Segment: Confession

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Lyle's P.O.V

We've spent three days here and in those three days, we've played games to our hearts' content. Then sometimes we would just watch TV. We eat and just laze around. Everyone was having fun and so was I. It was the most fun I had in years.

Cuddling with Amelia every night and waking up to her side, seeing her in the morning first, I feel like I reside in heaven. Her strawberry scent always puts me to rest and her warmth soothes my mind ever night. I don't have trouble sleeping and when I wake up, I feel rejuvenated, I feel relaxed and stress free.

But this is what I'm afraid of. If I get accustomed to this, and someday Amelia will leave, will I ever find something like this again? Someone that can give me the same sense of warmth, of belongingness? Will there be someone?

"Are you thinking about work again?" Amelia sits beside me while the others are playing ping pong in front of us.

Team Allie, Richard versus team Joyce, David. I didn't hear the scores but if I were to guess base off Allie's eyes, they were winning. And Allie's smirk also says it all. It's not everyday that she can beat Joyce in something.

"Not really," I give Amelia a soft smile.

"What are you thinking about then? You're so deep in thought."

If I tell her that I was afraid of losing her without even giving her a proper answer, will she laugh at me? Call me a hypocrite, self-centered b***h?

"I guess I'm just lost in thought."

"Is something wrong?" Amelia grabs my hand.

"I'm really fi-" I was cut off by my phone ringing.

I fish out my phone from my pocket and look at who was calling me. It was an unregistered number.

"I'll answer this." she nods and lets go of my hand.

I walk off a bit further from them and swiped to answer.

"Hello?"

"Are you the...." the words I was hearing didn't sink in instantly but my body hurriedly went to the room.

I dash and didn't wait for the elevator. I was asked to go to a hospital, where she's being treated. It's a two hours travel but I still have to go. I grab my wallet that has almost no money in it, changed my clothes and was ready to go out when Amelia came in, panting.

"Where are you going? Did something happen?"

"I need to go. I don't know when I'll be back."

I make my way towards the door when Amelia stopped me.

"You don't even have a ride. Are you going to just walk?" I avoided her eyes.

"I don't know. I just have to go. I'll just find it out on the way."

"Hey, hey, calm down. I'm here. Calm down."

She grabs both of my arms and steadies me.

I'm not even sure why I'm in a hurry when she treats me like crap and abused me. But it can't be helped. She helped me grow up. It's really something that can't be helped. I feel nervous that what if I go there, she'll be gone. The only woman who helped me in her own ways.

"I just... really need to go."

"Okay. I'll come with you. I'll call my dad to send us a vehicle or something. Can you drive? Ah, I'll drive."

I step back and sit on the edge of the bed. I had my head down, both hands on each side of my head and my eyes closed. My breath became ragged with each breath I take. I hear Amelia changing her clothes in the background. I hear her every shuffle of her clothes, every move and every breath. It was quieting my turmoil.

"Alright. There's a vehicle already. Let's go."

I stand up and walk towards her. Her presence makes me calm. She grabs my hands and we went to the lobby using the elevator, hands linked. I grip her hands tightly in mine, hoping that she won't go away.

When we were in the lobby, I look outside the glass window and there really was a car outside. Amelia squeezes my hand gently before we go went outside. I open the car door for her and let her in first before going inside the car myself.

"You can drive?"

"I can do a lot of things." she giggles before starting the engine and putting the car in motion.

Amelia is a great driver, I could tell by every turn she makes. How smooth her hands on the steering wheel and how she controlled the car. But that wasn't enough to distract me.

I'm afraid and anxious at the same time. I haven't seen her in three months and that's already long. If Amelia sees her, will Amelia change her mind about me? Will she still wait for me? Will she think that I will end up like her and dispose of me?

"Where are we going?"

"To System Hospital."

I know why she's in hospital and I know who did this. He can't just let go of me when things have been going my way ever since he let go of me from the monitoring room. He made sure to register her name under System's beneficiary under my name.

"Who's there?"

"You'll.. know when we get there." I see Amelia shifting her head to my side for a moment before paying attention to the road again.

"Okay then,"

Two hours and three minutes after, we've arrived in System Hospital. I grit my teeth when the nurses and other staffs turned our way. I lead the way to her room but stopped in front of the door.

"Will you wait for me here? Sorry,"

I'm pathetic.

"Whatever you need," she says in full understanding.

"Thanks,"

I open the door and entered with hesitation. As soon as I enter the room, a slipper came flying to me. I caught it and walk to her side. She was angry. Her eyebrows are knitted together and her nose was in flare. She growls at me with anger.

I put the slipper down and stood still beside her hospital bed.

"What took you so long to get here, fucker?" she slaps me in the face.

If I were younger, my head would've immediately faced the side but I was now stronger but still helpless. I stayed intact, in shape while she slapped me. I grit my teeth even harder.

"f*****g weirdo." she curses before taking a seat.

"How are you?" I say through gritted teeth. My cheeks were still stinging with pain but I didn't mind.

The relief that washed over me upon seeing that she was fine tells me that I still love her with all my heart. I don't think I deserve to be treated this way but maybe this is how she cares for me. She's the only family I have, how can I compare how I should be treated and not?

"f*****g worse." she spats at me.

"I heard you had a heart attack,"

Think of Amelia and calm down. After you're done with this, you'll go back to Amelia's side.

"f*****g did. Grab me something to eat. The food in here are garbage, like you."

"Okay,"

"Make it f*****g quick, fucker."

