Beautiful Mess [UsUk / AmeDen]

Chapter XXXIV

"Who is it?"

Confusion encircled the young American. This couldn't be right, there couldn't have been someone other than Arthur that was his soulmate - it didn't seem like the truth. Yet his heart kept reminding him of this girl he met not so long ago and instantly formed a connection with. He wanted to protect her as soon as he saw her in trouble, as if his natural heroic instincts just came back when she appeared in the picture.

"It's this girl that I met while I was at the hospital..." Alfred spoke slowly, because otherwise he wouldn't be able to form proper sentences and gather his words in one place. And he didn't feel like hurrying. It seemed like a better idea to take his time and take it step by step.

Matthew and Adrienne looked at each other in surprise, both thinking it would be a guy, that Alfred didn't take girls as an option at all. But again, people can have multiple preferences, that wasn't anything supernatural or strange. They just didn't expect him from him, the guy who always joked around about being the gayest. Well, except Arthur. "Don't tell me it's Emilia. Although it's not uncommon for people to fall in love with their therapists..."

"No, not her!" Alfred interrupted Matthew before the other could get another word out. "She's a patient there. Her name is Isabella... And we kind of immediately became close. I might have liked her this entire time without realizing it."

"Isabella sounds like a familiar name, I just can't remember where I know it from..." Adrienne pursed her lips together in thought, and Matthew nodded along in agreement.

But Alfred just knowingly smirked. "It's Mathias' sister." He exclaimed, leaving both of them in awe and genuine surprise. It was a small world, that was for sure. "He's never mentioned to me that he had a sister, and we were both so shaken up when I told her brother was my first roommate. We're all so connected, it's weird."

"So... You're in love with another mental person." Matthew stated, though it sounded more like a question than a statement.

"You can't say that!" Adrienne scolded him, but Alfred didn't seem that offended. After all, he learned that was what people thought. That they were crazy, mental, insane, that all of them were the same. So he just laughed a little instead, though it didn't seem as wholehearted as his natural laughter.

"Isabella is doing much better than me, trust me. If it was all Emilia's decision, she'd be released from the hospital much earlier. But since Mathias moved to Denmark, she didn't want to leave America as well and thought that staying locked away would be her way of getting out of moving for at least a bit more time." He explained in a sense that the two would understand better. "She'll be back at Yale when the classes end. Well, back at the dormitory at least. And I can't wait to see her again."

"So what are you going to tell Arthur when she comes back?" Adrienne asked with concern in her voice. She didn't want him to get into a bad situation, it would be quite inconvenient for all of them. Arthur wasn't a reliable person to them anymore. Perhaps they could stay friends with him, but neither Matthew or Adrienne wanted him to be in a relationship with someone they loved with their hearts and soul. For Alfred's own good, and for Arthur's, since they both seemed unhappy with their current place.

"I don't know anything. Maybe everything changes." Alfred shrugged, though his heart knew that there was barely any possibility that things would change between him and Arthur. It only seemed to get worse as his mental state did as well. "I'm a bit confused about life and love right now, you know."

"Well, it won't be like that forever." Matthew encouraged him, and his younger brother just gave him a shy smile that was so obviously dishonest - Alfred didn't have that hope. And he knew that it was most probably false in the first place. There was a big chance that it would be this confusing even when he was on medication. Perhaps he would feel like this until the end of his days, and he was so scared that it was going to be like that. That he would lose his life in this different world created by his mind, and that he wouldn't be able to keep a relationship, or a job, or finish college, or live independently as a capable adult. All of that stress for the future was taking a toll on him as well as everything else, making him even more anxious, creating this newfound sadness inside of him. He was frightened that the sadness, too, would persist, and he'd never be free from the chains of his own twisted mind and deranged thoughts.