•Chapter 29.
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TINASHE'S POV:
We all stopped speaking, waiting for another sound to come, but it didn't happen, so we all rushed into the room, with Richard and I leading the way. I gasped as I covered my mouth with my right hand, taken back by what I was seeing at the moment. The sight before my eyes was more than wonderful, I couldn't even believe it for the first few seconds as the new information registered in my head. After a minute, I knew for sure that I wasn't dreaming and it was indeed the reality, and I loved every bit of it.
My baby was finally awake !
His eyes were opened and he was looking everywhere in the room, surely trying to understand where he was at and what was going on. He wasn't moving much and after what he said, he didn't talk any further. I could see a bit of panic on his face as I carefully caressed his cheek.
My heart all of sudden felt lighter, it felt like a huge weight had been taken off my shoulders. My emotions were still all over the place, but this time the positive ones were overwhelming. I was beyond happy and felt so relieved to see him awake. If he stayed in this coma and never woke up from this, I would've never been able to forgive myself.
Even though we were arguing a few seconds ago, all of this immediately went out of the window as we instantly started gathering to RJ. He was the priority now, not us and how we felt at the moment towards each other.
I kissed his forehead slightly, then sat on the edge of the bed as Richard took his hand while he grabbed the remote with his free one to then press on a button to call a nurse.
"We're coming back later, so y'all can have this moment by yourselves." My mother told us as her, Tam and auntie Suz left.
"Thank you." I thanked them before getting my attention back on RJ.
"Hey, lil' man. How are you ? " Richard asked gently.
"Do you need anything ? " I then asked, searching for a glass of water.
There was a silence in the room before he could answer. His voice sounded a bit weak, but he was still his cute self. "I'm...hungry." He announced making us both laugh. I was glad to see that my baby stayed the same. Of course he was going to ask for food, it was RJ after all and this kid loved his food more than anything else.
A single tear fell out my right eye, which I wiped immediately. I thought I had cried all the tears of my body, but it seemed like I was wrong; except that this time it was tears of joy.
"Hi, did you call ? Oh my God, he's awake ! " The nurse rushed towards us, excused herself and began to do a quick checkup on RJ. "I'm going to get Dr. Gregoirs, I'll be back." She assured us before doing as she said.
"Thank you." We talked simultaneously.
We shared a quick look, but didn't say much to each other. We needed to talk, but it could only happen later because for now we had to take care of our son and make sure that everything was good with him.
As I was putting all the drama in the back of my head, I couldn't help but wonder if Richard and I would make it through this time. We loved each other, it was not a secret, but it won't be enough for us to make it work. Our relationship was so broken, at this point I didn't think we still had some kind of foundation anymore. Nothing was left there. We needed to re-build everything, but we first had to be willing to do that and both put effort in to save us.
Was it possible after what we just lived though ?
The way he projected his aggressiveness towards me in a time of need for the both of us was making it harder for me to see a future with him, but at the same time I couldn't see my life without him by my sides. I knew he had anger issues since we first met, and I helped him as much as I could to control it.
As long as he wasn't getting very mad at me, I could accept him the way he was, but now I wasn't too sure about that. For the very first time in my life, I was scared of Richard. What if he was to hit me next time ? Deep down in my heart, I knew he wouldn't do that, but then there was this little part of me that wasn't too sure about that.
Nonetheless if I was a bit afraid, I couldn't help myself but love this man with everything in me. He was the love of my life and I wanted to be with him no matter what.
The heart knows what it wants.
It didn't mean that I didn't want him to work on himself and change for the better because of course, he couldn't continue to be this way, whether it was towards me or others. I couldn't be with a man that was mad at the world, it was just too much negativity to deal with. Plus RJ admired his father a lot, so I wanted him to mainly see the best version of his father.
We indeed had so much to work on, so many years of pain to repair and I didn't know where we should start. At this point, we both reached some breaking point, and I knew and hoped that we could only go up from now, but how ?
