"Leo was too young at the time when...he lost his parents in a flood." She rubbed her hands together.
"And thus, he has no memories of them and he doesn't even remember their faces. He just remembers Luna before she died as he has trauma related to it."
"Sometimes...it happens when there's an incident that you want to forget but you can't, and sometimes there's a memory that you want to keep so badly but because it hurts you inside, your brain automatically deletes it from your memories. It creates false or less painful memories as an escape."
Mable said as she looked out the glass wall of the cafe.
"In Leo's case, I guess...it's the second one, he wanted to forget everything as it hurt him madly but, his brain instead kept it protected making him feel guilty," Cally concluded.
"I have...decided to take him back to the place where it all started, the place where he lost his parents. I...want to take him to China." Cally looked at Mable as she looked at her.
Mable nodded, "It is better to take him there. His cure resides there."
"Will you...come with us?" Cally asked.
She sighed, "Unfortunately...I won't be able to...I have to stay here."
Cally reached for Mable's hands placed on the table. "It's fine...as long as he is with me, y
ou don't need to worry about it."
Mable smiled warmly while her eyes flooded up...
******
"Hey! Leo! Wake up...we've arrived." Cally said and was about to stand up.
Leo quickly opened his eyes and found his head resting on Cally's shoulder comfortably. He looked outside the window and could see that they'd landed.
"Let's go!" She whispered to him joyfully and finally, their journey of twelve hours ended up.
"Ugh!" Cally groaned as she stood outside the airport.
"It was tiresome wasn't it?" She looked at Leo.
Leo was looking here and there in amusement, he hadn't seen the outside world for a long time and the city lights made his eyes twinkle with happiness.
"It's pretty isn't it?" She asked with a slight chuckle.
He looked at her and just nodded being hesitant.
"Well... let's wait a bit more until the cab which I've booked arrives."
In few more minutes, the cab arrived and they settled themselves inside the cab along with their bags inside the back of the cab.
"Where would you like to go, ma'am?" The driver asked.
"Towards Mandarin oriental, please..." The driver nodded and slowly their journey towards the hotel began.
Leo kept looking outside the window and suddenly he looked at Cally who was looking at him, "Hm?" She asked raising her eyebrows.
"Where...are we?" He asked innocently.
"China. Your...hometown..." Leo nodded and again started looking outside.
"Do you...remember anything about this place?" She asked being a bit hesitant.
"No... it's just...this is all different from what I remember."
Cally"s eyes teared up as she gazed at Leo, who kept looking at the whole city which passed by his window of the car. Though she knew it will hurt Leo more than anything in the world, she still, wanted to do this. Though she knew seeing him in pain somehow makes her heartache too, she still, wanted to make him cry out all his pain which he had hidden deep inside his heart.
"Ma'am we've arrived." The driver claimed.
Now they both were standing in front of the hotel with their luggage.
"It seems you don't have many clothes...according to your backpack." She stared at the black backpack hung on his shoulder.
He turned his head a bit and looked at the backpack too, "I...never needed many clothes."
Cally nodded, "Now I know what we have to do tomorrow first!"
"What?" He asked out of curiosity looking at Cally.
She looked at him, "You'll know tomorrow."
"For now... let's go inside. It's quite cold here." She rubbed her arms and walked inside followed by Leo.
****
"Yeah, we arrived an hour ago. No, it wasn't much of a problem as I booked a cab whose driver knew English. Yeah!" Cally unpacked her luggage settling everything into the cupboard as she talked to Ray.
"How are things there?" She asked.
He sighed, "Not so good, Drake and Jeremy both are still unconscious. Sam and Niall have been taking care of everything."
"I'll try to come back soon. I know it wasn't a good idea to leave right now but...I had to."
"Don't worry Cally it's absolutely fine, Sarah had asked me about you but I...settled everything here, so...don't worry about anyone."
Cally nodded and declined the call as she was sleepy.
She looked outside the French door of her room displaying stars brightening up the whole sky.
She sighed deeply, "Starting from being a weird one to here, now I'm helping people." And she scoffed shaking her head.
Tugging herself in the blanket she closed her eyes and went into a slumber.
Here Leo sat in front of the French door of his room leading to the balcony. He didn't wish to go to the balcony as it was cold outside, so instead...he sat inside in front of it, gazing at the stars.
Looking at the stars, he didn't wish to sleep. His mind was blank probably deprived of energy for thinking something. His black eyes just kept staring outside reflecting those bright stars residing up high.
His eyes were blank but at the same time were full of stars, he sighed and closed his eyes after folding his arms above his chest. His innocent face with some scar looked relaxed and peaceful today. He was actually sleeping without any worries today...
*****
Sudden knocks and someone calling his name made him flinch out of the chair. He had slept a sound sleep yesterday, asleep without a break in between or without a nightmare.
Standing up he opened the door and found Cally standing along with a man beside her holding a tray.
"Breakfast time!" She smiled brightly.
"Lemme take this." She took over the tray and walked inside his room as he took steps backwards.
Placing the tray on the table she looked at him, "I hope noodles work for you, I thought you might've been quite bored by all those American cuisines so..." She sat on the bed
He kept looking at her standing in the corner of the room.
"By the way...did you sleep yesterday, like...were you comfortable here?" She asked.
Leo nodded.
"Oh! That's nice! Come and have the noodles, it might get cold."
Leo walked towards the table and sat down. As soon as he filled his mouth with noodles, he wasn't able to stop himself. And...in no time the whole bowl was emptied by him.
"Was it good?" She asked being unsure.
He looked up at her and nodded with a tiny smile which he never had on his face.
"Then...get ready we need to do some shopping." She stood up and went out of the room.