Marie was on her knees desperate for her ex-husband to give in to her request, yet he was not budging and just felt annoyed. "Please, I'm not leaving her until you allow Gage to see your daughter," she whimpered.

"Marie, for the love of God, stand up," Leon demanded. "You just look ridiculous right now."

"I don't care."

Apparently, Adrian was there, wearing shades, shaving his head, and a hoodie so he wouldn't be recognized. He hid behind a wall, watching his wife begging to her ex-husband. It enraged him that she had to do that to his nemesis.

A second after, Eva appeared, "Leon, you left your wallet..." she said as she walked up to him, but then saw them. "Marie? What is going on here? Marie, what are you doing?"

"Being stupid. Now, let go of me," Leon answered, then took his ex-wife's arm and pulled her up. After that, he grabbed both of her shoulders to face him. "You listen, and you listen well because I'm going to say this just ones."

"Leon! Let go of her," His fiance grunted and tried to help Marie since she was in a death grip.

The man just glared at the pleading woman. "Unless my daughter wakes up from her coma, and your demon of a husband is behind bars, your son is not going near her. Do you understand?" Then pushed Marie though not that hard, just as long he was free from the begging. After that, he fixed his blazer, took his wallet from Eva, and went his way to the car.

"Hal, wait!" Marie cried.

"No, don't. Just let him be." Eva stopped the ex-wife by holding her back. Once they watched Leon drove away, she asked, "Are you alright?"

"Not exactly. Eva, please talk to your fiance to allow my son to visit Odette."

"I am helping him. Didn't he tell you that?"

"He did, but I can tell that he still wants to see her in person," the former wife sobbed and took Eva's hand. "Do you know how painful it is to see your child hurting?"

"I understand. Believe me, I do. I'm trying to work that out," the fiance replied. "You know how stubborn Leon can be and I can't even talk to the security guard because he paid him so much money to do his job."

"He really has to do that just for Gage not to be with Odette."

"I don't like it too," Eva sighed in frustration. "Look, I promise that I will find a way for Gage to see Odette. Trust me."

Marie just nodded, seeing that her ex-husband's fiance seemed like she was on her side. "Thank you," she said, then looked at her subtly from head to toe. "You know, I never thought you'd help me and my son."

"It's not right to keep them apart."

"Yes, but what I mean is he's lucky to have you. I may not have loved him, but I didn't mean to hurt him. I even don't blame him to feel what he's feeling right now towards me."

"Does Gage know about... that?" Eva asked.

"He does," Marie answered. "But he was more upset about his father's true colors."

From that, Eva gave her a sympathetic look. "No matter how Leon feels about you and Gage, he still has a heart. He's just worried and scared right now."

"I know," Marie replied. "That's what I admire about Ha... Leon. I just wished he gets to know Gage better than seeing him that he's my son with Adrian."

"He will come around and accept your son whole heartedly. So now, you should go home and I will let your son know when he can come here."

"Alright. Thank you again for your help. Also, in case Gage talks to you again, don't tell him that I came here. I don't want him to worry what happened here."

Eva nodded. "Sure, I understand."

"Thank you again," Marie said back, then left the premises.

Later at night, Eva kept an eye on Oddey in the ICU even though there was tight security just outside her room. She combed her dark wavy hair after she was given a bath by the nurse. There were a bunch of gifts and get-well-soon cards in her room from the classmates in CarmU.

"I remember how you asked me to brush your hair when you were little. I always loved doing that," she sniffled. "You know, you got a lot of presents here for you. There are so many people who are looking forward to seeing you getting well. Please wake up, Sweetie, you know you'll be my maid of honor in the wedding."

Leon then entered. "Hey," he said and gave his woman a peck on the cheek. After that, he was his comatose daughter. "Hi, Mochipie."

Eva turned to her fiance. "Hey," she responded coldly after what happened earlier with the ex-wife incident. "So how was the meeting?"

"It went well. I explained to them about Odette, and they seem to be sympathetic about it."

"That's good."

The man gazed at his soon-to-be bride. "I know what you're thinking. It's about what happened this afternoon," he sighed.

"Yes, and I am not happy about it," the woman said.

"I understand."

"Tell me. What does it take for you to finally allow Gage to visit your daughter? "

Leon glanced down and lightly shook his head. "I... I'm not sure."

"That time when you wanted to confront Odette and Gage when they were together. You said you can't because you saw how happy she was with him that you didn't have the heart to walk up there and pulled your daughter away from him," Eva reminded him of the event. "What changed?"

"I don't know. Probably because that guy's father shot my daughter," the man answered in a sarcastic way. "And look where she is now."