Will we have the strength to fight more for us ?
***
After Dr. Gregoirs checked on RJ, my baby was able to eat. The doctor told us that everybody wasn't emerging out of a coma the same way and that RJ was showing some signs of improvement pretty fast. It took him about two hours before getting the control of his body back and he could talk normally. We still had to watch him carefully though and we needed to let him completely get back to himself at his own pace. It was a waiting game, we could force nothing.
Dr. Gregoirs told us that he might have a temporary loss of memory and also times of vomiting or nausea, or dizziness, but it all depended on his body and the reaction it'll have as the time will go.
RJ did forget what happened since the day before Nǎinai was at the hospital, so we had to announce her death once again, what was very difficult to do because he was already going through so much as it was. He reacted the same as the first time and didn't say much about this. We also had to tell him why he was at the hospital and that he'd been in a coma for two days.
It was already a lot, so we didn't tell him about my father not really being mine and that he was the one behind all of this. I mean, he didn't necessarily need to know about all the drama anyways, he was still a young kid.
Once he was done with his food, he slept for an hour and was startled out of his sleep because of a dream he had. Turned out that it was more like a flashback, which helped him to remember what happened.
He didn't ask further questions and we decided to change the subject of the conversation, bringing up more positivity in the room.
For now, he wasn't showing any other symptoms that could have been caused by the poison and he didn't have trouble with his breathing either, but we were still closely watching him.
When auntie Suz, my mother and Tam came back, it was already one in the morning. They stayed shortly, then decided to leave since RJ was getting tired again. Richard and I asked to stay for the night and the nurses nicely set up a bed for us. They unfortunately didn't have a bed for each one of us, but I didn't care much about this, mainly that I didn't have the energy to fight someone for this. I could sleep on the chair or on the floor, I didn't care, my only focus was my son's well-being.
"Can I talk to you real quick ? " Auntie Suzana motioned for us to step outside as Tam and my mother stayed behind, keeping RJ company for the time being.
"Wassup ? " Richard asked crossing his arms.
"We were talking and uh were wondering...did y'all report Mr. Kash ? I know it has to be the last thing on your mind right now, but we can't let him go away with this, he needs to pay for everything he's done."
"I told Dr. Gregoirs that we didn't know who poisoned the cupcakes, but that we were going to hire some detective to investigate on that." Richard answered for the both of us. When we came back to bring the cupcakes for analyzing them, I didn't stay long so I didn't know about that.
I frowned, "why did you do that for ? "
"I didn't want them in our business like that."
"No, you planned to do something stupid and you didn't want the authorities to get to him before you do ! " I corrected him after seeing the look in his eyes. I knew him too well to just believe what he was saying. My ex-father did too much for Richard to let him go without taking his revenge on him first.
"Okay, okay, we don't care now." Aunt Suz intervened before we could even argue, "since y'all are here taking care of RJ, I'm going to report him tomorrow first thing in the morning, well in a few hours."
"Okay, call Mr. Ignito before you go though. We've been building a case against him." I let her know.
"Okay. Well, good night and please behave. RJ doesn't need to witness any of the mess that was going on before he woke up."
"We will, don't worry." I told her before she hugged us tightly.
***
The next morning, we were waking up to some shit on social media. Someone ran their mouth and told TMZ what was going on with RJ, but of course not without lying about the truth. The story they came up with was crazy. Now because of that, we enforced the security at the door and we had to investigate and see if their source was coming from the hospital to see who needed to be fired.
It was crazy what people could do for money or five minutes of attention.
We didn't let it get to us though, mainly when there was so much positivity to focus on. RJ was getting a lot of love from everybody, from our family and friends to people on social media like Richard's fans and other celebrities and their own fans. Even some brands Richard worked or was currently working with, showed some love.
By twelve, RJ's room was filled with all types of gifts and more was coming, making it hard to maneuver throughout the room. Thankfully, Richard's teammates came and got them so they could bring it to his house and get it out of our way.
