Chapter 13

1st class hospital, 40 minutes earlier, 

Old Master Hunt, Mr. Austin Hunt, Robert, the butler, and Cara Hunt, the illegitimate daughter of Mr. Austin Hunt and the princess of the Hunt family, had all come to the hospital to visit Jayden that morning. 

The tetraplegia expert whom the Hunt family had invited from Europe to take a look at Jayden’s condition had arrived in Manhattan that morning, and they all went with him to check on Jayden. 

The Smith family has been asking for a meeting between the family heads, but old Master Hunt has been delaying it since he wanted to be sure about Jayden’s overall health before he goes to the meeting. 

“What is she doing here?” Mrs. Audrey said in dissatisfaction as soon as she saw Cara come into the ward together with her husband and father-in-law. 

“Cara is part of the Hunt family and wants to see her brother,” Old Master Hunt answered, staring at his daughter-in-law with disapproval before turning towards the man behind them and saying. 

“Dr. Anthony, please come in. This is my grandson Jayden Hunt; he's the patient. We've already sent you all his medical records yesterday. Can you take a look at him and let us know what can be done about his condition?” 

Mrs. Audrey saw they had company and decided to forget about Cara’s presence for the time being. She had wanted to use this time that everyone was around to go home and freshen up, but due to Cara's presence, she hesitated. 

‘Cara was the best friend of her gold digger vixen daughter-in-law, and in case Cara decided to call Aria out of the blue, won't all her plans to finally separate that lowlife from her son go to waste?’ Mrs. Audrey thought. 

“Where's Aria?” Mrs. Audrey had not yet finished having an internal monologue with herself when Cara asked the question she had been dreading.

At Cara's question, Jayden, who had been quiet all this while, refusing to acknowledge the presence of his family, finally turned to look at Cara. 

He was also like his mother; he didn't like this half-sister of his and saw her as an outsider and thus treated her as one, but he seemed to recall she was Aria's friend at some point.

'Can she help him out with Aria?'

“She doesn't want to…” 

“Aria is just taking care of something else and isn't around at the moment. She will come when she's done,” Mrs. Audrey said, interrupting Jayden's words and cutting him off.

Mrs. Audrey realized she had acted rashly and Jayden was watching her suspiciously, so she gave him a subtle smile and said gently, 

“Sometimes it's best to not let the world know about our weaknesses so that they wouldn't use it against us in the future.” 

Jayden stared at his mother, not knowing what to believe, but one thing was for certain: it was about time he had a talk with this half-sister of his.

Dr. Anthony went close to Jayden with his nurse behind him, who was taking notes of everything. 

“Do you feel this?” He asked, applying slight pressure on Jayden's arms, but Jayden shook his head.

“I don't feel anything,” he said. 

Dr. Anthony tried the same thing on different parts of his body, but it was still the same response he got from Jayden.

“I don't feel anything.” 

The more questions Jayden answered about how he was feeling, the more agitated he became. He was yelling at the doctor by the time they realized it. 

They had to give him some sleeping medication to calm him down and make him rest, especially when the doctor found out he'd been awake since he left the operating theater. 

“The patient's physiological health is getting out of hand fast, and he needs peace of mind and the people he loves around him at this time to help him calm down in such situations. If not, his rehabilitation therapy would be difficult and might take a long time to yield results,” Dr. Anthony said, and the old master nodded his head solemnly.

“Do you think I should get him a psychiatrist to talk to him?” The old master asked. 

“Your grandson is full of pride and might even be more aggressive and defensive if he thinks you are treating him as an invalid or a mentally unstable person. I think you should find someone he cares deeply about to stay by him and talk with him from time to time. Also, when choosing a caretaker, someone who has experience in psychology would be recommended,” Dr. Anthony said and added after a beat, 

“I'll put together his treatment and rehabilitation therapy plan and discuss it with you later. Please excuse me.”

Mrs. Audrey stared at Jayden's sleeping face and didn't know what to do. She didn't know that her son was so smitten by that unworthy woman. 

Since he had started the divorce process with Aria on his own, Mrs. Audrey had thought his son didn't like her very much, but who would have thought keeping her away would affect Jayden so much that he was already showing signs of withdrawal? 

As Mrs. Audrey was watching her son in deep thought, she saw someone move at the corner of her eye and turned to find Cara going out of the ward. 

She silently followed the girl, feeling suspicious, and saw her making a call. She hid behind a water dispenser that was placed in the hallway and heard her rival's daughter speaking on the phone with Aria. 

Her eyes darkened when she realized the bitch must have realized something was amiss. 

‘If that was the case, it meant Jayden was also suspicious of her. She couldn't let that happen,’ Mrs. Audrey decided. 

~~~ 

Aria had just descended from the taxi and was about to call Cara when a familiar voice reached her ears. 

“Aria, you're here. Come, come, come,” Mrs. Audrey said gently, looking sad as if something was weighing heavily on her shoulders. 

“M—mo… Madam Hunt,” Aria stammered.

“Silly child, just call me mother like you used to,” Mrs. Audrey said, and Aria's eyes widened slightly.

Aria felt as if she was dreaming. ‘Did the sun rise from the west today?’ she thought. 

“Come, there's something I must tell you. Jayden… he got into an accident. Jayden, he's…” 

“What did you just say? What happened to Jayden?” Aria interrupted her mother-in-law, her eyes bulging, full of shock and fear.