My Life, My Rules

Chapter 19

After Demi was stabilized, the doctor went to break the news to Joe. He felt extremely guilty for the situation he caused and tears didn't hesitate to escape from his eyes. Even though he didn't witness Freen's growth, she was still his daughter. He felt like he exchanged his older daughter's life for his younger one and the remorse was taking over him. He decided he wanted to see Demi, even if she might kill him, he felt like he deserved everything.
Demi was laying down, looking at the ceiling, and tears were running down her face. She kept thinking about all the things her daughter said right before the surgery. She can't lose her daughter after losing her sister. Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the hospital room door, and she permitted the person to come in. However, as soon as she saw the person's face she instantly regretted it.
"What the hell are you doing here, Joe?? How dare you?" Demi raised her voice and tried to get up.
"Please, calm down! I just came here to apologize!" Joe said, stopping in front of her.
"Really? You nearly killed my daughter and now you have the nerve to show up??" Demi yelled.
"I swear I am sorry!! I don't know what to do anymore!!" He started tearing up. "Please, forgive me! She is my daughter too! I wouldn't risk her life like that if I knew she is in complete danger!" Joe said, wiping the tears down his face.
"Yeah... That's why you visited her! That's why you wanted me to have an abortion! That's why you were never there!! Save it, Joe! If my daughter dies, I swear to you that I will ruin your life! You used my daughter just to save yours!! You are a selfish bastard!" She yelled at him.
"Listen! She is my daughter too!" He took the courage to yell and insist. "I was younger, dumb, and a coward!! How many times do I have to tell you? And what's the difference between us, Demi? You were present in her life, just as me: on the paper. Yes, you saw her more than me, but emotionally speaking, you were never there! Let me tell you something you don't know about OUR daughter... Did you know she is suicidal? Did you care enough for her to bring her to a therapist after your sister died? No! You didn't! I won't tell you what's her new addiction because I promised her not to. Spare me with all the perfect mother sermons! The truth is: I was right. We weren't ready for a child. We weren't perfect for her! You aren't better than me! It's a tie. What are you accusing me of? For leaving you? It's not my fault you didn't listen to me." Joe said, but he was shut by Demi's hard slap on his face.
"Get out!! I don't want to see you, asshole!! You cheated on me! You were the first man I had and I trusted you, but I never knew you were a devil in disguise! It was my body you are talking about. My sister, may her Rest In Peace, made me call you and tell you I'm giving birth, and ask you to give my baby your family name, so she won't be bullied for being a bastard, or else you would never know about her existence! I didn't want anything from you, yet you offered money. You knew I'm struggling with my addiction and you didn't even offer yourself to take care of OUR daughter while I was in rehab. I just want you to get out of my face right now and let me grieve!"
"Wait... Was I your first? You said that you lost your virginity through a rape..." Joe said realizing her words.
"Yes.. you were drunk and high that night... I told you to stop and you didn't... I loved you and I had to give in... and yes... Freen was conceived that night." Demi said with a tired voice.
"I...I never knew this...I'm sorry!" Joe felt another shot of bitterness taking over him.
The sirens started to ring, and the medical staff ran through the corridor. One of them said "the patient from the ICU... let's hurry!" and it was loud enough for Joe and Demi to hear that. Both Freen's parents had this feeling it might be Freen, and that gave them anxiety. Joe felt the need to take the lead and check this out.
"Demi! Stay here! I'll go check on Freen! Just calm down, please! I will be right back!" Joe said seeing his ex worried sick about their daughter's condition. He ran out the door and made his way to the ICU, but a nurse stopped him.
"Sir! What are you doing here? You can't enter here!" The nurse yelled.
"I'm sorry! May you, please, check on Freen Sarocha Jonas' condition?" Joe asked worriedly.
"I'm sorry! We cannot provide this type of information!" the nurse said and entered the room, leaving Joe outside alone.
Joe leaned his back on the wall and kept thinking about everything Demi said. Was it true? Was he a rapist? How could Demi live her life raising his daughter knowing she was conceived through rape? How could she look into Freen's eyes without thinking about his eyes? He started leaning down, tears starting to drop again. He always loved Demi, yet he thought there was a 3 years age gap between them. Demi was underage when he started dating her, and she was so fragile. He saw Demi at her worst: struggling with depression and self-harm. After a fight with him, she started taking drugs, and soon he started doing them too. It was a very toxic relationship. When he started being aware that he might hurt her, he went away. After 3 months, he found out Demi was pregnant, and he requested her to have an abortion. He could not take care of Demi, how could he take care of a child? The responsibility was too big. He always thought that either Freen would grow up in a toxic environment or she would have had a beautiful family. Now, it is too late... However, maybe his daughter would have been safer if he had gone back to Demi. Freen would not risk her life if there was no Eda... Everything would have been so much better...
"Mister Jonas? What are you doing here?" Doctor James said coming from the ICU.
