The Day He Said Goodnight

Chapter 5

As Lath stared at Celeste, Levi was surprised why Lath halted and so, he looked at who was inside the ward and there he saw the woman who contacted him, the woman who broke his heart and the woman who rejected him with so much hatred at her tone that Levi can never forget.

"Lath," Celeste called out with her voice that made her sound fragile that if touched carelessly, she'll break. "Ce-Celeste," Lath stuttered unable to grasp the situation in his head. When he first met the girl, she was different from what she is right now, her body was still healthy and not like this, all he could see was that Celeste became skin and bones.

"What happened to you?" Lath asked trying his best to not offend the girl as he made his way to Celeste and pulled a chair for him to sit so that he can hear the explanation of the frail-looking woman in front of him. "A-Ah," Celeste hesitated which made Lath think that she was indeed different from before. She hesitated whether she should explain her situation to his friend or choose to hide it but in the end, she changed the topic. "Where's Levi?" he forced out an excited voice painted with a smile while asking Lath who nodded, understanding the situation that Celeste is not yet open to talking about it.

"Lev?" Lath called out his best friend who was stuck, standing on the door with shock, pain and many emotions expressed in his eyes. "Come inside," Lath urged Levi to come inside but what he did was something unexpected, "I visited you, I'm here, what do you want?" Levi tried to sound calm and cold but it seems that his hidden emotions were overflowing to the point where he talked to Celeste with a hateful tone.

"Lev," Lath's voice became low, reminding Levi that he has to change this attitude of his or he'll regret it. It was true that Lath had a childish attitude but when it comes to his best friend's feelings, he can change. "What?" Levi snapped at his best friend who was glaring at him. "Why are you doing this?" his voice was asking for an answer. Lath needed an answer so that he'll not blame Levi if ever something happens to Celeste after this.

Celeste who was quiet the whole time decided to remain silent and that she'll step up if ever things will get out of hand. "Why am I doing this? Ha! This...what I'm doing right now is considered to be the light punishment for you because what you did to me back then...you broke a part of me...a piece of me that I'm unable to get back," Levi expressed his true feelings and this sudden confession made Celeste bath with guilt and Xichen having no words to comment.

"Levi, I-" Celeste was about to talk when Levi decided to cut her, "No Celeste...I don't need your explanation because I clearly remember the words you used to reject me back then," Levi said and then walked out, leaving Celeste and Lath all alone.

Lath who recovered from what happened decided to ask the girl about other things since she might feel uncomfortable after what she heard earlier from Levi. 

"Lath, why are you here?" Celeste changed their topic and Lath who was paying attention to Celeste answered truthfully. "I'm here to support Levi whenever something happens. I really thought that you became a doctor at this hospital and that you wanted to talk to my best friend...but-"

"A patient," Celeste cut Lath short since she noticed that the older felt uncomfortable saying the word 'patient'. Lath who let out a sigh of relief turned his head towards the door thinking that maybe Levi will come back and apologize to Celeste since what he did was so immature of him. He was different from his usual attitude, it seemed that the cold and the unbothered Levi crumbled down when he saw

.

"Ah, I'm sorry for dragging you here," Celeste apologized but Lath told him, "none of this is your fault. I came here to support Levi but you're the one whom I wanted to support at the end," Lath replied and scratched his head while slightly laughing.

"Truth to be told, I was expecting more than that...I thought that he would cause a scene because of me telling him to come here but he didn't, he remained his usual self," Celeste sighed while Lath became dumbfounded when he heard Celeste that what Levi did earlier was 'normal'.

"How was that normal?" Lath asked thinking deeply while Celeste explained to him how she thought how Levi's reaction was normal, "he only said words to me, no actions were done," said Celeste.

"Celeste, if only you knew how Lev was for the past few years then you would definitely say that this...what he did earlier was not normal," Lath said, accidentally triggering something inside Celeste without him knowing. "Yeah...how were you two at the past few years?" Celeste asked masking her sadness from Lath but the older who had sharp senses from birth noticed how Celeste's expression changed. He wanted to curse at himself for saying those words that triggered the younger. 