"Hey...Tina ? "
I looked at him, "yes ? "
"Can we talk for a minute, please ? " I nodded my head, then we stepped out the room, leaving RJ with Dorian and aunt Suzana.
Last night was super awkward and this morning things weren't better. We tried to make the tension as small as possible for RJ's sake but it was getting harder and harder within the hours.
For the past hour, we were both avoiding eye contact by all means and we were doing everything to never be too close.
We sat on the chairs that were right next to the room. I didn't know what to say and frankly I didn't feel like I had something to say because I wasn't the one who needed to apologize here, so I just sat and waited for him to start talking.
I folded my arms on my chest and looked ahead of myself, avoiding eye contact with him. Honestly, I was mad at him, my ex-father, this whole situation and at us for acting like two idiots when we needed to be there for one another and fight with RJ together.
A few days ago, we were talking about re-building our relationship and be a real family, and now it seemed like this future was nothing else but some fantasy.
I was tired to be in pain, and I didn't know for how long I would be able to go like this. Right now, as we were sitting next to each other, I only wanted one thing and it was to be affectionate with him. I needed his comfort and I knew he also needed mine, but here we were acting as if we were strangers and hate each other.
"I'm sorry."
RICHARD'S POV:
I didn't know what happened with myself, but I completely lost my mind lately. I didn't mean to be this rude with Tinashe and everybody else around me, but I mainly took my anger out on her and she didn't deserve that one bit.
Everything I did to her was unfair and out of character. I wished I was more understanding with her, as much as I wanted people to be with me. Everybody coped differently and I should've respected the way Tinashe was doing it.
I wanted her to be here so bad, and it wasn't only for RJ. I needed her as much as he did, I thought that we were going to go through this together and not each one in its corner.
We completely failed this challenge that life thrown at us. Instead of being a team, we fought each other and of course I had to take the petty road and do the most as preventing her to visit her own son, after I got mad at her for not being at the hospital with us. It was so low, and that wasn't how the women of my family raised me to be.
I was upset, hurt and in distress, but it will never be an excuse for the way I acted. I was actually ashamed of myself. I didn't know why, but whenever I was feeling a big negative emotion or a mix of it, it was turning into this huge anger and when I was like that I was out there to hurt people, not caring about the damages it will cause in the process.
I tried to manage my anger issues, and it did work for some time, but I definitely needed to work more on this, I couldn't continue to lie to myself about that. I needed to do better.
Since she was being so quiet, I continued to talk, hoping that I didn't ruin all my chances with her. I still wanted to get my family back and for us all to finally be happy, truly happy.
"I sincerely apologize and I totally get it if you don't want to forgive me. Seriously, I was out of line...I was wrong and you didn't deserve to be treated this way. I let my anger get the worst out of me and transformed me into this monster, but know that I didn't mean all the words I said. If I could, I would take them all back, but I unfortunately can't. But know that If I have to, I will ask for your forgiveness every day for the rest of my life." I nervously started playing with my hands, not knowing what to say next. How could I properly apologize for that ? I felt like there was no coming back from this.
That was it, I totally lost her.
After another moment of endless silence, she finally let out a sigh and turned her head towards me, while uncrossing her arms. "I'm forgiving you, but I don't know when I won't be pissed off anymore. Richard, you attacked me as if I was the one who poisoned RJ instead of just telling me that you needed me. You didn't even try to understand where I was coming from either. Those cupcakes were supposed to be for me, I was supposed to be the person laying on this hospital bed, not our son. I'm not trying to make it about myself, but that was and still is how I feel. And I'm not trying to find excuses to explain my absence because I should have been there, like you. You were hurting just as much, but you still showed up. We weren't trying to understand each other..."
I shook my head in disagreement with her, "no, don't feel bad for that. We don't all react the same way to situations. You needed time to get yourself together and get your strength back before being there and a backbone for us."
She let out another sign, looking down at her hands on her lap. "I will always feel like I should have been there for my baby."
