A book in which Sasuke Uchiha finds himself falling for a girl struggling with mental illness.
The Uchiha household invites their family friends over to their holiday home, and brooding Sasuke finds himself falling for a girl who is slowly losing h...
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part 24 —- brown bear
In the morning, Hana sat at the dining table, trying yet again to call her mother. She would be awake by now, Hana worried. She continued to call until Mikoto placed a few dishes on the table, preparing it for a family breakfast.
"Still no luck?" Mikoto asked, wearing a sympathetic smile on her beautiful face.
"Nope, nothing." Hana sighed, putting her phone down for a moment to rub at her eyes with her palms. Just then, Sasuke walked over, the bags under his eyes prominent and his hair a mess. He looked awful, like he hadn't slept all night.
"Your brother," he began, staring at Hana deadpanned, "needs to get his snoring checked by a doctor."
Hana would have laughed if she weren't so worried about her mother. Instead, she flashed him a jittery smile and looked back down at her phone.
"He can sleep with me tonight," she mumbled under her breath, pressing her mother's contact name once more. Her stomach twisted with stress, and seeing the delicious food being placed in front of her didn't help with the sudden nausea that she was feeling.
"No, it's fine. I'll get used to it," Sasuke said, sounding a lot different than he did yesterday. Sort of... sympathetic? "Besides, I kind of liked talking to him. He comes up with the most random—"
Sasuke paused when he noticed the look on Hana's face. Her hand was clasped over the side of her neck as she stared down at her phone, her eyebrows drawn closely together. She hadn't even heard a single thing that Sasuke had said, preoccupied with worry.
Even Mikoto had ignored him. "Maybe, you could try and call the nursing home and see if Sora had arrived yesterday." she suggested.
Hana's face lit up, wondering why she never thought of that simple idea. She had been too stressed out to think clearly. She quickly excused herself from the table and went upstairs to Sasuke's room, searching online for the nursing home's phone number. She ignored her hammering heart as it began to ring, pressing it against her ear. It didn't take long for a lady to answer.
"Hi," she began shakily, "this is Hana Saito, Lori's granddaughter. I was just wondering if my mother, Sora Saito, arrived yesterday to see her?"
"Just one moment," the nice lady said, typing into her computer. As Hana waited patiently, she paced back and forth with her free hand holding her elbow. The suspense was killing her and she just wanted to know if her mother was okay. "No, doesn't look like she checked in yesterday or today."
Hana's blood ran cold and she stopped moving. The lady continued, "perhaps she is still on the way? Hello? Are you still there?"
Sasuke stood in front of Hana, having just entered the room to find her sitting on the ground, the phone face-down on the ground beside her.