Forever lost

8

December 22

There's an old saying that sometimes it's better to live in ignorance than to know the reality, and at this very moment, Lilly couldn't agree more.

After her little nighttime excursion, Lilly woke up much later than she had the past few days. When she woke up, her whole family was already in the hospital room.

Everyone dressed as usual in elegant clothes, but always in fashion.

Everyone seemed attentive to the television hanging on the wall, where a young journalist appeared to be broadcasting the event of the year.

"Hundreds of journalists gather here, all with the same objective, to capture the first images of the young princess," the journalist narrated.

The stay of the royal family in the hospital did not go unnoticed by the media, who quickly began to create wild theories, prompting the kings to make the decision to make their little one's return public to put an end to the speculations.

But at the same time the world was learning the news, Lilly was too, which caused a knot to form in her stomach and the cereal she was eating for breakfast now seemed like the least appetizing food in the world.

"Have you finished your breakfast, Lilly?" Jane asks her young daughter gently, noticing that she had stopped eating.

"I'm not hungry anymore," Lilly apologizes.

"Perfect, I'll take care of it," Ethan quickly responds, getting up from the chair where he was sitting and picking up his sister's bowl, starting to eat before even sitting down.

The gesture made Lilly let out a small laugh.

"What are you laughing at?" Ethan asks in a teasing tone.

Lilly freezes for a second, clearly not having caught the humor in her brother's joke. "I'm sorry," she begins to apologize.

"Lils, don't worry, it was a joke," Alex reassures her.

"Lils?" Ethan questions.

"It's my nickname for Lilly. Jealous?"

"Not a bit, big brother," Ethan responds, taking another spoonful into his mouth, clearly plotting something in his head.

"Darling, why don't you go to the bathroom and change? As soon as Dad finishes signing the discharge papers, we'll leave," Jane says, then puts a new set of clothes for Lilly on a chair.

Upon hearing that, Lilly's stomach twists again. She doesn't want to leave the hospital; that would mean that everyone on TV would look at her, and that overwhelms her. Despite everything, she doesn't feel comfortable enough yet to say anything, so she just nods and gets out of bed.

Once inside the bathroom, a place that has involuntarily become her refuge in the past few days, she allows herself to breathe deeply for a few minutes before changing into the clothes her mother brought, consisting of a dark yellow chunky knit sweater and brown corduroy pants.

When she exits the bathroom, she finds her whole family, her mother and father picking up some things they had left around the room and her three brothers chatting casually.

"Lilly, give me the dirty clothes to put away," Robert says, reaching out his hand to grab them.

"Come on, Lilly, get in, I can't wait to get out of here," Apollo says. In front of him is a wheelchair, which his brother taps lightly with his hand, encouraging her to get in.

Seeing the wheelchair, Lilly can't help but make a gesture of discomfort on her face. Wheelchairs are for people who can't walk, and in her opinion, she can even run.