Life In The Spotlight

Chapter 9 (Present)

Rose had to be very gentle when handling Shu, for he was very sensitive to touch now. He was fine with his siblings, but anyone other than that would cause him to scream at the slightest touch.

Rose somehow managed to sweet-talk Shu into sleeping. She stroked his hair as he slept on her lap.

Rose was feeling extremely worried for Shu. She knew that he had been having a rough time, but it never occurred to her that the emotional damage Seina had inflicted on Shu was so serious.

Sora returned with a tray of medicine bottles and tablets. "How is he?"

"Sleeping like a baby," said Rose. "He really isn't okay, is he?"

"No. He told me last night that he wanted to switch off his heart," said Sora.

"Will he live like this for the rest of his life?" asked Rose.

"I don't know," said Sora. "A broken heart isn't easy to heal. You see, I got engaged yesterday."

"Congratulations," said Rose. "I'm so happy for you."

"Thanks," said Sora. "I kind of expected Shu to be upset, but he was very supportive. I wanted to protect him from heartbreak, but..."

"It's not your fault," said Rose. She hadn't forgotten the day she had watched Seina slap Shu and make him cry. She had realized that Shu was in a toxic relationship. But Shu had always insisted that he was just doing something wrong.

"I don't understand," said Rose. "How did Shu not see the signs?"

"Because love makes you blind," said Sora. "Shu was a child when he fell for Seina. When he finally realized how toxic Seina was, he was way too deep in the relationship. If I hadn't gone to check on him..."

Rose didn't have to hear it. Seina almost took Shu's life. No one was certain if she actually meant to drown him or not, but it didn't matter.

"I should get to school now," said Rose. "I hope that Shu will be okay."

"I hope so too," said Sora.

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Valt went to visit Shu later that day. He had been concerned when Rose told him that Shu was sick.

"Shu, are you okay? You look terrible!"

"I'm fine," said Shu weakly. He still looked pale and his headache was bothering him, but at least the pain had lessened and his temperature had gone down.

"You don't look fine," said Valt. "You look really tired."

"I'm okay, really," said Shu.

Valt felt cross. "Shu, I can tell when you're faking it. You're clearly in pain. Just at least tell me what's bothering you."

Shu sighed. "Well, I don't exactly know why I have a headache. Maybe it's the lack of sleep. My head hurt so much last night that I went to Sora for help. I think that I fainted, for the next thing I knew, it was morning. Dad brought me to the doctor. He said that I probably needed to rest."

"Should I do anything?" asked Valt.

"No, it's okay," said Shu. "Now don't you think of bringing a ton of ice for me."

Valt looked asthonished. "How did you know what I was thinking?"

"Valt, I always know what you're thinking," said Shu. "Besides, you already did that once."

"You mean sixty three times," said Valt, referring to the number of takes of the scene where he turned up at Shu's apartment carrying bags of ice.

Valt giggled as he remembered when one of the bags had torn and the ice fell on his feet. His feet had practically had frostbite and he sat to put his feet in warm water for five minutes.

"I wonder what the new season will be about," Valt said, changing the subject. I wonder if there will be a different main character or Bel is still going to be the protagonist."

"At least you were the protagonist for two seasons," said Shu. "All the others only had one season."

"Remember when Aiger and I were the only returning characters in Rise?" asked Valt. "Fans complained that they missed the old characters, so the next season did the opposite. Only a couple of new characters and everyone else were old characters."

"I remember," said Shu.

"Will you be better soon?" asked Valt.

Shu smiled a little. "I will be fine, I promise."