As the night approaches, one by one, pair by pair sometimes by three, the members showed up in the club room. When Kimberly checked that everyone is present, Maxon took the floor.
"Good evening, everyone! As you know, we postponed our rehearsals to have this urgent meeting." he took a moment to pause, "Professor Cielo got caught in a traffic accident and is in critical condition."
The clubroom's atmosphere went a little dark, with worry. Cattleya became frozen.
That's the reason why Antonio was in a rush.
She could feel her heart pounding.
"You're not gonna cancel the play, right?" someone asked from the back.
"No. We're not going to cancel the play. Professor Cielo wouldn't like it if we did. So, I'm going to ask you to devote your, our whole weekend as well to practice and create the stage designs. That is, you don't have any emergencies or anything important to do."
Everyone looked at each other. They almost practice every night, and now they're going to give up their weekends for the play.
"I'm in." Cattleya raised her hand, which made Maxon smiled.
"Okay, one down. Thirty-one to go. So..."
Everyone was hesitating until Kimberly made her statement.
"I know we are asking too much, but it's for Professor Cielo. Please, let's make her a play that she won't forget. Please..."
Then one by one, like a wave, everyone raised their hands.
"Great! Thank you, everyone! For Professor Cielo!"
"For Professor Cielo!"
~*~
Cattleya went home to the dorm, Miss Madeline told her she saved her some dinner, but she declined to say she's not hungry.
"Thank you anyway, Maddie." then she went upstairs.
She laid on her bed, staring at the ceiling. She took out her phone and texted Liv.
To: Liv
Hey, I heard. Are you okay? Is Professor Cielo, okay?
It didn't even take a minute to receive a reply.
From: Liv
She's still in the operating room. We haven't got any word from the doctor. Mom's hysterical, so I'm calming her down. Thanks for asking Fleur.
She was about to reply Liv, but an idea popped into her head. She quickly got up and took her handbag and wallet, and went downstairs.
"Maddie," Cattleya knocked at Miss Madeleine's door.
"Come in,"
Cattleya went inside and found Miss Madeleine sitting in the corner with a lamp on, reading.
"What's wrong, sweetie?"
"Uhm, Maddie? Is it okay if I stay in the hospital tonight?"
"Why? Are you not feeling well?" Miss Madeleine closed her book and gave Cattleya a worried look.
"No, it's just that...my friend needs me. One of her family members got into an accident, so I thought that it's a good idea to be there for her."
Miss Madeleine let out a sigh.
"Okay, I'll call your parents to let them know."
"NO! I mean they'll probably think that something's wrong with me if you're going to tell them. Let's just keep it a secret please, Maddie?"
It took a second or two for Miss Madeleine to respond. "Okay. Be careful. On one condition, before you go, you must eat dinner. I'll heat it in the microwave."
Cattleya nodded.
~*~
When Cattleya arrived at the hospital, she was about to call Liv when she saw her got out of the taxi with a big bag and two coffee cups.
"Liv!" shouted Cattleya as she ran towards her.
"Fleur! What are you doing here?"
"I'm here to give a hand, a shoulder to cry on, or anything you need me for."
"Thank you, but we're fine. Really. Now go home. "
"Liv, you have to depend on other people too."
Liv was silent for a while; then, she almost teared up.
"Thank you, Fleur."
Liv told Cattleya that the operation ended, and Professor Cielo was transferred to the ICU. The doctor said that she's out of danger but needs to be observed for a few days since she hit her head pretty bad. Liv also told Cattleya that Dylan checked in with them quickly but soon returned to his room since the operation took so long.
Cattleya met Professor Cielo's mother, Mrs. Marie Cielo-Lopez, unfortunately, Liv's father, was out of the country. Liv told her mother to go home, but she insisted she stay. After an hour or so, Cattleya offered to buy a coffee for them, but Mrs. Cielo-Lopez declined.
"No, thank you, dear. Liv, go with Miss Fleur and buy yourself something warm to drink," she said.
"No, thanks. I've had enough coffee for today. I'll stay here, is it okay, Fleur?"
"Oh, no problem. Just text me if you have anything in mind, so I can buy it for you, okay?"
Liv nodded.
When Cattleya got outside of the hospital, the cold wind enveloped her. She looked at her watch.
The cafe is closed now.
So she walked and looked for an open cafe, thankfully there's one. Before returning inside the hospital, she saw that there are benches in the hospital park. So she decided to sit there for a while. As she approached the park, she saw someone familiar.
Antonio.
She slowly made her way towards him.
"Hey," she called.
Antonio looked at her; his eyes were puffy.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
"I'm fine. What are you doing here?" he asked her.
"I heard about what happened to Professor Cielo, so I came here to give support to Liv."
Antonio nodded.
"It's cold outside. Why don't you go inside..." Antonio said to her.
"I'm just gonna sit here for a while."
The two of them sat there. No one was talking. The only sound that they could hear is of their breathing, the running cars and the sirens of the ambulance entering the hospital. The coffee got cold so Cattleya decided to go inside.
"I'm gonna go inside. What about you?" she asked him.
No answer. Cattleya started to walk when she felt Antonio grabbed her wrist she turned around.
"Stay, please?" he asked.
Antonio looked at her and Cattleya looked at him and smiled.
"Okay."
~*~
