Just The Girl

Chapter 17

A week had passed, and Dahlia was now out of the hospital, prisoning herself in her dark room. The clock was already hitting lunch time, and yet Dahlia still wasn't going down from her room nor emitting any response every time one of her parents or friends wanted to talk to her. The older woman in the kitchen started calling her name to come down, but she received no reply from her daughter's end.

"Dahlia? It's time to eat." She called once again but she still hasn't gotten any reply from the girl herself.

Dahlia's mom let out a sigh before she started making her way up to her daughter's room, as soon as she was outside, she then gave out three soft knocks against her door. "Dahlia? It's time to eat. It's lunch." She spoke, and she couldn't hear anything from the other side of the door. "I'm coming inside, okay?" She added, and after five seconds, she slowly opened the door and could see her daughter still lying down on the bed.

All the lights were off, everything was dark. But she could still make out her daughter's laying form.

"Are you still asleep?" Mrs. Chang then sat beside her daughter on the bed, slowly reaching out to caress her hair. "Dahlia?" But Dahlia continued to lay down. Seconds passed and she finally felt some movement from her daughter, but she still had her eyes closed.

"I'm not hungry mom..." Dahlia whispered.

"Oh? But that's not good for your baby." But her daughter continued to stay still. "I'll microwave it later; I don't want to eat yet..." And again, she still didn't want to. And that had put her mother in a position where she couldn't do anything about it anymore. Giving her daughter a chased kiss on the head, she then left the room, leaving Dahlia to her own privacy.

Mrs. Chang had called Marvin an hour later, saying that maybe Dahlia needed her friends at the moment. She first wanted to call Ivan, but she assumed that Ivan was busy at school, and she didn't want to disturb him. She thought that maybe Marvin wasn't as hectic as Ivan was, that's why she called him instead in the end.

"Marvin, I'm so glad you're here. I need to run to the office right now because of an emergency meeting. There's food on the dining table, you and Dahlia eat together, okay? Thank you so much for coming, I really appreciate this." Mrs. Chang said before she gave him a peck on the cheeks.

"No worries, leave Dahlia to me, I'll take care of her for today. Please drive safely too." Mrs. Chang gave Marvin one last hug before she exited the house, leaving him and Dahlia.

Marvin then let out a low sigh before he placed the bag of food that he bought for her and the others, since they were also coming here. He was then in the kitchen when he suddenly heard something outside, recognizing Feather's voice saying goodbye to Mrs. Chang by the driveway. Feather had come in seconds later; she was also bringing food with her.

"I called Ilyon too, he's coming right now." Feather started, taking off her jacket before she hung it on one of the chairs in the dining room.

"Where's Dahlia? Is she in her room?" Feather asked, looking up at Mavin. "Yeah, she's up there. I just arrived as well." Marvin replied, making his way towards the flight of stairs, Feather following behind him.

"Dahlia? It's Marvin. Feather is here as well. Can we come in?" He spoke, but they heard nothing coming from her end. Marvin looked at Feather, and she also looked at Marvin the same way—both had worry plastered on their faces. "We're coming in, okay?" Marvin said before opening the door, and that's where they had both seen Dahlia sitting on top of her bed, hugging both of her legs close to her chest while she covered her face in her arms.

"Dahlia?" Feather called, immediately making her way to sit on Dahlia's bed, just right in front of her. "Dahlia, what's wrong?" She asked again, Marvin then grabbed Dahlia's study chair and placed it beside her bed so that he was near the two girls.