Wait! How Did The Stray Dog I Picked Up Turn Into A Man?!

Back to Roland dropping the fruits in the ward. He looked at Michael and noticed his condition wasn’t very good.

"If you stay awake for an hour more, you might collapse." He said and Michael pursed his lips.

Looks like he had to sleep. Doctor’s orders.

But just then, Olivia’s eyelids fluttered open.

Noah noticed it and tapped Michael who turned and found his daughter looking up into space.

Her gaze was hazy, her lips dry, but her voice as soft as a feather as she whispered,

"Papa,"

She called out to him even though she hadn’t seen him, and then turned her head to find them staring at her in shock.

Michael nearly collapsed from relief as he saw Olivia finally awake. He kissed her hand again and again, his tears falling onto her skin.

"I’m here. I’m here, sweetheart. I’m right here."

Olivia smiled weakly, but that smile faded as her lips began to quiver and tears rolled down her face.

"Papa, Daddy," she called, crying and Noah hugged her. "I was so scared." She finally admitted it.

All the while, she had acted like a beacon for the children so they wouldn’t lose hope but she was as scared as they were.

She was a child, after all.

And that situation, all of it, her getting beaten, Josh getting beaten and then almost dying... She remembered all of it and the fear in her heart grew into a black hole that could suck up all of her happiness.

"It’s alright, baby. Nothing like that will ever happen again. You’re safe." Noah assured her.

"What about Josh?" She asked, still crying heavily and they pointed at Josh in the bed beside her.

"He’s also fine now. Just sleeping." Michael said. "He’s going to wake up soon, just like you did. I know you’re hurt but I want you to know that you’re safe and no one can ever hurt you again. It’s a promise."

Olivia cried. She cried a lot that she ended up drifting back into sleep, exhausted.

Seeing Olivia had woken up and she was so full of life, crying as she would do on a normal day, Michael’s heart finally fell at ease.

And as if a spell had been cast on him, he drifted into sleep, resting his head on Noah’s shoulder.

"I’m so glad." He said and Noah wrapped his arms around him, pulling him close by the shoulder.

"So am I."

Olivia regaining consciousness was the best thing Noah and Michael could ask for, and with that, it felt like they had finally gotten through that hurdle, but... Josh still wasn’t waking up.

This got Steven worried but he silently exercised faith. He sat where he was, his eyes fixed on his boy and never looking away, not once.

He wanted to see his boy wake up with his own two eyes.

Josh didn’t wake until the following evening when the sun had begun to set.

His first sight as he fluttered his eyelashes open was his father beside him, eyes slightly swollen from the long vigil, and before he could stop himself, he burst into tears.

He clung to Steven desperately, sobbing into his chest. And Steven, shed a tear or two for his child.

"It’s okay now, Josh. I’m here. Daddy has taken care of everything." He assured him but Josh wouldn’t stop crying.

And then he saw Olivia, staring at him with wide eyes, and a slice of apple in her mouth.

She was sitting propped up with pillows and slowly nibbling on the apple her Papa was feeding her.

Once she had gotten over the shock, she smiled at him with her eyes still puffy from her own tears.

Josh’s sobs grew louder, but this time out of relief and then Olivia laughed.

"Crybaby," she teased between bites, though she had cried herself to sleep earlier on.

Josh’s face flushed and he buried it in his father’s arms. She called him a crybaby. How embarrassing.

"It’s okay if you’re a crybaby, you’re still a child anyway," Steven said and then shot a glare at Olivia. "You should’ve seen how someone was crying just a while back. She’s so full of energy now after crying her eyes out."

Olivia darted her eyes away, knowing he was about to rat her out.

"Who?" Josh asked, as if he didn’t genuinely know.

"The little girl over there," Steven said but Josh didn’t seem to believe it.

He didn’t see Olivia as someone who would cry like a baby. She was very strong. Stronger than he was.

"Ahem, you got it all wrong." She said. "There was something in my eyes."