"What happened to her?" Joe stood up in a second.
"I'm afraid... We just have the confirmation... Your daughter is in a moderate coma." the doctor sighed. "We had her on oxygen right now... Maybe in a few hours, you could visit her."
"I have a request. Please, don't tell Demi about this." Joe pleaded.
"I'm sorry! She signed the documents to take medical decisions for her, and we need her to find out, in case we have any further decisions to make." The doctor sighed deeply.
"Please! At least, tell her about this tomorrow. She is in a terrible state right now." Joe begged, and the doctor agreed.
   Meanwhile, Becky, Hailee, and Zendaya arrived at the hospital. Hailee mentally prayed Demi won't be there. She scanned the hospital office and went to the desk. She asked for her friend's name, but the lady said there was no one with that name in the hospital. She thought that it might be again, a keeping the anonymity thing. When she was about to break the news to Becky, she noticed that she was running in the opposite direction, and that made her analyze where she is going. "Oh, no!" she slapped her face and ran after her. She was about to meet Demi's bodyguard, who was trying to grab a coffee from the vending machine.
"Mister Jonas!" Hailee heard Becky trying to get Max's attention, but he didn't answer. "Mister Jonas!" Becky repeated, approaching him, this time he faced her, as he felt someone petting his shoulder.
"Sorry! I am afraid-" he wanted to say that his name was actually Lee and not Jonas.
"Phew! Becky! Why did you have to run away?" Hailee said catching her breath near them.
"Sorry! I saw Freen's father, mister Jonas here, and I had to come to check on Freen."
"Father?" Max asked with a shocked expression, and Hailee made a secret gesture to him to go on with the lie.
"Yes! Please! Can we see her, sir?" Becky insisted.
"I am afraid you can't. She is in the ICU. She is still sleeping, waiting for her to wake up. Her mother stays with her non-stop, and only one person is allowed there." Max tried to save the situation.
"Oh! I'm her friend, Becky Swift! Could you please tell her when she wakes up that I want to meet her?" Becky said with tears in her eyes, and that made Max sigh when he heard the name of the girl.
"Nice to meet you, kid! I will tell her. She will contact you when she will feel better, ok?" Max said, and Becky nodded.
   After saying goodbye to each other, Zendaya gave a lift to Becky's and Hailee's houses. While having dinner with her father, Becky kept playing with her food, and that didn't go unnoticed by her father. He analyzed his daughter's face, he saw her red puffy eyes, and that made him sigh.
"Rebecca! What happened?" Harry said in a serious tone, and that made Becky break away from her thoughts.
"Mhm... Nothing!" Becky didn't feel the need of sharing her thoughts.
"Rebecca! Was it about that girl?" Harry asked.
"Dad, she is in the hospital. She had surgery. I went there, but her father told me she is still sleeping. I'm very worried about her." Becky answered with a sad face.
"Poor girl... Well... I'm sorry. I hope she will be fine. Let me know if I can help you with anything...And starving yourself is not a solution to seeing her, young lady. Eat! If you don't eat and end up in a hospital, I promise I'll choose a different hospital from that girl's..." Harry tried to crack a small joke, but Becky shook her head sighing.
"Dad! Actually, you might help me. Does Tatt happen to have Max, Demi Lovato's bodyguard, phone number?" Becky said with a hopeful expression.
"What? Why do you need that for, Rebecca?" Harry asked his daughter.
"He... He is Freen's father." Becky said a little shy.
"Max Lea? No way! Really? He is one of the best bodyguards. I made him an offer before having Tatt. Unfortunately, he is too loyal to Demi. He rejected me for two reasons: he can't leave Demi and he can not leave Demi for your mom's boyfriend aka me. Can you believe this?" Harry said joking again, and this time made Becky crack a small laugh. "Ok... Let me see if I can find it. Anything for my princess. But you will eat now, and you won't tell your mother about this. There is bad blood between her and Demi, ok?" Harry winked at his daughter and smiled when he saw that Becky dropped her sadness a little at his words. He loved to see his daughter happy.
   It's been almost two weeks since Freen was connected to all the medical devices, and had her mother by her side. Demi stood by her side for almost 24 hours daily. She was there praying for her daughter to wake up, talk to her, and caress her pretty face while begging her to just open her eyes.
"Dallas! Please! Don't take my daughter away! Please! I need her!" She said crying and holding Freen's hand. "I understand I suck at being a mother. You were a better mother for Freen than I was, but don't take her away from me!" She squeezed Freen's hand lightly. "I love her the most! Just don't take her away from me! Please, Dallas, let your niece live! Let your sister keep being a mother here. I miss her, Dallas...Send her back to me" her tears fell on Freen's hand, and it seemed like it triggered Freen's vegetative state, because Demi felt a quick hand movement, like an attempt of holding her hand. "Freen!" Demi jumped to look at her daughter's face. "Yes, baby, please wake up! I love you!" She caressed her head.
