Mali's eyes opened a crack. She groaned and blinked a few times, trying to adjust to the light seeping into the room through the curtain slits.
"She's coming around!" Led shouted, and her brothers were surrounding her in a second. They hadn't left her side since she'd collapsed.
Warren went to draw the curtains close.
"Maliah," Lei whispered worriedly, "can you hear me?"
"Hmm," she groaned again. "How long have I been out for? What time is it?"
"It's a little after noon," Napo replied.
"You gave us quite a scare, girlie," Warren spoke for the first time since Mali woke up, and Mali let out a small smile, rubbing her eyes. "Are you okay?"
"I'm okay, Warren," she croaked.
"You all worry too much about this girl," Napo told them, moving away from the bed to sit down.
"We have to," said Warren.
"I get that, but it's unnecessary," Napo replied. "Maliah would survive an apocalypse here on Earth and move to another planet. She's that resilient."
Mali giggled softly, weakly. But her eyes were now fully open and focused. Lei raised the head of her bed so she could sit up without making much effort.
"Can you go get me a coke?" she asked Led.
"Can she have a coke?" Warren asked Lei, as if Mali wasn't a doctor herself and didn't know any better, and as if she needed someone to make decisions for her.
Mali gave Lei a vicious look, silently telling her to answer that question carefully.
Lei glanced at Mali, and then at Warren. She absolutely hated getting caught between the two, but she chose Mali's side, "The caffeine and sugar will help her wake up and be more alert."
"I'll get you one from the vending machine," announced Led before he left.
Lei took Mali's pulse.
Warren paced around, and no one stopped him. He did that a lot when he was anxious; couldn't keep still.
When Led returned minutes later, he opened the can of coke for his sister and gave it to her, together with a straw.
The liquid stung Mali's throat at first, but then it sort of numbed the subtle pain in her throat that was probably caused by her screaming. Everyone around her seemed totally absorbed with watching her drink the coke. She did love attention, but that wasn't the kind she wanted.
"Now that you're fully awake, tell me what you want to do to that bastard," said Warren once he stopped pacing. "Anything. If you want I can rough him up or put him six feet under. Whatever you want, just say the word, and I will-"
Mali held her hand up, halting Warren with a single gesture.
"Peter is my problem. Not yours. You won't do anything to him. And that's it," Mali stated with finality.
"Oh?" Warren cocked his head in amusement, smirking the smirk of all smirks. "I wasn't aware of any of that."
"Well, now you are." Mali wanted to wipe that smirk off his face.
The look on Warren's face suddenly turned deathly vicious as he stalked towards Mali. In his eyes was something deeply dangerous. He was again the War everyone feared; he wasn't just Mali's brother.
Lei's breath caught I'm her throat, and she took a step back.
"If a person makes you cry, girlie, I will kill them. If a person even so much as touches you and you wince, I will kill them," Warren swore. "Now use that smart brain of yours to imagine what will happen to the man who cheated on you, and killed your child. There will be no mercy for him."
And with that, he turned and stormed off.
"It doesn't matter what you say, Maliah, no one gets away with hurting you. No one," Led told his sister, and followed his brother out.
Warren was always quick to choose violence because he didn't have any diplomatic skills. In his mind, making a show of executing someone was the quickest way to send a message. Led always just followed in his footsteps, and ideals.
Mali, on the other hand, found a softer approach more effective. Much like her twin brother, she was always calm, collected. It took a lot for her temper to become forefront.
"Napo, you're the sensible one, can you please stop those two maniacs?" she pleaded. "Talk some sense into them."
Napo was usually sensible too. He was the brother Warren used to make deals, to seal deals, and to end deals. Because he had an intellect, like Maliah, and a knack for strategic thinking. He was the king of calm. But once in a while, Napo let his anger mar his nice-guy mask so everyone can see who he really is.
"No, I actually agree with them," Napo told his sister, leaving her totally gobsmacked. "Let us do what we see fit."
"I told that I will deal with that bastard myself. I don't want-"
"Why should you deal with him when we're here? Huh?" He got up from his seat, approached Mali and cupped her cheeks. "You're our only sister, Maliah. We bleed when you cry. When you bleed then we die. You understand that, right?"
He didn't wait for her reply; just kissed her forehead, then turned and left too.
"Wow, that was poetic," Lei joked, earning herself a chilly glare from Mali. She then raised her hands in mock surrender, and smiled.
"Those boys better not do anything to that bastard," Mali muttered.
Lei scoffed. "There's no doubt death will make an appearance soon."
"Warren won't do anything to Peter without my consent."
"I think you undermine your brother's wrath, and his obsessive love for you."
"It's not obsessive." Lei gave her a look. So Mali added, "Okay, maybe it's a little obsessive."
"Not a little," Lei argued. "I slapped you one time when we were in uni and he said, 'If you ever raise your hand to my sister again, you won't have a hand.' I almost peed my pants right then I swear."
Mali spat, "Which is why you shouldn't have called them, you idiot!"
"They were going to know somehow," Lei reasoned. "Besides, the bastard deserves whatever your brothers are going to do to him."
"Hey, when you're done thinking you know best, can you go get my sketchpad from my office?" Mali asked. "I need something to keep me busy."
"You mean you need something to escape your mind, and how you feel?"
"Can you just go and get me the damn sketchpad!" Mali snapped. "I could go get it myself if you don't want to."
"Okay, okay, calm down." Lei told her, eyeing her with worry. "I'll go and get it, Jesus."
Mali was a stubborn woman. Just how on earth was Lei going to get her to cry when she didn't even want to think about her miscarriage? Dr. Nguyen was asking for the impossible.