One Wild Night

Harry had woken up as early as 5 AM as he usually did on work days, and although it was almost 7 AM, he was still lying on his bed looking up at the ceiling.

He knew he needed to get off the bed and get ready to leave for the office if he wanted to get to work on time as he usually did, but he just couldn't bring himself to do so.

He didn't know what was bothering him and try as he might to figure it out, he couldn't place a finger on it. At first, he had thought he was thinking about Jade, but once he focused his thoughts on her, he realized almost immediately that she wasn't what was bothering him.

After over an hour of thinking about it, he had come to the conclusion that this was just one of those mornings where he was low on morale, and he feared that he was going to end up firing anyone who didn't do what was expected of them.

At least now that Tom had revealed his identity, he could call in sick and have Tom attend to everything in his stead while he took the day off to just rest as he was really not in the mood to face anyone.

He groaned inwardly and glanced at his door when his father knocked on it, wishing his father hadn't chosen to come visiting at a time like this when he wanted nothing more than to be left alone.

"Harry? Can I come in?" Aaron asked as he turned the doorknob.

"I didn't say you could come in," Harry said with a scowl when his father walked in.

"You didn't say I couldn't come in either. Why are you still on your bed? Are you fine?" Aaron asked with concern as he went to sit on the edge of the bed.

"I'm okay. Did you want something?" Harry asked as he rolled off the bed, and Aaron followed him with his eyes.

"Yes. About the lady you talked about yesterday..."

"Not now, Dad. Please," Harry said stiffly as he walked into his closet to take out the clothes he would be wearing to the office, and Aaron stood up to follow him.

"When is it going to be then? Give me a suitable time you'd be comfortable having the conversation, and then we can discuss it," Aaron said, feeling pressed for time as he needed to push Harry to make a move before his mother did anything.

He had been unable to sleep all night because he had been too worried about the call he had received from her and her threat to approach Harry if he failed to talk to tell Harry about her. He had thought long and hard about the pros and cons of telling Harry the truth, and he wasn't sure he could do it.

"Why? Can't we just have a normal conversation anymore without it being about me being in a relationship?..."

"I just want to see you in a happy relationship."

"What's the rush for? It's not like there is a time limit to being in a happy relationship..."

"What if I was dying?" Aaron cut in, fed up with Harry's continuous stubbornness.

"DAD!" Harry yelled angrily as he turned to glare at his father, who was standing at the closet door.

"Just listen to me, okay? I want to meet this girl you talked about before I travel back," Aaron said, a note of urgency in his tone.

"Why? Why is it so important to you? Is there something you are not telling me about? Are you ill?" Harry asked, watching his father suspiciously, but Aaron shook his head.

"Do I have to be ill in order to see your girlfriend? I'm just fed up with your excuses! I want to see you in a relationship!" Aaron yelled in frustration.

"And what if I don't want to be in a relationship? Or does what I want not matter to you anymore?" Harry yelled back irritably.

Seeing how annoyed Harry was beginning to get, Aaron sighed and dropped both hands to his side, "What you want matters. It will always matter. Your happiness matters to me, so I'm begging you not to waste any more time," Aaron pleaded, his shoulders drooped.

Hearing the resignation in his father's voice, Harry took a closer look at him, and only then did he notice how old his father looked that morning. It seemed like he had aged overnight.

"Dad? Are you okay? Is there something you are not telling me?" Harry asked, going to stand in front of his father.

Aaron tried to blink back his tears of guilt and fear before looking at Harry. He shook his head, and without saying another word, he headed for the door.

Harry had a frown on his face as he watched his father leave. His father wasn't usually the type to act up in such a dramatic manner, so what could be wrong? He wondered as he spread out his work clothes on the bed before going on to shower.

Once he was ready to leave for work, he went to the living room, but he didn't find his father there as he expected, and so he walked over to his father's bedroom to check on him.

Immediately he raised his hand to knock on the door, he heard his father groaning and panting as though he was struggling to breathe, and immediately he pushed the door open and hurried into the bedroom, "Dad? Are you okay?" He asked in alarm when he saw his father sitting at the edge of the bed, bent forward with his hand clutching his chest tightly as though he was in pain.

Aaron shook his head, "My... ch.. est. It hurts," he managed breathlessly.

"Whatever this is about, dad, you can talk to me. If it's about getting a girlfriend, you don't have to worry. I told you already that I'm on it. I'm not making any excuses this time, I promise," Harry said, thinking his father was putting up a show for him, but upon taking a closer look at the beads of sweat coating his father's brows and seeing how pale he looked, Harry wasn't so sure anymore, so immediately he took out his phone and called his doctor.

Following the doctor's instructions, Harry helped his father to sit up on the bed in a way that his back was resting on the headboard of the bed while he answered the doctor's question about his father's state.

"I was on my way to my office, but I will stop at your place to check on him. I will join you in ten minutes," the doctor said before hanging up.

"What is going on, dad? Why are you being this way? You can't get sick or let anything of the sort happen to you! You shouldn't! You are all I have!" Harry pleaded desperately, beads of sweat coating his brows as he watched his father, unable to stand seeing his usually lively father looking so dull and pale.

