“No one. Just… your uncle,” the boy smirked.

I stared at him, trying to figure out who he was. 

The fact that he appeared to have a brawny physique and was attractive worried me the most, especially since I had no idea what the male protagonist or his followers looked like.

Because the male lead was bound to have supporters who agreed with whatever he did to the female protagonist, as was common in bullied novels.

So the person who was standing in front of me could possibly be one of them--

“Your uncle?” he repeated. He gave me an expectant look, which I returned with a puzzled expression.

“Isn’t that what you told the nurses? That you had an uncle who might come visit you?” he filled in.

It was then that I remembered the short conversation I had with a police officer a couple of hours ago that could have led to an unwanted discussion regarding my going to a foster home, now that James and Alice were arrested. I didn’t expect the cop to have told anybody about that.

“Oh, relax. You’re not in trouble or anything,” the boy shrugged, seeing that I was still tense around him. He then moved to sit on the sofa that was in my hospital room.

“Oh my god. Look at you,” he said, taking note of my state when he saw me.

“Do I know you?” I asked.

“Funny,” the boy let out a short laugh. But then he saw the look on my face.

“Seriously? You don’t know me?”

He had a look on his face that implied I should have known who he was, but I didn't.

I did want to know who he was. If he were the story's male lead, I would have to think about how to deal with him at that point.

Another thing: most male protagonists in bullied romance novels were 'possessive' toward the female lead. So it was possible that—

“You seriously don’t know me? But I’m popular. Wait. I think I’m popular.”

‘I’m not playing this game.’

“Can you just cut to the chase and tell me who the fuck you are?”

My words caught the guy off guard. Then he chuckled as he ran a hand through his hair.

“I’m Jaxon.”

I blinked at him. He still had that expectant look on his face.

"Jaxon..." my mind raced, attempting to place him in the novel. “Jackson…”

“Jaxon. With an X, instead of the usual…”

‘Jaxon…’

I still didn’t know who he was. He seemed to realize this, and he dropped his hopeful expression.

“You might know my father,” Jaxon suggested. “Haven’t you heard of the Barretts? The guys who own those million-dollar businesses across the country?”

It was then that I recognized him. 

Jaxon rolled his eyes in response to my reaction.

I was then able to place him in the novel. Jaxon was a relatively minor character. But he was related to someone else who was mentioned more frequently: his father. And this was in Book Three.

Yes, Claiming Maddox was a three-part series. But I’d rather not get into that.

Now, about his father. The novel mentioned a summarized backstory involving him. He was one of Alice’s admirers when they were in college. He even got into a thing with her for a while. But then Alice ended up marrying James.

Emma was supposed to meet with the Barretts around the beginning of Book 3, after Maddox found out about James' abuse of her. The guy (Maddox) had come from making a shit apology to Emma and found out about Emma’s family situation. He had James arrested and imprisoned shortly after. The entire situation was then covered in the news, which was how Jaxon's father learned about Emma's situation.

Jaxon’s father then reached out to help Emma and Alice, since Alice didn’t end up getting arrested. But, for some reason, now that I was Emma, everything was happening differently and much faster.

‘Is it because James and Alice were arrested? Did Jaxon’s father figure it out earlier and that’s why he sent his son to see me?’

But how? A day had barely passed since Emma’s parents were arrested. 

Perhaps he had connections with the police or something. But even so, something felt off. That is something I will have to think about later.

“Jaxon, was it? If you don’t mind me asking, why are you here?” I shifted my focus to the unexpected visitor in my hospital room.

“… I came to see you?” Jaxon replied. “I mean, you’ve had no one else come visit you, right?”

‘Yes, and I would have preferred it that way.’

I sighed.

“I didn’t know why my dad told me to come here, but whoa!” Jaxon said. “What happened to you?”

“I’d rather not get into it,” I told him.

Originally, Jaxon’s father was supposed to meet with Emma and Alice after James got arrested. And in the novel, Jaxon wasn’t really welcoming towards Emma when his father brought her and Alice to their home.

But that was not what I was seeing in front of me. Jaxon wasn’t acting like a dick towards me. It was possibly because he didn’t know his father still harbored feelings for Emma’s mother.

“I don’t think you have to do this,” I informed Jaxon. 

He stared at me expectantly.

“You don’t have to be here,” I added.

Mostly because I wasn’t ready, if at all, to deal with the characters of the novel. The ones I had met so far were assholes. And with the luck I’ve had ever since I woke up in the novel, I needed time to understand the pessimism that was involved with being Emma. 

And I needed to plan how to avoid it.

“Well, honestly, I didn’t want to be here either. But that was before I knew I was coming to the hospital. So at this point…” Jaxon shrugged.

“Oh,” I said. “Wait. Huh?”

“My father told me to follow my driver. I didn’t even know I would be coming here in the first place, but when I saw the chauffeur driving us towards the hospital, I got curious,” Jaxon explained. “I wondered if it was my dad who got admitted here. But of all people, I didn’t expect it to be you.”

I decided to accept Jaxon’s reasoning. 

“You really don’t remember me?” he then asked. “We go to the same school. Did you forget or something?”