"Oh, my goodness." All of a sudden, there was a noise from the heart monitor machine. It was beeping loud, and it was blinking red, and then her body began to shake. "Odette? Odette!!" Eva screamed. "What's happening!?"

The parents panicked, so the father quickly went out. "Doc! Doc! I need help!" he shouted. Eventually, the medical staff rushed in to save the girl. "What's going on? What's going on with my daughter?!"

Leon and Eva were pulled out of the room, "I'm sorry, but you need to wait outside," a nurse requested.

"Please, save my daughter."

"Yes, yes, we'll do everything we can. Just, please, wait outside."

The distraught couple watched the staff through the small glass window on the door, praying to the heavens that she could be saved. Eventually, after some time of waiting anxiously outside, the doctor came out, "Doc, how's my daughter?" Leon asked.

"We were able to save her for now. She's experiencing a seizure because there's not much oxygen going to her brain, which can happen to patients when they're in a coma," the doctor explained.

"Oh, God," Eva weeped.

"So what can we do to make my daughter recover faster?" The father questioned.

"It's more on what's happening physically and mentally on the patient. Give her a reason to recover and fight to wake up from her comatose. She needs to be strong to get through what's happening. Excuse me, I need to check on her again." The doctor went inside the ICU.

Afterward, the two tried to breathe easily since Oddey was successfully revived. However, from that close call and the doctor's advice, it made Leon rethink about the decision he made.

Once it was over, Leon entered all by himself in the ICU and saw his daughter was alright again, but for so long. Though not entirely, just not from the worst outcome that he feared, just the sound and the numbers from the heart monitor became normal again.

"I'm glad that you're still here with us," he sighed in relief to her, then stroke her damp dark hair. "I have to admit, Eva and Marie were right. I haven't been fair to you and to Gage as well. Gosh... Why couldn't it have been another guy? Why does it have to be him? Marie, and Adrian's son?"

"Whenever I see him, it just makes me remember of that day. I really can't look at him. It's just too hard. However, I hate to say it. I do see that he loves you. Still, it's too painful, but what what's more painful is to lose you anytime soon."

"I love you so much. So if you really want him here... So be it. I'll allow him to see you. You're my daughter, Odette, I will love you no matter what you do, and if loving him can help you recover, then I'll just have to learn to accept that."

Leon went outside again to see his relieved fiance waiting by the bench, looking at him. "Call Gage," he stammered.

Eva was taken aback. "What?"

"Call Gage," the man repeated while trying to put his pride aside for his daughter's sake. "Tell him to come here."

Surprised, yet the woman just followed through instead before he might change his mind at any second. "Alright then," she replied, then took out her phone and started messaging the Romeo come to the hospital.

----

In the Munro Residence, Gage was cleaning up his bag. He took out some books from school and threw out some papers that are not needed, then he saw the script book inside.

He took out it out and glanced at it first. Seeing the Romeo and Juliet script book with the highlighted parts for his lines. After that, he turned to the pages on Act Two Scene Two, the famous Balcony Scene.

The scene that Oddey helped him for his audition, and the scene that made him remember the time when he confessed his feelings to her. "Please be okay," he sighed. He looked at the lines, then read it out loud.

"What if her eyes were there, they in her head? The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars as daylight doth a lamp. See how she leans her cheek upon her hand. O, that I were a glove upon that hand, that I might touch that cheek," Gage recited.

"That was amazing," his mother complemented by the doorway of his bedroom.

"Mom!" the young man startled as he turned to her. "You're here."

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. That was really incredible. I never knew you had it in you."

"Oddey thought me how to act," Gage replied. "She told me that it's not about being Romeo, but how he feels."

"Is it also how you feel about her?"

"You could say that. By the way, where have you been today? I was about to call you because you got me worried."

Marie paused. She didn't want him to know what had happened earlier. "I just went to my studio to get some of my things so I can do my work here in the house," she fibbed. "After that, I stopped by to the supermarket to buy a few things for dinner."

Gage seemed convinced. "Oh, okay."

"Are you alright? Have... You heard from Eva today?"

"No, no yet."

"Don't worry, she'll call you," Marie assured him.

All of a sudden, Gage's phone rang. To his delight, it was from Eva. "It's her. Hello, Ms. Hermosa?" he answered the call. "Is Oddey awake already?"

"No, not really," the woman sniffled through the audio.

The young man became worried from the sound of her voice. "Why? What happened?" he asked in a frantic tone.

"Just get here."

"Okay. Okay. I'll be right there." Gage put the phone down, then turned to his mother. "I have to go."

"Why? What happened?"

"I'm not sure. She didn't say, but it sounds urgent. I'll be right back."

"Alright," Marie replied. "Becareful."

"You too, mom." Gage ran out from his house to get to his car, and drove away to get to the hospital.