Hope

Chapter 3 - Boys Dilemma

A week had passed since Celia first visited Lucian in the local hospital. She had been coming to the hospital to check up on him and try making a friendly conversation with him, which ended in the way she hadn't wanted. Lucian would ignore her as she was speaking almost endlessly, which annoyed him greatly.

Another Saturday came and Celia along with her friend Hilary were walking in the corridor after school, heading towards the photography clubroom. Once they were a few steps away from the stairs leading to the clubroom on the third floor, they heard some footsteps coming their way. They turned to see a teenage boy about their age behind them, panting as he had been running after them.

"Wait... please... Celia, I have something to say..." The teenage boy took a deep breath and exhaled loudly, calming himself down after running, "Well, I have this funny feeling for quite some time... but I wasn't sure if it was true, until recently..." The teenage boy looked nervous, and he took another deep breath to calm himself down again.

"And then...?" Celia was clueless, while Hilary had a feeling about what was going to happen next.

"Celia, I like you..." The teenage boy half yelled, "W-Will y-you... will you... go out... with me?"

Hearing those words didn't even make Celia change her expression. Unlike Hilary, she didn't expect anyone to confess to her, but she didn't have a shocked expression on her face. She wasn't smiling, but she wasn't frowning either. She was putting her regular expression, but with a little hint of boredom on her face.

"Sorry, but I can't," Celia shortly replied and turned away to face the stairs before the teenage boy could respond, "You may know me, but I don't know anything about you. It won't work out," Celia paused for a moment before she let out a whisper, "Plus I have my eyes on someone else..."

"Oh, I see..." Celia didn't turn to look at the teenage boy, but Hilary clearly saw his downcast expression before he left without another word.

Once the teenage boy was out of sight, Hilary turned to her friend who was still staring at the stairs, "That's the tenth guy you reject this month, right?" Celia turned to Hilary, giving her a silent nod.

"Yeah, and none of them is impressive enough..." Celia let out a sigh before setting her left foot on the stairs, before Hilary said something that stopped her from going up the stairs.

"And I did hear that you had their eyes on someone else," Hilary saw that Celia had stopped in her tracks, making her grin slyly, "And you should see how panicked you were when you heard that Lucian was in hospital," Hilary's words made Celia even more uncomfortable, "Perhaps... well... you like him? Or maybe... you're in love with him?"

"I-I am not!" A faint shade of pink on Celia's face could be seen as she turned to her friend suddenly, "W-What makes you think that way!?"

"Uh... I just mentioned it a few seconds ago. Remember the panicking?" Hilary replied innocently, despite what she said earlier.

"Well, i-it's not true! As his classmate, I should be worried! No more deep meaning in it!" Celia protested before going down the stairs, "You know what? I think I just remember that I have something important to do at home, so I'll leave things up to you for this week. I'll see you later!"

Hilary watched as her friend went down the other set of stairs before letting out another sly grin, "She's so madly, deeply in love with Lucian... I don't recall anyone other than her who turned the tables upside down in panic..."

Celia was stomping her way out of school and towards the bus stop, still blushing and annoyed with what Hilary had said before. She held her camera bag close to her chest as she waited at the bus stop, still thinking about the earlier event with Hilary.

'I can't believe her!' Celia thought angrily, 'I panicked about Lucian in hospital, but it doesn't mean that I'm in love with him, right?' Celia paused for a moment and held her camera bag tighter, 'Well, he's nice, kind, helpful, smart, and handsome...' Celia was smiling to herself until she realized what she had been thinking, 'Wait, what?'

Celia almost panicked due to her own train of thoughts, but luckily, the bus heading for the hospital came just in time and she got on. Celia decided not to think about Hilary's words anymore for the rest of the day and started thinking about Lucian, who hadn't been himself since the accident. As worried as she was, she couldn't do much other than keeping him company during her time in hospital.

A few minutes passed and the bus stopped at the bus station in front of the hospital. Celia got off the bus, still holding her camera tightly as she walked into the hospital building. Celia walked through the corridor towards Lucian's room, passing a few doctors and nurses along with a few visitors along the way. Once she reached his room and was about to open the door, Doctor Li came out of his room.

"Oh, it's you, Celia! You are here to visit Lucian?" Doctor Li asked with a smile, getting another in return.

"Good afternoon, Doctor Li. Yes, I'm here to see Lucian, as I usually do. How is he doing now?" Celia bowed a little and smiled.

The smile on Doctor Li's face was soon replaced by a frown before he let out a sigh, "As much as I don't want to say this, I'm afraid his condition is getting worse since two days ago. I assume that the shock of losing both of his beloved parents must be the cause of his declining health."

"I see..." Celia replied with a worried look on her face, "If you let me, I want to see him now."

"Yes, and I need you to keep him company and make him move on from his parents. Hopefully, he gets better that way," Doctor Li replied with a nod before leaving Celia to enter Lucian's room.

"Lucian?" Celia peeked into the room and saw that Lucian was the only one there before she went in and sat on the chair next to his bed, "How are you feeling now?"

"Bothered," Lucian replied weakly, not bothering to turn his head to her.

"Sorry, I just want someone to talk to other than Hilary and my other best friends..." Celia put her camera bag and her backpack under the chair she was sitting before she moved closer to his bed, "Today another guy I don't even know confessed to me... That should be the tenth guy who confessed to me this month, according to Hilary. Can you believe that? I don't even understand why so many guys want to go out with me!"

"Well... Maybe you're... quite a popular girl... and... you're too beautiful to resist..." Lucian replied with his weakened voice, but Celia could hear him clearly and stood up angrily.

"N-NO! W-Wait! D-did... did you... just confess to me!?" Celia was flustered already and her red face was a mixture of anger and blush.

"Don't... don't get... the wrong idea..." Lucian replied weakly, slowly turning his head to Celia, "I'm not... interested in romance anymore... I don't have anything... left... in this world... There's no point... for me to live... anymore... My parents are gone... and I wish that... I'll catch up to them soon..."

Celia's anger disappeared completely and she looked at him worriedly. She felt like crying after she heard his hopelessness and his wish to die and catch up with his parents, "Lucian... This isn't like you... Your parents might be gone physically, but their spirits will still within your heart... And you still have your friends in this world..." Celia looked at his left hand, which was still covered in bandages, 'And you still have me as well...'

"No, they're not... my friends..." Lucian replied weakly, his head slowly turned away from her, "Friends don't... abandon each other... when they need... each other..."

"Lucian..." Celia looked at him, but she couldn't say anything else other than his name. After a long silence between them, Celia wiped some tears which started welling up in her eyes before she picked up her backpack and camera bag and walked towards the door. She opened the door and looked at him for the last time before getting out of his room.

'I'm sorry, Lucian... I wish I could do or say something to make you feel better...'