   Freen was currently having a very strange dream. She was wearing a white dress, and everything around her was blinding white. She kept walking ahead when she saw a lady watering some tulips. The lady stopped suddenly and turned her way to Freen.
"Freen? What are you doing here?" The lady said, and this made Freen run to hug her. The lady reciprocate her hug and cracked a small smile.
"Auntie Dallas! How much I missed you!! I love you!" Freen said smiling and kissing her cheek.
"What are you doing here, Freen? Get out of here immediately!"Dallas yelled at her niece.
"But, Auntie...." Freen's smile vanished when she heard her aunt.
"Freen! I don't want you to be here! So just go back!" Dallas dictated.
"Aunt! But I wanna stay here with you! Look how calm and beauty filled this place in! I don't wanna go back! I love you the most!" Freen said.
"No! You will come here when the right time comes. You are still young, Freenie... You need to experience life, to see its beauty. I know it is hard, but listen! Can you hear your mother crying? She is waiting for you!" Dallas says with a poker face. Indeed, there was a faded crying in the background which Freen recognized as being her mother's.
"Dally... Please..." Freen pleaded.
"Go back, Freen! I know you loved me the most. I heard your prayers every night. You know I loved you the most too. I'm very proud of your choices, and we don't need to be present physically to prove our love to each other. I'll always be by your side, kid, from up here! Just say my name and I will guide you, Freenie. Stop wearing black, please! You are young and beautiful. We will meet again when the right comes! Love you forever, baby girl!" Dallas says giving her niece a look filled with love.
"Dally!! Let me hug you one more time!" Freen tried to hug her aunt and instead of receiving her in her loving eyes, Dallas grabs her by the collar of her dress and pushes her strongly with a scary look.
"Goo!!" Dallas's shouts echoed and everything went black for Freen.
   Joe entered ICU, slowly. He analyzed Demi caressing Freen with tears on her face. He noticed that Demi kissed his daughter's forehead begging her to come back, from wherever she was right now, for the billionth time.
"Hi, Freen! What's up?" Joe broke the silence and approached his daughter, with his eyes on the still beautiful pale face of her covered by the oxygen mask. "Eda is feeling better. It seems like your donation matched her perfectly. She asked me about you today and I told her that you sleeping." Joe said with a trembling voice.
"See, baby girl? We are here for you... Please wake up!"Demi said taking a seat next to Freen. "Joe! I'm glad for your daughter... But... I need mine. I guess you told your wife another lie so you could visit Freen... We don't need you here. Go be with your family!" Demi said in a very tired tone.
"Demi... Stop pushing me away. I am feeling extremely guilty for Freen. Even if you like it or not, she is also part of my family. I would appreciate it if you would treat me with respect!" Joe said.
"Respect?? You don't deserve it! If my daughter wakes up, you will leave us alone, understand? We don't need you. We never needed you before...Get out of our lives!"
"No! I'll be in Freen's life as long as she wants me to be! And I made her a promise to take care of you. Have you noticed how her body is damaging every time we fight near her?" Joe said looking at Freen.
   Suddenly, all the medical devices started to make all sorts of noises, and this made Joe and Demi rush to Freen. Freen's body started shaking, similar to a seizure. Joe was looking at Demi who started yelling their daughter's name, while he tried to find a way to help them. He ran to the door and shouted for a doctor. In a few seconds, the doctor come into the ICU and told Joe and Demi to get out of the ICU.
"Get ready for CPR!" The doctor said... "The pulse is dropping! Oh, sweetie! What are you doing?" The doctor watched Freen. He administered some meds and performed CPR.
"Noo! I'm losing my daughter!" Demi started crying in the corridor. Joe pulled her into a hug, trying to comfort her. One thing was sure: their daughter's condition worsen up. Or at least, that's what they thought.
   The doctor came in what seemed like an hour, and they ran to him desperate to find out about Freen's condition.
"I'm sorry..." the doctor started and that's when both started crying hardly in each other's arms. "But... your daughter woke up! At first, we thought she was gone, but your daughter is so strong! We administered her some medicines and she fell into a normal sleep this time. Don't worry! In an hour we will check on her." The doctor smiled at them.
   Joe pulled Demi into a hug tightly, not carrying about people seeing them anymore. They both were so happy and relieved to know that their daughter is out of danger.
.......To be continued.........
Author's note: Thank you so much for reading and providing feedback! I always think my chapters are not good enough, but your providing positive feedback makes me wanna write more. I'm sorry for keeping you waiting for the update. Unfortunately, my focus is to produce around 3000 words per chapter and not to have you all bored, so it takes me time. I will try to provide at least three chapters per week if that's fine with you. Another aspect I want to tell you is that I am very upset with everything that is going on with Freen in real life. Poor, Freen! I just want to hug her. 😢💕