SHOWTIME

F I V E

When I woke up, I found myself in a hospital and not in a new consciousness or something. I opened one eye to see that Apollo was standing next to me with a worried look.
I opened my other eye and he sighed happily. "Thank God you're awake! What happened to you? I thought you were dead or something!"
When I spoke, my voice sounded like a dead man heaving an asthma attack. "Ouch."
I closed my eyes again. "Please shut up for a second."

Apollo raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"My head hurts, okay?" I looked at him and felt dizzy. Was it because of the things I saw in my consciousness?
"Furina, you were in a freaking coma for three days. What happened?" Apollo looked me worriedly.

I remembered what the other Furina in my consciousness said. 'The corrupted version is taking over your consciousness.'
My heart still felt like something heavy was inside. And after meeting the corrupted version of myself, I could feel her banging on my chest, screaming for help.

"Furina?" Again, this worried look. Apollo took my hand and almost squeezed it. "Please, say something!"
That electrical touch didn't make it better. But I wasn't a total fool to tell him, so I just looked at our hands and thought about what happened in my consciousness.

My neck hurt badly. "I can't tell you."
"Yeah, because your voice is damaged. Remember, you were asleep for more than 70 hours!" Apollo said. "And I was worried, okay?"
I tried to smile. "Did anyone else visit me?"
"Your parents. And Stellar, but only once." He sighed. "She said Tanner was officially her boyfriend."

I scoffed. "Why would she say such nonsense? He's not interested in any of his admirers and she's one of them."
"I don't believe her either. But she forced me to tell you, so I did it." Apollo answered.

Then, he just changed the subject and looked at me again. "Do you know why you fell unconscious?"
I nodded. "Yes, but I'm afraid I can't tell you."
Apollo sighed. "You'll have to tell the doctors anyway."

I still doubted that the things I saw were real, but something in my mind couldn't stop reminding me of the cross where the corrupted Furina hang in pain. That thing was planted in my mind and felt like the proof that it did happen.

And one part of my brain started yelling at me like it was crazy. "Stupid thing! Slap that idiot and make him go away! You don't need love!"
I then remembered Furina didn't tell me anything about how the corruption would affect myself before I got corrupted.

———

After some more days, I got out of the hospital and went home. When I arrived there, I immediately sat down in front of my laptop and googled "corruption", but they didn't tell me anything special. Just the normal stuff about how corruption was a bad feeling but nothing special.

So I had to find it out myself, just like I wanted to learn how to love on my own. It wouldn't be easy, even more difficult than learning how to love because I couldn't tell anyone about it. Such a shit!

Right when I was about to smash something to calm myself down, my phone rang.
I took a deep breath. "Yes?"
"Hey girlie, remember me? It's Tanner!" The voice on the other side answered.
I rolled my eyes. "Where did ya get my number from?"
Tanner chuckled. "It was easy. Stellar gave it to me when I asked her."

"And what the heck do you want from me?" I asked. His beautiful voice made the whole conversation better, but I was still angry that he didn't visit me in the hospital.
"I wanted to take you out for dinner. I heard you were in a coma, so I think it's the best way to recover from it, isn't it?" Tanner seemed more excited about his own idea than I was.

Then, I heard another ringing sound from my phone and almost collapsed because I was holding it against my ear.
It was... a message from Apollo!

Hey, sorry for bothering you, just wanna know if you're free tonight cuz I wanna show you something (again)!

I immediately said to Tanner I'd tell him later because I had to ask my parents first, then ended the call and started another one with Stellar. I had to ask her about something.
"Furina! Are you alright? I heard you're finally awake, but couldn't visit you yet."

It felt so good hearing her voice after all that time, and I did nothing but smiled.
"Hey, so yeah, the thing is I received an invitation to a date or something from two boys. And I don't know which one to accept."

Stellar squeezed. "What? Two boys?! Who?"
That was the problem: I couldn't tell her Tanner asked me out. I knew she'd become the most jealous person in the world if I told her. Also, this could influence her judgement.
"Uhm... just tell me which one I should accept. One of them is an invitation to dinner and the other one is a surprise."

"OMG girl, take the surprise! I know you're actually not interested in boys, but a normal dinner is so boring!" Stellar answered.
I just sat there and listened to what she said. I still liked Tanner as a normal friend. "But I'm afraid to reject an offer."
Stellar just chuckled. "Why?"
"What if I hurt the other boy's feelings? I'm pretty sure he's looking forward to the date." I expected Stellar to understand my opinion as always, but she just laughed.
"Why do you care about his feelings? He's just a boy and if you want the other guy, he has to deal with it! Everything else would be childish."

I felt like she was right, but I still didn't want to hurt Tanner's feelings. But then, I remembered that Stellar was actually in love with him.
"Stellar, can you do me a favor?"
She chuckled. "Anything for ya, bestie! Except for eating snails. You know I hate 'em."

"It's nothing about snails" I promised. "I just want you to go on a date with the other guy while I'm in my surprise date."
Stellar sighed. "Depends on who he is."
"I'll organize a blind date. Just go there, I swear, just won't regret saying yes!"
Another sigh from Stellar, but eventually, she said yes.

I immediately called Tanner. "Hey, it's me again! I have to call because I'm late for a meeting with another friend. But don't be sad, bro, I got you a blind date with someone!"
Tanner was silent for a moment, but then, he chuckled. "Blind date? Okay! When?"
Oh, shit, I didn't think about that! "Uhm... 7 PM?"
"And where do I have to go?" Tanner asked.
I cleared my throat. "Just take the place you wanted to take me to. I'm sure she'll love it!"

———

Then, I texted Apollo. 'I'm in!'
And this time, I was actually even more happy about him inviting me. I didn't know why he did it, but he actually wanted to spent time with me. I wasn't sure how to feel about it, but there were butterflies in my stomach and they wouldn't stop.

I smirked at myself in the mirror. I knew that I was actually making progress in my plan of learning how to love.

And the butterflies? I ignored them.

[1240 words]