Always, Lily

▫️ Seventeen

LILITH

"This way?" From the corridor, I motioned to the left side, asking Lorenzo which path to take.

"Mmm," he hummed in agreement, his left hand resting on my waist as I guided him to his room.

He had fallen asleep right after getting into the car but he was cooperative enough to give me his address and unlock his front door.

He was barely stable in his steps, since he had stumbled a number of times, the reason why I was supporting him.

We eventually got to his room after a slight struggle and I carefully dropped him on the bed after detaching his arm from my waist.

He didn't move even in that uncomfortable position and it made me wonder how exhausted he was.

I took off his shoes and pulled his legs up on the bed so that he was sleeping in a straight position.

I covered him with a dark blue blanket and stood back, looking around his room.

It was huge, almost the size of a living room. He had arranged his things properly, not a single item was out of place.

There was a sketchbook on a desk nearby, curiosity taking over me as I tiptoed to see what was there.

The book was open and to my surprise, there were pictures of vases all over.

They were drawn in different styles and as I admired his art, I seemed to forget that I was snooping around until I heard the door creak open.

I dropped the book and turned around, pretending to be looking for something.

There was no one there, rather, a small orange kitten gazed up at me with bright golden eyes.

I remembered of the kitten he'd once shown me and it matched the one slowly walking towards me.

I stared back at the kitten until it came to stand before me. For a minute, none of us made a move until the kitten moved to rub itself on my legs.

I took that as a welcome gesture and I squatted down to pet its soft fur.

The kitten closed its eyes as I began to pat the fur of its head. I slowly picked it up and stood up, cradling it onto my chest.

A barely audible sound came from it when I dropped my hands and my concern grew when it didn't make a sound in the second attempt.

Had the kitten not eaten too?

I glanced at a sleeping Lorenzo and then at the kitten, my heart worrying for both of them.

Was there no one to look after them?

I left his room and decided to look for the kitchen so that I could feed the cat and make something for Lorenzo.

The kitten helped me in finding the way there and I found the cat food at the bottom shelf.

I fed the kitten using a blue bowl that was labelled cat. As I watched it eat, a note fell on my feet and I picked it up.

I feed him this morning - A

I stared at the note for a while, trying to figure out who was A. It didn't look like a girl's handwriting.

I ignored that first so that I could figure out when this note was written. If it was during the time Lorenzo had been at the hospital, then no one had fed the cat for two or three days.

My theory turned out to be true as I looked down at the kitten. It was already done with its share in such a short time.

I added more food to its bowl and then filled another bowl with water, feeling so sorry for it.