Jacob was surprised upon seeing Aria like this. He had never really seen Aria so vulnerable. Aria's face was a mess and had lost it's usual calmness. Her tears were endlessly falling down as she clutched Jacob's shirt.
Jacob felt his heart filling up with joy as he smiled and stroked Aria's head. He softly muttered in her ear, "I'm all right. You saved me. I'm all right. It's all right."
At this point, some teachers appeared on the spot. They were all full of panic as they had been informed that a student had fallen off the roof.
Upon seeing Aria gripping onto Jacob like that, they all assumed that it was her who had fallen and Jacob had saved her. One of the teachers came forward and looked at Aria. She said, "Poor girl. She seems to have been traumatized. It must have been a very frightful experience for her."
Another teacher, with a stern face, said, "May I ask what she was doing on the roof? If this boy had not been here, she might have died."
The first teacher said, "Anyway, that we can ask when she has calmed down a bit. First, let's take her to the recovery ward."
The teachers tried to pull Aria away from Jacob but she would not budge. Jacob also hugged her tightly and said, "Professors, it was actually me who fell off the roof. And Aria here was the one who saved me."
The teachers were dumbstruck upon hearing this. They surely did not believe this boy, but nevertheless, as Aria would not let go of him, assented to him also coming to the recovery ward.
Jacob took Aria in his arms and stood up. He began to walk towards the castle, one of the teachers leading the way. Aria was hugging him all the way, though her sobbing had stopped, she still felt safe with Jacob.
Jacob had explained everything that really happened to the teacher leading them on the way. The teacher was shocked and looked at this girl, clinging onto Jacob like a little baby.
She asked, "If you were really the one who fell, why has she been like that all this time. And why are you so...." The teacher struggled to find the right words. "Normal?" She finally decided on one.
Jacob laid down Aria on a bed and stroked her head. He said, "It's all right Aria. I'm safe now, look. I'll just be in the adjoining bed."
Aria was a lot more composed by now and nodded her head as Jacob turned towards the teacher. He said, "Actually, it's not like I've not been affected. At first, I was still having a problem accepting what had happened. And then, I couldn't break down when Aria was like that."
Saying this, he got into the adjoining bed as the teacher was left shocked by the behaviour of these two kids.
The head nurse had already checked Aria and said there was nothing physically wrong with Aria, just seemed to have gone through a traumatizing experience.
The teacher came to talk to Aria as the nurse went to check-up on Jacob.
The teacher introduced herself, "Hello, Aria right? I'm Iris West. Could you recount what happened that made you break down like that?"
Aria nodded and finished the whole story by the time the head nurse was done with Jacob.