Chapter 39

Soon, the swimming team bid their goodbyes, explaining they too had to attend to some personal matters of their own. They teasingly made a remark to Zachary though, advising the injured man to watch out for any rival who'd take Kathryn away from him, which, as always, Zachary glared at and flipped them off. 

He was waiting for Kathryn to come when the door finally opened and revealed not one but two figures. Kathryn nudged Chad to come in, capturing Zachary's dragon eyes that looked like they were burning holes on Chad's clothes that were touched by Kathryn. Chad gulped. Zachary's possessiveness was no joke after all. Why did Chad make the biggest mistake? Why was he so dumb? 

Not wanting to add more reasons to be killed, Chad purposely made a distance from Kathryn and went ahead to meet Zachary. 

"Hey," Chad remained calm as he cleared his throat, "How are your injuries?" 

Zachary scoffed at that, sending shivers down Chad's spine. All the while Chad silently chanted his life mantra, the prayer of someone who still wanted to live. 

Kathryn glanced at the two and decided to move beside Zachary to calm him down. It was, after all, Chad, who made Zachary lose it and had an accident afterwards. She knew her lover's pain wasn't there anymore after clearing all the misunderstandings, but she knew, by the look on his eyes, the anger was still there. 

"Zack, Chad is here to explain—” 

"I already know. You already explained everything to me, there's nothing left for him to say more," Zachary stubbornly said and gave a dangerous glare at Chad before looking softly at Kathryn.

Kathryn sighed, reaching out Zachary's hand. Before she could try and coo Zachary however, Chad had already opened his mouth. 

"I'm sorry," Chad looked calm but his voice was full of regret and sincerity. "I didn't mean to do it. I only did it to confirm my feelings. And believe me or not, I realized I don't have any romantic feelings towards Kathryn. She's…she's just like the younger sister I never had." 

Zachary's eyes were red as he suddenly got up and grabbed Chad by the collar.

“Zack!" Kathryn quickly tried to stop Zachary, but he was too strong and wouldn't budge. 

"You…You're telling me you did an experiment and touched her just like that?" Zachary's eyes were piercing into Chad's. Kathryn's voice was behind, her small fingers stopping him, but Zachary wasn't having any of it. Not now. 

Chad looked down, "Yes. I'm sorry." 

Zachary didn't hesitate and made a loud punch, directly hitting Chad's face. It was too hard, and it made the tallest one fall to the floor. 

"Chad!!" Kathryn was petrified and was about to come and help Chad but was stopped by Chad. 

"Don't," Chad raised a hand, stopping Kathryn. 

Kathryn looked at Zachary, blinking profusely in worry. She didn't expect Zachary to have the energy to make that punch. Not in his condition! 

When the tension somewhat had lowered down, Chad finally stood up and glanced at Zachary. 

Zachary stared back, eyes still glaring at Chad, "We'll continue this once I get discharged. I'm going to beat you up to a pulp."

Chad, holding eye contact, nodded, and replied, "Alright." 

Both stared at each other with intense gazes, like wolves in the woods declaring for a battle. 

Kathryn felt her hair stand all over her body with this conversation. Just why were her friends like this? She was thinking how it was too scary to watch and that perhaps, it was best for Chad to leave soon. 

She clearly failed to notice that the two finally made up with just that punch alone and having been raised in an environment where cooking was the only thing she only lived for, Kathryn wasn't yet to discover that sometimes men just have to clear their minds out with the use of their fists. 

A nurse was taking a roll, coming from room to room to check the patients' IV drop like she was assigned to. She was humming a song while walking down the hallway when she heard unusual low grunts coming from a certain room. 

"Room 33…" She uttered to herself as she checked on her list while pushing the door. Her hands immediately stopped though the moment she realized who the patient was inside.

In a hurry, while she could still feel her job wasn't at risk after almost pushing that door open, the nurse left. Hearing moans coming from the room as she did. 

Inside room 33, Zachary was moaning more in pain as Kathryn worriedly look after him. It wasn't after a few hours right after Chad left that Zachary started feeling his leg throb, and now he was seething his teeth as he held onto the bed, stubbornly rejecting Kathryn's words to call for a doctor. 

"Zack, I think we should call them," Kathryn said in worry, extremely feeling agitated as she stared at her lover. How come Zachary could still be so stubborn when he was like this? 

Zachary looked away, still looking in pain, "Don't…I don't want them touching me."

Kathryn shook her head, "But you're in so much pain right now. It'll get better if they check on your injuries again. We can ask them to do it as quickly as they can. Hmm? Please, babe?" It even got to the point Kathryn had to plead and beg him, but Kathryn didn't care. 

Zachary bit his lip, pretending to look fine but sighed in defeat in the end. "Fine." 

With that, Kathryn didn't waste time and quickly called for a doctor to see Zachary's wounds. Even though Zachary had a deep hatred towards doctors and nurses, Kathryn thought he could set them aside for now as Zachary needed them to fully recover. After a few minutes, the doctor came with his assistant nurse, and just when the door was about to close, another figure stepped in the room. 

Kathryn's eyes went wide as she stared at the towering figure of the man she only once met in her life. Her body shook as the eyes of the man made her instantly zip her mouth, unable to move even a bit. 

"The fuck are you doing here?" Zachary, on the other hand, couldn't help but glare and curse out loud to the intruder. 

The man didn't speak though as he just gave a signal to the doctor to proceed with his examination. Zachary was about to protest and shout that the man should get lost but was abruptly stopped by Kathryn's hands. Thankfully, Zachary calmed down with that and soon, he let the doctor and the nurse do their jobs. 

The doctor gave Zachary some medicine to relieve the pain from his healing leg and explained how he would walk and run in a few weeks. Kathryn attentively listened to every word the professionals said, then thanked them as they left. 

"Are you feeling better?" The man asked with a neutral voice. 

Zachary scoffed at that, "You're still here? Get out! Just looking at your face makes my injuries worse." 

Kathryn glanced at the two, sucking her own breath as she listened and waited for her time to go. She couldn't deny the feeling of fright she still felt whenever she looked at this man—Mr. Robertson. Zachary's father. The person who has the power to destroy people with his words alone.