SERENITY PAYTON
"Jordan! Stop!" Lala called out.
"Dad what are you doing?!" Harmonie exclaimed, pulling on his arm, trying to get him to let go of Bronny.
"You think you're slick?" Jordan shouted as Bronny clawed at his hands. "You think you can just sweet talk my daughter into giving you whatever you want? Is that what the fuck you think?"
Quickly Angel ran to his side and grabbed grabbed his arm, but he wouldn't budge. Not one bit. I've only seen Jordan like this once, and that was when he and Jaren get in that fight at Landon's first birthday party, but still, even then, I still saw a hint of sympathy and a hint of himself, right now, I saw none of that. It was like nice, laidback, fun Jordan was out the window and this other version took his place.
It was kind of scary...
"Jordan, stop!" Angel says firmly. "Not here."
"Dad, put him down!" Harmonie shouted.
"Are you recording this?" Landon asks, turning to his sister who was discreetly holding up her phone.
London nodded. "Oh you know I am."
Bronny finally realized what it was that Jordan was speaking of and smirked smugly. "What? Realized that she's not Daddy's Little Girl anymore?"
LeBron paused and looked at his son in disbelief, then looked over at Jordan. "Whatever this is, you and I can talk about this like adults. Let go of my son, JP."
"Or what?" Jordan hissed, turning to LeBron.
Each and every one of us were silent. We didn't know what to do or how to react; all we knew was that whatever LeBron would say next would determine Jordan's response and reaction to either Bronny or his father.
I was scared for the both of them, because nobody knew where Jordan's headspace was in this moment; nor did we know what triggered Jordan to snap on Bronny. All we could tell was that it had everything to do with something that happened between Bronny and Harmonie, and it probably wasn't our placed to know anyways.
As much as I was curious about this particular situation, I knew that I had to be there for Juan. He was in such distress that he hadn't even glanced at the vending machine across the hall. He was just sitting down with his knees up to his chest and his head down.
Every now and then he would shake his head like he's trying to come to terms with something or, as if he is trying to convince himself otherwise about whatever was going on in his head.
He wasn't speaking to anyone. He wouldn't look at anyone. When he did occasionally lift up his head, he didn't look or glance at anyone else—he looked right down the hall where Asia's hospital room was.
It was safe to say that Asia was his lifeline. I remember the exact day and moment that Audi left Juan. He was heartbroken. It was as if someone had literally drained the life from out of him; but then, when he met Asia, his whole life changed. He went from having no life in him, to having all the life and happiness he needed and then some.
So, I walked over to him, and sat right down next to him. When he didn't look up, I poked his side and gave him a small smile. "Hi."
Juan didn't smile, he just looked at me. At first, I thought that he wasn't going to say anything. That was until, he swallowed and blinked really fast as if he were blinking away tears and mumbled the words, "Hey, Rin."
Okay, he's talking. That's a good sign.
"How are you feeling?" I asked.
Juan shrugged. "Empty. Scared. Sick. Nervous. Anxious. What about you?"
"The same, but mostly, hopeful." I admitted with a nod of my head. "Why do you feel those things...?"
"I don't...I don't really know how to explain it..." He says, looking down at his wrist where Asia was permanently inked on his skin.
"Try to..." I suggested. "It might help you."
Juan nodded and took a deep breath. He glanced down at his feet as if he were thinking of how to piece the words together so that he could say everything correctly without any mistakes or misunderstandings.
Just as Juan had opened his mouth to say something the nurse walked up to us and said "Family of Asia?" and he stood straight up as he and the kids practically bombarded the nurse and listened to what it was she had to say.
Watching them hold onto each other while they listened to the nurse only made me realize that if we lost Asia, that our family wouldn't be the only thing to lose its light—Juan and their kids would lose their light completely.
———
~ Third Person Narrative ~
"She's stable." The nurse explained to the small worry-filled family that surrounded her. "She can go back home in two days."
"Fuck two days," Adrian snapped. "She needs to come home now."
Jelena turned to her twin brother and placed her hand on his arm as a way of telling him to stay calm. Adrian looked down at his sister and took a deep breath and looked down at his shoes and ticked his jaw.
"What was the cause of all this?" Juan asks.
"And can we see her?" Jelena added.
The nurse shook her head. "Yes, but she's asking for Juan. And the cause of this is all just stress. Chronic stress. My suggestion would be to try your hardest to relieve her from stress and help her balance out whatever work load she has."
Stress. Drama. The two things were a huge factor in Asia's collapse. She knew it. The whole family knew it. So why didn't she tell anyone to get their act together? They would listen and try their hardest, but at the same time, they knew her. She wouldn't ask for help or tell them if something were wrong; she preferred to suffer in silence, and in this case, it almost cost her life.
The twins glanced at their father before walking back over to their cousins, forming back into their small huddle while Juan took a deep breath and walked inside of the hospital room.
The moment he stepped inside, Asia greeted him with a bright smile and sat up a little. She pushed her curls out of her face and waved.
"Hey, Dumbo.." she said nervously.
"Asia what's been going on with you?" Juan said, disregarding her greeting.
Asia shook her head. "Nothing. I'm fine."
"You're fine," Juan snapped. "You say your fine and clearly you're not! You're in the fucking hospital Asia. You had a goddamn heart attack! You call that being fine?"
"I—."
Juan pointed to the door. "Our kids are out there scared out of their minds because they thought that they were going to lose their mother! You had me out there losing my goddamn mind because I thought I was going to have to do this life thing on my own without you by my side. Is that what you call fine? Because I don't think that's what being fine—."
"Jesus, Juan can you just fucking listen?" Asia shouted.
Juan slammed his hand against the wall, his eyes wide and full of tears. "NO! You need to listen because, I don't think you understand what it is that I'm fucking saying!
Do you realize that everyone is out there worried sick about you and you think that you're gonna get off that fucking easy just trying to act like everything is fine when it isn't! I love you and if you would've....if something were to have...if I would've lost you, if this family were to lose you, everyone's lives would change for the worst. I don't think you realize how much you hold this family together."
Asia was silent. Her eyes brimmed with tears as the weight of Juan's words washed over her. Juan immediately felt bad for making her cry. He walked over to her and sat down on her hospital bed, and wrapped his arms around her.
"I'm sorry," He says, kissing her forehand. "I didn't mean to yell...I just...I can't lose you."
"You won't..."
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END OF CHAPTER 30
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