Beautiful Mess [UsUk / AmeDen]

Chapter XXXV

Three days before the end of the college year

"You know, I've kind of missed Alfred ever since he left the hospital. I just want to go back to Yale so I could see him again. He was so nice to me, unlike anyone I've met before!"

"Isabella, you've been saying that for days. I think we all know it by now."

"Shush, let her talk. I get that love problems are hard."

"Who ever said I was in love?!"

Group therapy was interesting a lot of the times, especially for Emilia who got to see her patients grow into better people, find themselves, solve their problems with her and each other, make friends, and slowly get back on their feet. But sometimes, it could get dramatic. Especially when a crazy little thing called love got in the way. Isabella talked about Alfred quite a lot since he left for college again. And Feliciano was pretty sick of it by now, but Emilia kept encouraging her to talk. Here and there she would tease her for being in love, yet the Danish girl would deny it every time. She had a fair point to deny it - she had only been around Alfred for a month while they were both at the hospital, and they just got to see each other during group therapy sessions and at breakfast. Which usually wasn't the most pleasant thing, in a big hall full of patients who liked to quarrell or physically fight. They never had a second of alone time, yet she still felt as if he had a connection with her.

Platonic, she thought. It was all platonic.

But Emilia was still a big tease.

It was going to be a wild day for Isabella. She was getting discharged out of the hospital three days earlier than she had first thought. Before she met Alfred, her goal was to stay here as long as possible so she wouldn't have to move to Denmark like her brother Mathias did, but now she wanted to go back, and Emilia didn't see why not. Neither did Lovisa, who was more in charge of it than the young psychologist.

The Icelander gave Isabella all the attention during this group therapy session, meaning she got to hug all the others as a way of saying goodbye, they shared their last thoughts and experiences, and she told every single one of them how much they mean to her. Every word she said was true. She had been here for quite a long time, and these people were kind of like a second family. Emilia was nearly her best friend, a person she looked up to - her bright smiles and optimism that shined through, well, Isabella wanted that, too.

There was no doubt, she was getting better than she was when she was first admitted here, which was involuntary, forced, with a lot of kicking and screaming. The fact that she was able to transform into this happier person who smiled a lot was incredible - she could find her old personality, her true self. Now it was time to share it with other people. For example Alfred, who seemed like he was still stuck at his lowest point when he was leaving. Emotionally, even physically tired. It hurt her to know he was suffering, and she was feeling renewed. Her instincts just guided her towards helping him, and she couldn't say no.

After the therapy session was finished, she went back to the room she had stayed in for such a long time, to the point that she actually learned to love it. Emilia helped her, of course, and they gathered all her things, gently folded her clothing, put all her things - which were mostly books - in the bags... The packing was followed by the same old, boring procedure that every patient had to go through, including Alfred. Pictures of useless inkblots, psychological tests that she actually scored well on, unlike him. But again, no one gave a shit about those, they were just a formal part of the routine that everyone had to do. In Julia's office, she was asked a couple of questions and then she could finally go.

The only problem was, the person who signed as her caretaker wasn't currently residing in this country.

"We didn't think about this when Mathias was leaving", Isabella sighed, leaning back into the chair of the Swedish girl's office. Emilia stood right next to her, the tension between the two girls spreading through the room like wildfire. Great, now she had to be in the same room as Julia for more than only three minutes.