The woman who visited Lucian's household breathed in and out to calm herself. She then quickly took the teen and tried to carry him. But due to the obvious difference in their sizes, the two of them almost fell down. Fortunately, she had managed to keep her cool and gently placed Lucian down again.
"Oh goodness," she huffed and felt as though she was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Just as she was about to give up, a girl who happened to be passing by saw her struggles.
"H-hey! What's that?" Clea shouted at the woman. A frown emerged from her forehead and she hurriedly went to see if the strange woman was doing something suspicious to her neighbor, even leaving behind the tupperwear of foods she was supposed to deliver to the new lady in the complex.
Clea grabs a hold of the woman, causing the other to flinch from surprise. When the lady's face came to view, Clea stopped in her tracks.
Her eyes widened and the hands that were holding the lady's arms tightly gradually loosened up.
'She looks like---'
"I'm sorry! I'm not a bad person! I only brought this for customs!I didn't mean any harm." The lady was taken aback when she was abruptly yanked by the teen, but given the circumstances, it appears she was at fault.
Even she would probably be suspicious of a new face trying to drag around an unconscious person. The lady sighed and spoke to explain her identity more clearly.
"I just moved in here, and heard from the owner of the complex that my neighbor valued customs. She told me to bring any sort of gif--" Before the lady could even finish her words, Clea cut her off with her eyes now opened even wider.
"O my gosh! You're the new tenant!--I-I"
Clea pulled her hands away as if scorched.
"Sorry! I-i didn't know!"
The lady weakly smiled when Clea even bowed her head. She shortly patted Clea's head, although a bit hesitant.
She was a lot older than the teen, so the other was probably embarrassed, given the country's strict values about respecting the elderly. Following seniority over right or wrong had always been a thing and she doesn't necessarily like it.
So the teen, following her subconscious mind, by defending the other boy, despite the seniority of the 'suspicious' woman, was actually a deed she found more respectable.
"It's fine, it's fine," the lady said in a coaxing tone. It was how she usually talked to her children, so she had developed it over the years.
"Right! This boy passed out. Help me bring him to the hospital. " The lady remembered the boy that was unconscious and almost slapped herself. The earlier anxiety and worry seethed inside once again.
Clea glanced at the boy the new tenant was pointing at and realized it was Lucian.
"Oh, where's Auntie Gila?" Clea ran towards Lucian and inspected his situation. After confirming that he doesn't seem to have any physical injuries, she sighed in relief. She then took out her phone and called Auntie Gila's number, but was she heard was the mechanical voice of a woman followed by a 'dut dut dut'.
Clea frowned and glanced at the lady who was standing close and holding her phone. It looks as if she was waiting for her affirmation to bring Lucian to the hospital.
"Ah new tenan--ah no uh Ms.? --Mrs.?--" Clea stuttered as she tried to come up with a name for the lady. After seeing her struggles, the lady awkwardly gave her name.
"It's Aletia. My name's Aletia. You don't have to call me Ms. or Mrs." She could feel her hairs standing up from the chills. Just imagining someone calling him Mrs. made her remember him. She doesn't want to even think about him.
"Uh Lady Aletia"
"Just Aletia please"
'No Ms., No Mrs., No Lady' Aletia wanted to blurt out these thoughts but held herself back. She does not want to sound bossy and rude.
"Aright, Aletia. I think we should bring him to the hospital. "
The two women asked for a neighbor to carry Lucian to Aletia's car. The ambulance would take a while to come, so the two decided to just take him there themselves.
Fortunately, when they both arrived, the nurse immediately took care of Lucian. Leaving the two behind by themselves.
Clea tried to contact Gila once again, but to no avail. She bit her nails from frustration and even paced back and forth. She reminded the passerby of a family member waiting for a surgery session to finish.
Aletia could no longer take her distracting movements and was just about to tell her to do the contacting later, but then her phone started ringing.
After seeing the nickname PeiPei on the screen, she immediately picked it up and excused herself.
When the phone was brought near her ears, her younger sister's loud voice made her pull it away again.
[What were you doing?Alkine is crying and wailing! What kind of heartless scumbag --]The girl with the PeiPei nickname asked with a tone enough to make someone break their eardrums. Aletia could only weakly sigh as she tried her hardest to not turn the call off.
"First, try to lower your voice. Is Alkine beside you? Why is my boy crying? You're no babysitter. I'm sure you won't be able to calm him down."
Aletia glanced at Clea for a second to see whether she could hear her, but after she saw how the teen was occupied with her phone call with the mother of the boy she called 'Lucian', she felt relieved.
"I'm at the hospital--"
[Wait, what are you doing there?]
[Were you hurt? Why? How? You're just delivering food and now you're in the hospital? How clumsy can you get?]
Aletia massaged her forehead as if deeply troubled. This earned her Clea's attention. The latter, who was busy calling Gila, was finally able to connect through and inform Lucian's mother. So when the call was done and Gila told her she would be arriving soon, Clea's attention now focused on Aletia.
"I'm n--"
[Where are you?] Peipei cut Aletia off with a question. Aletia, who was just about to explain her situation, was asked all of a sudden and ended up replying abruptly as well.
"Rusell Hospital--"
[Okay, stay there, we're coming!]
Aletia stood frozen in shock upon realization. Peipei used the word "we", so that must mean...
"No! You can't bring Alkine outside! I've told you numerous times-"
Clea noticed how the older lady started acting odd and was worried. Aletia was visibly shaking and her eyes had turned disoriented.
"Uh, are you alright?" "
[NO! Until when are you going to hide this boy inside? And I've told you numerous times, she would protect...]
Clea tried to listen to their conversation, but the sound of the woman on the other side was muffled. It became impossible when Aletia noticed her eavesdropping and excused herself out.
Aletia went out in a hurry and Clea could only look at her back with a complicated expression.
Clea scratched her head. She noticed how Aletia looked exactly like Peiya, and now the voice on the phone also sounds like Peiya.
'Maybe I'm mistaken...'
Clea decided to just forget about it and wait for Gila. It's futile to think of whether it was really Peiya or not, her classmate slash bestfriend. This was because Peiya had no sister, more so a twin, and it couldn't be that Aletia was her relative or whatnot.
'I mean that the girl is an orphan'
So Aletia must have been one of those similar-faces cases in the world.
The clock almost hit 5 before Gila came. This was due to the fact she was far away and it took her an awful lot of time to sign out of work. If she could cry more, she would have, but her tearducts could no longer squeeze out any liquid.
"Where's my boy? Is he alright? What happened?" Gila went to Clea the moment she arrived. The latter tried to calm her down.
"Yes he is. The doctor said it was over exhaustion. He's currently sleeping." Clea rubbed Gila's back and tried to be as polite as possible.
Gila's cries gradually died down, but the regret of leaving her sick child still lingers in her conscience.
"I shouldn't have left him alone" Clea could only listen to Gila's self-blaming. It was not her place to say whether it was really the right thing to do or not. As a mother, it was inevitable for Gila to feel guilty of leaving her son. Why would she say something as idiotic as "It's not your fault" or "Don't worry about it"?
Even if it was for the sake of consoling, Clea hated saying such things.
---
The clock finally hit 5, and the students were finally released from class. Everyone prepared to visit Friedde with a gift on their hands.
Arice glanced at Sherdan, who was sitting in the corner. He seems to be deep in his thoughts.
"You're not gonna come?" Only when Arice asked did he finally snap out of his thoughts.
Sherdan was silent for a second before giving a response.
"I will"
He wanted to know what happened to the guy.