmth.
"I’m going to kill her for what she’s done," she promised and Ethan nodded, totally acknowledging her decision. "I’m so sorry," she suddenly apologized and Ethan frowned.
He released his arms that were wrapped around her and looked into her tired blue eyes that held no sparkle in them anymore. The eyes that shined just like the star above suddenly didn’t shine anymore and that angered him so much.
"Why are you saying sorry?" He asked her, finding confusion in her words. "None of this was your fault."
"But I was careless." Her voice cracked in between. "I’m sorry for not thinking before I took the gun in her arms. I should have screamed to get your attention but I didn’t and because of that decision of mine, we have lost our..." her voice couldn’t say the word. Although she only found out that she was pregnant only an hour ago, it felt like she had already given birth to the baby but had murdered him with her own two hands.
"You only did what you thought was right," he comforted her. Earlier, Monica had explained to him what happened and what led to Erika getting kicked in the stomach by Felicia, and his blood only boiled at the thought that Felicia was able to sneak into the party without anyone finding out sooner.
Erika shook her head, not wanting to hear those words at the moment. As much as she knew that Ethan only wanted to pacify her, she couldn’t help but feel even more guilty than she already was.
Suddenly, the door swung open and Michael entered inside. "Everyone, you can enter now. I want to tell you what happened to Erika." He announced and for a second, a glint of hope passed through Erika’s eyes. Even though it was only a tiny one, she decided to hold on to it.
Just as Michael had announced, everyone walked inside the room and they all chose to wear smiles on their faces to hide their red eyes that had shed more tears than they thought it could.
When everyone was inside, Michael began,
"I know that we all are sad about what happened to Erika and also surprised to find out about Felicia." And everyone nodded. "I know that we are all probably thinking that Erika lost her baby but the actual truth is that..." he paused, keeping everyone in suspense.
"The truth is what?" Michael heard Ethan’s voice that sounded so fierce and heavy and lacked emotions which made Michael subconsciously gulp in fear. He moved closer to the head and placed his hands on the door handle.
Felix saw his actions and quickly grabbed him by his doctor’s coat.
"The actual truth is what?" He continued from where Michael finished off.
Gulping down another amount of saliva in fear, Michael ran his mouth, "Erika is still pregnant."
The room fell even more silent than it already was. No one knew if they should act happy for Erika or be mad at Michael for making them think that they lost a new member of the family right before they even got to know more about him.
Felix’s grip on Michael’s coat tightened and the latter nearly fainted from how cold the room had turned but he knew that his dark aura wasn’t illuminating from Felix—it was illuminating from Ethan.
Michael turned to make eye contact with Ethan and he instantly wished that he didn’t. Looking at Ethan only made him see his grave and he couldn’t help but feel sorry for pranking them but it was already late.
"What did you say?" Ethan asked him, his tone low but dark and demanding.
"E-Erika is s-still pregnant," Michael stuttered in fear, beads of sweat glistening on his forehead and neck. "Okay, I kinda feel like I’ve gone far with this joke but I wanted us to have something to laugh about since everyone was so worried about the arrival of Felicia. Erika, please forgive me," he pleaded to his younger sister but Erika glared so hard that he immediately snapped his mouth shut.
"This wasn’t a joke, Michael," Erika said, her voice holding just the same power as Ethan—making chills run down his spine.
"I’m so sorry," he apologized with his hands clapped together. "This was a very bad mistake."
Without warning, Felix smacked his head twice, making sure to make him feel the pain for a longer while before it would subside.
"We never asked for a joke from you and you just had to pull one at us in such a time like this?" Felix questioned him.
Michael held his head in pain as he tried to gather words in his head before he said it out loud but he couldn’t, which only made him wonder if his brain had been damaged. He lowered his head and stared at the ground in pity.
