Rowena opened her mouth to refute his words, but Camila interjected, “Mom, has anyone else been in our house Lately?"

Rowena pondered this for a few seconds.

“Not really. Aside from you and

Isaac, Aldrin was the only one who dropped by."

Camila and Isaac would never harm their own son, much less Rowena. That only left Aldrin.

Was it him? Camila had wanted to believe that he was innocent, but the misfortunes kept piling up around them, and Aldrin was always in the picture.

“Mila.

“Mom," Camila interrupted again.

“From now on, don't let Aldrin get close to Joe again."

“What? Why not?" But Rowena soon came to a realization, and she gasped.

“Does he have anything to do with this?"

They had no solid evidence for the time being, so Camila couldn't say anything for certain. Her suspicions were just that— suspicions.

"Go home first, Mom. Don't tell Aldrin about Joe's condition, okay? Just say that I took him to Isaac's."

“Okay. Rowena glanced at her grandson. Though she had a vague idea of what had transpired, she still didn't know what it meant for Joe. "Is it serious? Will the substances do permanent damage?"

“It's nothing serious," Camila said, not wanting to worry her.

Rowena sighed in relief. "That's good, then."

It wasn't until Rowena was gone that Camila finally dropped her calm expression.

They were lucky this time. They had been able to rush Joe to the hospital before it was too late.

Even so, she couldn't let her son get hurt again and again.

“Let me help you with the admission procedures," the doctor said, pulling her back to her senses.

Camila just nodded.

She was familiar with the doctor, and with his help, they were soon settled into a ward.

After some discussion, they agreed that Joe would need to be administered some medicines to help treat him.

The baby fussed the entire time, and only quieted down when evening fell.

He drank a bottle of his milk and fell asleep.