I didn't try to argue more on that because she was stubborn and I knew nobody else but herself could change her mind at this point. I was just hoping that she wouldn't beat herself up for that forever.
"What happened to us ? " She then asked, breaking another moment of silence.
I shrugged, shaking my head. "We had to face another obstacle and...I don't know." I shrugged once again, "I guess it was the straw that broke the camel's back. We were still fragile from all the other things we had to go through and didn't get enough time to completely heal, then this happened. It was too much."
She slowly nodded, "we need some help. If we want to build something, we need to re-build the fondation and from then grow again."
I furrowed my eyebrows as the confusion set in, "you still want to build us ? After what I said to you and the way I acted towards you ? " I was genuinely shocked because I really thought that I lost her.
"I know you didn't mean those words and like you said it was the last straw. We both cracked." I didn't say a word after she said that, as I thanked God in my head. "This is how much I love you, Richard. Please, don't make me regret it." She then blurted out, making my heartbeat go faster. "This is your last chance. I need you to go to therapy and work on your anger. I should never be scared of you."
I gently grabbed her hand and kissed the back, "I promise you, I'm gonna work on myself and be the best man I can be for you and our son."
She looked right into my eyes as hers began filling with water, "I trust you to do that, but I need you to do that also for yourself." I leaned in and pecked her lips, enjoying to be this close to her again.
"Excuse me." Someone interrupted us as they cleared their throat.
We both looked up and instantly scrunched up our faces. The nerves this man had to show up here ! Seeing his face caused my anger to come back as I slowly got on my feet, ready to catch a case at this point. I reached my limit with this man.
"What are you doing here ? " Tina asked, still with a shocking expression on her face.
I couldn't believe what was happening in front of me. He poisoned my son and was now standing here with a black card in his hand, which I could read the words Get Well on.
Did aunt Suz forget to report him ? We were so focused on RJ and all the other shit that was going on between us, that we didn't ask her if she did when she showed up with Dorian earlier.
But since he was here, I guess it was a no.
I couldn't be mad at her though because we had a lot of time to get him arrested and we did none of that. Instead we decided to come up with some master plan, which we weren't even sure was going to work out in our favor at the end of the day. We were some losers to be honest. This was honestly why he'd always had the upper hand. He was super focused on making us miserable while we were just trying to put him in the far back of our minds, what wasn't enough to completely get rid of him.
"I'm here to see my grandson," was his answer.
I looked at Tina with a frown, who returned the same expression seeming as confused as myself. What the fuck he thought it was ?
"First off, he is NOT your grandson. Second off, did you forget why he's in this hospital in the first place ? You poisoned him and tried to poison me ! "
"And ? " he fanned her off, "let me see him. C'mon, I don't have time for your games, I have to get this tumor removed at three."
"This what ? " We exclaimed in unison, getting even more confused. But after observing him for a few minutes, I noticed how sick and exhausted he looked today. Actually, it was making him look more deranged than usual.
"I have a tumor," he said before catching his balance with the wall. I didn't once felt sad or sorry for him, and I didn't feel like a bad person to feel this way towards him. After everything he put us through, I couldn't have sympathy for this man.
I looked at Tinashe, whose mouth and eyes were wide opened in shock. I tried to remember, but I didn't think he ever told someone that he had a tumor. Well, another secret of his. Or maybe he recently found out, but I didn't care much to know.
I looked back at him as we made eye contact and I couldn't help but smile, what made him narrow his eyes at me in anger. And me who thought that we were giving him too much freedom out there, while he was in fact as much in pain than everybody else. If not even more.
"I love you Karma." I blurted out happily, and I didn't give a damn fuck about what people will think about me. You hadn't been in my shoes to understand. This man put me through hell and caused me to almost lose my family for good.
But the boomerang finally came back and it was now his turn to suffer.
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A/N: And dedication goes to @toccaralanee Thanks so so so much for your support girl ! xoxo
Thanks for reading !
CissyItsMe 💋