Hope

Chapter 4 - Looking into Myself

-Lucian's POV-

It was dark. I couldn't see anything, or even feel anything other than emptiness. A flash of light suddenly blindfolded me, and that same familiar sight came to me once again. My smartphone, sitting on my right hand as the internet was loading slowly. I felt as if I started coughing, spewing out red liquid called blood into my other hand. I turned to two faceless figures around me, one being a man and the other one being a woman. Both of them had the same hair color as me, and I certainly recognized them. All of the sudden, everything went dark again.

Slowly opening my eyes, I saw the two people lying over my body. Warm blood staining their own clothes and mine, but I could barely move to see what happened. Though I had the feeling what exactly had happened. I weakly turned to see my hands, which were completely covered in blood and were both shaking. With that last sight, I blacked out.

I opened my eyes and the white familiar ceiling was the first thing I saw. Yes, that same old ceiling I always saw every time I regained consciousness after fainting. That same old smell of medicine stung my nose, but soon I got used to it due to how frequent I went to the hospital. It was always the same, no changes at all. I could only wish that it would be over soon and I would never see this kind of sight anymore. And no more nightmares about that darkest day of my whole life.

I stirred on my hospital bed a bit, which got the attention of the man in white coat, "Oh, forgive me for waking you up!"

"It's fine, Doctor Li... I've had more than plenty of rest..." I replied weakly, turning to the working Chinese doctor on my left side of the bed.

"Now, that's not what you should say as a sick patient... You should get a lot of rest, especially after having such a shock last month... And I'm very sorry for your lost..." Doctor Li lowered his head before slowly packing up his medical tools, "I should take my leave now, Lucian. You should try to relax a little more so that your heart won't be too burdened and you should be able to heal faster that way. I suppose your friend will be glad after you recovered."

"Friend? Are you talking about... Celia?" Doctor Li gave me a small nod before heading towards the door, but stopped after hearing my comment, "She's just a nobody for me... I think she's just wasting her time visiting me every day..."

A frown formed on the doctor's lips, "And that, my boy, would make her feel sad. But don't you think she has a reason for visiting you? An unpaid kindness perhaps?" The doctor's words caught my attention, "Well, I should be going now. I suggest you think back to the past about her before coming into conclusions."

Doctor Li left the room, leaving me alone on my hospital bed to think back about my past along with Celia, 'An unpaid kindness... Is that why she often visits me? If it is, that's kind of stupid. I do remember accompanying her during the first two days of high school two years ago when she was on her own, but... that's the only 'kindness' I had given her, right? I wonder if I had given her more kindness than that...'

-Flashback-

-Normal POV-

It was the first day of high school after the painful orientation day. Lucian, who was one of the top ranking students in his old junior high school, got separated from his best friend as she had transferred schools. He sat alone on his seat on the back row in the classroom as the rest of the class had gone to the cafeteria for break time. He was having the lunch his mother had made on his own, when a girl with brownish hair from his class approached him.

"Hey, why are you here eating alone? Why didn't you join the others?" The girl sat next to him, "Oh, and my name is Celia by the way. What's yours?"