Although Aaron's eyes were closed, tears slid down his cheeks as he listened to Harry. He wanted to talk to Harry and tell him the truth. Several times over the night, he had stood in front of Harry's door wanting to go in and tell Harry the truth, but he had been unable to bring himself to do so.

He hadn't slept a wink all through the night, and he knew that both guilt, fear, and worry were weighing heavily on him, but he couldn't help it. The more he looked at Harry or listened to his voice, the bigger the weight on his conscience. He was more scared of hurting Harry with the truth than he was of Harry's anger.

If all he was going to face was Harry's anger, then he could live with that, but seeing Harry hurt when confronted with the truth that his mother had not wanted him and that all those love stories had all been a lie... He couldn't. As manly as Harry portrayed himself, he was always going to be his little boy to him, and he didn't want to see his boy hurt.

"Try to take a deep breath, dad. Slowly," Harry suggested while praying that the doctor would arrive there sooner than ten minutes.

Harry quickly picked up his phone when it started to ring, thinking it was a phone call from the doctor saying he had arrived, but when he saw that it was Jade who was calling, he declined the call without thinking twice as he didn't want any other call on his line at that moment until the doctor was present there with them.

Jade called two more times, and he continued to decline her call until he heard the sound of the doorbell, and he spared his father a worried glance before hurrying out of the room to see if it was the doctor and let him in.

Relieved to see the doctor at the door, Harry led him to the bedroom and stood by his father's bedside anxiously as the doctor checked his blood pressure and did other vital tests.

"Your father seems to be very stressed. His blood pressure is too high. For a moment there, I was worried he was having a heart attack when you called me," the doctor said to Harry before focusing on Aaron.

"Have you been worrying a lot lately, sir?"

"It's nothing serious," Aaron said, feeling slightly embarrassed now that his symptoms had disappeared.

"Talk to him, dad. It could have been worse than this. What if I had left for work when this happened to you?" Harry said with a worried frown.

"I would have been fine. I feel okay now, as you can see. Don't keep the doctor waiting anymore. You should go to work too," Aaron said, but Harry didn't budge as he exchanged a look with the doctor.

"Aren't you going to give him any medication?" Harry asked, and the doctor smiled.

"I've never seen you this disorganized. Relax, Harry, else you will also be needing medication. I came here directly on my way to work. I don't drive around with medications in my car. But don't worry, I will write you a prescription, and then you can get him the medication," the doctor said as he slapped Harry's back lightly before taking out his pen and prescription notepad from his backpack to scribble on it.

"Are you having difficulty sleeping?" He asked Aaron and seeing the worried look on Harry's face, Aaron shook his head.

"Dad, do you need me to excuse you so you can be honest with the doctor?" Harry asked, and the doctor nodded.

"I think you should excuse us," he suggested, and Harry nodded before walking away from the bedroom.

A moment later, the doctor stepped out of the bedroom to join Harry, who was waiting outside the door, "Your father needs to rest and stop overthinking. He will be fine," the doctor said as he handed Harry the prescription note.

"Thank you for coming as soon as I called," Harry said as he saw the doctor off to the door, and he gave Harry a nod.

"It's part of your membership package. Try not to worry too much. Your father will be okay," he assured Harry as he shook hands with him before leaving.

Once the doctor left, Harry returned to his father's bedroom, and immediately Aaron heard his footsteps, her pretended to be asleep. Harry sighed as he looked down at his father, knowing he was only pretending to sleep but not understanding what was happening with the man.

"I'm heading out to get you the medicine for your blood pressure," Harry said before picking up his phone and walking away.

Once he got into the car and turned on the ignition, he dialed Tom's number and connected it to his phone's Bluetooth speaker as he drove off.

"Good morning, sunshine. Why are you calling me when we can talk at the office? Don't tell me you are missing me that badly," Tom, who was in the car with Lucy, joked even though he had been about to call Harry too, to find out if he was okay since he had just finished speaking with Jade, who called to find out what the problem was because Harry was rejecting her call.

"You wish. I won't be coming to the office today. My dad isn't feeling well, so I have to stay back to look after him," Harry explained.

"What? What's wrong with him?" Tom asked while Lucy's brows pulled together in concern as she listened to the conversation since Tom's phone was connected to the car's speaker.

"The doctor said his blood pressure is high. I'm heading out to get him the prescribed medication. I will take care of the business I can handle from home, so I hope you don't mind standing in for me..."

"Are you crazy? Do you even need to ask me something like that? Don't worry. I will meet with your secretary and find out all you have on your schedule for today, and then we will find a way to blend it with mine. Focus on your dad, and tell him we will stop by to see him after work. Try not to worry too much, alright?"

"Sure. Give my love to Lucy."

"No, I won't! Are you out of your mind? Why would I give your love to my Jewel when she has all my love?" Tom asked, wanting to make Harry loosen up a bit, and to his relief, Harry chuckled.

"You're such a fool," Harry hissed at him.

"Don't worry too much, HaHa. He's going to be fine," Tom assured him once again.

"Yeah. Talk to you later," Harry said as he hung up the call, and then he glanced at his phone for only a moment before dialing Jade's number.