'You should think about the words you are going to say from now on Lath Esguerro!'

"Uh, Lev changed while I'm still the same," Lath said after thinking the words he said but because of his reflexes, he accidentally asked Celeste about her situation, "how about you?" both were stunned at the words that came out from the older's mouth.

'The f**k Lath! You screwed it up again!' he scolded himself while covering his mouth and his eyes expressing how sorry he is.

Celeste understood the older's situation and took a deep breath before explaining what happened to her. After all, it was the sole purpose of her calling Levi and making him visit her. But it made her sad that it wasn't Levi who was in front of him but his best friend.  "Lath, what I'm about to say has to remain between us, no words will be spilt to anyone...got it?" Celeste asked the older for confirmation and the older immediately nodded, curious of what the younger is about to say.

Levi on the other hand was taking a walk in the nearby park when he saw some people walking, doing their own business. Levi continued his stroll until he decided to take a rest on the nearby bench, calming himself down.

"Ugh," Levi groaned as he completely relaxed on the bench. "What a beautiful day it is," he said sarcastically because, for him, this day was completely ruined, he was not sure if it is because of Celeste's presence or her situation. He was confused why someone as healthy as Celeste would end up at the hospital and be that skinny!

"What happened to her for her to end up at the hospital with those machines all over her body?" Levi asked a question out loud hoping for someone to answer him but sadly, people who passed him only looked at him with weird looks. "People here are making me uncomfortable," he stood up and walked away from the crowd because he felt weird when people kept giving him those judging looks, it makes him unable to concentrate on anything. 

So Levi walked and walked until he found a perfect spot for him to rest. A tree with it's shade was perfect for him to rest at. Without any delay, he sat there and continued his thoughts, finding an answer to his question when his eyes met with something. It was a checkered mat, he lifted his head up hoping that he would see more but his eyes ended up at the couple sitting comfortably at the mat, feeding each other their food and were constantly teasing each other. From the looks of it, both were high school students!

"Aiya, kids these days are so..." Levi did not complete his statement when a certain memory came into his mind...

It was a sunny day and there were almost no dark clouds visible in the sky. Beneath the sun laid two teenagers in their high school uniforms with one laying on the other's lap and constantly showing his beautiful smile to the other.

"Why are you smiling?" asked the teenager who was sitting while watching the other laying on his lap. "No reason at all," replied the other and continued gazing at the teenager whose lap he had borrowed. The two of them went quiet until the older one decided to ask, "Hey, Levi...I was wondering if you would ever get angry at me if I keep something from you..." the girl brought up a topic that made Levi confused.

"Why are you asking me that? Are you keeping something from me?" Levi asked and immediately got up from the older's lap to properly face him. The older was stunned for a bit before replying Levi a strong 'no'. 

"Why would I?" the girl asked and the younger took it as a sign that the older will never hide something from him and so he laid back on the girl's lap and showed his smile once again. "But I'm serious though, would you be angry at me?" the girl brought back the topic and Levi just sighed at the girl's troubled face.

He raised his free hand and cupped the older's cheeks, "why would I be angry at you Estee?"

Levi came back to himself when he felt something moving beside him. He looked at where the movement came from and saw a furball. "What's this?" he picked up the furball that was constantly moving beside him. When he took a clear look at it, he noticed that it was a rabbit, a dwarf rabbit.

He studied the tiny rabbit and was surprised at how calm it is in his grasps. "Why are there rabbits here?" he asked himself before putting it back down, giving it a chance to hop away but it remained still, looking at Levi with its cute eyes and twitching nose. "I don't have a thing for cute things," he bluntly said before walking away.

"Was I too harsh on her?" he asked himself while thinking back at what he said at Celeste when he felt something heavy on his left foot. He looked down and saw the same rabbit from earlier. "Do you want to come with me?" Levi asked the bunny and the bunny who seemed to have understood what Levi said, moved its ears as a sign of confirmation.

"All right, then help me with something," he said and then made his way back to the hospital while carrying the bunny in his arms.