On The Ropes

Round 10

DeAndre's POV

The house feels eerily silent.

Antwon has been out with Javier, Zavier has been in his room all morning, and my husband won't even look at me.

Tyreek hasn't been doing good... Mentally. I can tell he's depressed. He won't talk to me, he won't move more than he needs to, he won't eat... He just lays in the bed quietly.

His seizures have become less frequent, but they still happen.

It still breaks my heart whenever it does happen. All I can do is hold him while he convulses. Every time it stops, he lays there in a daze until he feels better—And then he'll cry.

And then I cry.

Right now, Tyreek was still up in our room while I sat in the dining room with Auntie, who had come to visit us.

"I'm surprised Quan ain't wit' you." I acknowledged as we sipped on glasses of wine.

She let out a low sigh and shook her head. "He wants to see him, but at the same time he doesn't. It hurt his heart to see him on the ground like that after the match... It hit close to home."

Something tells me there's a story behind those words. Probably something he hasn't told Tyreek about yet.

"I don't know what to do, man." I sighed. "He won't talk to me. He won't eat. He won't take care of himself—The only thing he moves to do is use the bathroom, then he's right back in the bed... I don't know what to do."

Auntie reached across the table, gently taking my hand in hers as she looked at me with a gentle smile. "You take care of him." She said quietly. "As best as you can. You vowed to love him through sickness and through health, and right now you're going through the sickness... He'll need you to be there for him. Now, that doesn't mean putting your life to the side and focusing solely on him. It just means you need to be there for him emotionally, sometimes even physically. He needs to be reminded that boxing isn't all he has."

I nodded my head slowly as she spoke, once again feeling tears sting my eyes—I'm so tired of crying. It feels like that's all I've been doing. "You're right." I sighed. "It'd help if you could get Quan to come talk to him... I understand he's hurt by all of this, but I think Ty needs to hear some words of encouragement from someone else who had to retire early due to an injury... Plus, he needs his dad right now."

"You're right." Auntie responded with a nod. "I'll get him over here... He can't say no to me." The last part was spoken with a playful smile that got a quiet laugh from me.

"I know that's right." I chuckled.

The whole family has been visiting on and off—Except for Quan, who was still building up the nerve to see Tyreek in this state, and Raymond Senior, who had been 'busy.'

"It's so quiet in here." Auntie acknowledged as we finished our wine. "Where are your children?"

I rolled my eyes at the question. "Antwon's lil grown ass is out wit' his lil yeah. Nigga was supposed to come home last night and he didn't... Matter of fact, imma call his lil ass."

"Oh lord." Auntie laughed as I pulled out my phone. I had some missed calls from unknown numbers, but I ignored them for the time being as I clicked on Antwon's contact.

It went straight to voicemail, making my eyebrows raise. "I know this lil nigga don't got his phone off..." I muttered to myself before calling again and getting the same results.

I called one more time, then left a lengthy, mildly threatening voicemail.

After my failed attempts at calling him, I decided to call Zavier to see if he was ready to come down and eat.