She had no idea Josh did not believe what his father had said but he was conflicted. If he told his father that he didn’t believe it, his father would look crushed. But he didn’t want Olivia to think he believed she was a crybaby either, so he pouted his lips, puffed his cheeks, and tapped the tips of his fingers together.

"But Olivia is so strong. She doesn’t need to cry." He said and they all stared at him, surprised. "She’s even stronger than me."

"Ah," Steven exclaimed and then covered his face, looking away. He couldn’t believe it. His sweet son was indirectly calling him a liar. He chose her over him. "My heart hurts all of a sudden." He said, instantly worrying Josh.

"Oh no, Daddy, are you okay?" He asked. "Where does it hurt? Do we need to call a doctor? Please be okay, daddy."

He saw this and sighed.

"I feel like I got stabbed in the heart cause my son no longer trusts me."

"But I do trust you. I just..." He rolled his eyes away, "I can’t picture it."

Michael heard this and laughed.

"Oh my, it looks like Olivia’s managed to win his heart completely. He’s so smitten that he doesn’t even know he’s being deceived." He whispered to Noah.

"That’s the kind of charm she carries in her blood," Noah said. "She takes after me a lot." As soon as he said that, Michael glared at him.

"Are you seriously trying to brag that you managed to deceive me without even trying for many months while I was smitten by you?" He asked, and Noah began to sweat.

"No, no, it’s not like that." He said, but Michael threw his gaze away.

"You’d better start explaining." He said, and Noah felt he had landed himself in a bit of a pot of soup.

Olivia silently stared at Josh. She didn’t think he was so gullible. She didn’t mean to make it seem like she was very strong but... He managed to interpret it that way and thinks she never cries.

But that’s just because he doesn’t know her well. She cries a lot. She cries at least once a day as if she had a dam in her eyes that needed steady leakage.

"Josh," she called softly and Josh turned around. This caught everyone’s attention and they wondered what she was going to say.

"Yes, Olivia?"

Olivia didn’t respond right away, she stared with a soft glow in her eyes and then she laughed, her eyelids pressed together happily.

"You’re such a dummy." She said and he blushed.

"Why are you blushing when she called you a dummy?" Steven asked but Josh shook his head, his little hands pressed on his face.

"She looks so pretty, Daddy." 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

"Yes, I know my daughter is pretty but you don’t have to say it while blushing that way," Michael said. It looked like he wouldn’t go easy even if his opponent was a little boy, but the moment Josh looked at him with his pitiful eyes, wondering if he did something wrong, his heart was shot with a heart-shaped arrow.

He was just so adorable, he couldn’t even stay mad at him.

Ah,

"But Josh, remember when I found out you were allergic to chocolate when we were going to get ice cream and I cried?" She asked. "I also cry, so why don’t you think I’m a crybaby?"

"That’s because..." He fiddled his small fingers shyly. "You were crying because you were sad for me."

But wasn’t that the same thing? As long as she cried, she could still be considered a crybaby, and yet he didn’t want to think of it that way.

"Then, will you still like me if you find out I’m also a crybaby?" She asked, causing her parents to snap in shock.

What did she say?

Why were they talking about liking each other right now?

A confession in front of their parents... How bold of them.

While Josh did feel like arrows were flying towards his head from two dangerous gazes, he did not pay heed to them and smiled.

He had his father behind him, after all. He was confident his father could protect him.

"Of course. I’d like Olivia even if she’s a crybaby like me. We can be crybabies together."

"Great, I like you too."

Michael nearly fainted. What on earth was going on? Why did it have to be his baby girl?

It’s good that she found love so early, but there was no telling what that income and shy little boy would grow up to be?

What if he grew up to be a gangster like his father?

(Steven isn’t a gangster, lol. It’s just their own biased thinking, trying to make him into the bad person)

The room filled with warmth again. The worst had passed and their kids were finally smiling again.