Candid

Chapter 53

Hi Babes!

Who's ready for the Hayes siblings??

Who are you most excited to see?

Enjoy.

|| ✨ ||

"Go fish."

"'Go fish'? I thought we were playing blackjack!"

"You are so fucking stupid, did you know that?" Tessa whipped her head to our mother. "Mom, does stupidity run in the family, or is it exclusive to Sebastian? Please say the latter."

My mother glared at both of them and proceeded to ignore her two children and instead turn back to her conversation with Grandma Vicky and Aunt Jenna.

"Where do you see money to bet, genius?" Harry asked as he walked past them with snacks in his hands. He stopped by the other side of the waiting room and handed over the food to the little ones that were busy coloring in and kissed Alexis on the head, rubbing her back gently.

"What more did you expect, it's Sebastian," Sophie commented from across from me. Charlotte chuckled, rubbing a hand over her swollen belly. Jackson sat at her side, eyes on her belly like a hawk. Olivia blew a kiss to her husband.

The Hayes family and friends had officially taken over the private waiting room within a couple of hours. It started when some nurses had asked us to move away from the doors to the CCU because we were too loud. Mom used her perks of working here and settled us in a private waiting room used for exclusive patients and their families.

I had gotten an overload of hugs and kisses from my family so much so that I was glad that Tessa punched me in the arm as her form of greeting. She hadn't asked me anything about my fight with dad or how I was with the whole Grayson situation since we were surrounded by our siblings. Daphne hadn't been able to make it since she's a nurse for a living and sometimes you can't just bail on the job when you have to keep people alive.

As of right now, Uncle Ian and Johnathan were visiting my father. He was still asleep when my mother and I went through to see him after Dr. Jones gave us the all-clear. For the first time, his hair was messy. His face was pale and his forehead was wrinkled like he was tense even in sleep.

My mother spent most of the time smoothing out the lines on his forehead and brushing his hair out of his face. It was both adorable and hard to watch.

He only regained full consciousness when Sebastian was in there with Harry, and that was only because he wanted to tell them to shut up because they were being too loud. Safe to say we all tried to cram into the room and were eventually kicked out by the nurses scowling the whole time.

My mother remained for almost an hour before each family member went through to be with him. I had been putting it off, afraid of being in there when he's actually awake since we were still at a stalemate on our relationship.

Charlotte said that he was in good spirits all things considered but Sophie said that he looked tired and his eyes kept crinkling in pain. Harry, Sebastian, and Tessa had spent the shortest amount of time in there mainly because they're the ones that have the most strained relationship with our father, and also they're the worst at expressing their emotions. But each of them came out of there with calm smiles and relaxed postures.

My friends had left before the siblings had gotten here. Grayson was more hesitant but I told him that they could all come back once it had calmed down a bit with all the family. We just needed some family time before we had to face reality again.

Abigail sat behind me, braiding my hair back with deft fingers. "Your regrowth is showing," she mumbled, running a finger over the parting in my hair, showcasing my blonde roots, "but they do look a little darker so that's a positive."