"Okay,"

I make my way towards the door. I open the door and found a shocked Amelia. She saw and heard it. Her eyes were wide and her hand covered her mouth.

"Lyle," she says, airy.

"I need to buy food. You can go back now. Thank you." I was monotonous. I could hear myself dying.

"I'll stay," she says.

"I'll buy food then we can talk."

"Okay,"

I won't blame Amelia for being in a state of shock. She's brought up in a good environment, unlike me who only knows cruelty and curses. My members are almost the same. We've had too much already but can't get away. We've all been treated like crap.

I bought her the food she wanted and entered her room without talking to Amelia. When I entered the room, a nurse was doing something to her IV.

"You're so f*****g tardy."

"Sorry," I mutter softly.

I trudge my way towards her bedside but when I look at her, she was already asleep. I look at the nurse and she gives me a small smile. Amelia gets inside the room and the nurse excuses herself.

"Did you.."

"I did, sorry. I can't take it." I sigh and nod.

"Should we go to the park?"

"Alright,"

I lead the way to the park behind the hospital. Since it's almost winter, almost no one comes here because it's cold. The hospital is located in the center of the city, that's why it was so hard to get access to and we were also far from the beginning.

I take off my coat and use it as a seat warmer for Amelia.

"I'm okay. It's cold, you shouldn't do that." she says and puts the coat on me.

"Okay,"

She takes a seat beside me and looked in front where the fountain is stationed.

"What's her name?"

"Lorraine Simon."

"Was she always like that?"

"She was way worse. She can't cause ruckus inside the hospital."

"Lyle, you're.."

"I still love her, you know."

"..."

"She brought me up even though she didn't want me."

"f**k. Why am I stuck with this brat alone?"

"We were struggling hard for money to the point that I had to steal bread. The first day I brought something inside our rundown house, she complimented me for the first time. I was happy,"

"Oh, what's this?"

"I... I.. I brought it."

"You stole it?" I gasped, got on my knees, ready to get beat up.

"Yes, I'm sorry," I start crying. Hot tears flowing down my cheeks.

"Good dog,"

"She patted my head for the first time too. It gave me inspiration to do it often but the more I do it, the more she wants me to bring. It soon escalated to stealing wallets, car keys, even breaking to someone's house."

I release a deep exhale.

"She brought me up even though she didn't have anything. She gave me food and shelter."

"Lyle," I turn to Amelia.

"I know that all she wants is money," I give Amelia a sad smile.

"But I had no one at the time. I accepted it with all my heart. I grew up and I'm here because she took care of me. So please, don't speak ill of her."

Amelia grabs my hand and squeezes it.

"If she goes away, I don't know who I'll come home to."

Amelia scoots closer to me and pats my back. I lean my head on her shoulder and cried. How many times has this been? That Amelia saw me crying? The third time? Why is it that it's always her beside me when I break down?

"Lyle, you're so strong. You face everything head on and you keep those in your heart safe. We both know that how she treats you is wrong but I can't also force you to stand up to her. You're thankful to her and even though she treats you like that, you still love her with all your heart. Most of those who are treated like that would harbor hatred."

I chuckle.

"I'm quite twisted." she chuckles too.

"Yes, yes you are."

"My father died when I was young, in a car accident. She told me that and that she got stuck with me alone, with loads of responsibilities all at once. She had thought of throwing me away before, but decided against it."

"That's really harsher than I thought."

"Knowing that she had nothing, I'd understand."

"You're harsher than her, I know that now."

I lift my head from her shoulder and smile at her.

"She's really important to me."

"Can I meet her?" my mouth went agape.

She saw me being treated like that but she still wants to meet her? Well, if mother will meet her, her switch will get flipped.

"She's a kiss ass kind of person,"

"I still want to meet her. At least that when I'm by your side, she'll treat you good."

"You're using yourself to protect me?"

"How can I not? I want to make sure no additional injuries is being inflicted to your body."

"Alright, then."

"So, shall we go?"

"Okay,"

We went back to the room but I was still stuck in front of the door. Should I really let Amelia meet mother? Will she really be okay? I look at Amelia and she rolls her eyes and opens the door herself. Mother was already awake and eating the food that I bought earlier.

She looks up at us and was about to say something gnarly when she saw Amelia. I flinched when her eyes shifted from me to Amelia. I was ready to shield Amelia if she were to throw something again.

"Why, hello there, gorgeous!" she puts down her food and sit straight.

A sigh escaped my lips but still my guard is up. Amelia nonchalantly approaches mother and stand by her side. Mother smiles at Amelia, making me want to puke. I stand beside Amelia and gulped.

"Hello, Mrs. Simon."

"Are you my daughter's rich girlfriend?" the twinkle in my mother's eyes wanted me to facepalm myself. She's not even hiding the fact that she's into money.

Amelia giggles awkwardly.

"Uh, no, not yet."

"Aye, what are you doing? Making a girl like her wait for your puny ass. So slow." she clicks her tongue.

Her entire change of demeanor was so shameful that I just want to drag Amelia out of the room.

"The timing isn't right yet, mother." I tell her.

"There's no such thing as timing. Tell me if she's too late and too slow, okay?" she smiles at Amelia and Amelia smiles back genuinely.

"Oh, no. I can wait for her, Mrs. Simon. She's really busy and I don't want to come between her rest and work."

"What a kind, beautiful woman. I still insist." Amelia laughs.

"Well, I'll take you up on that offer."

"Sit down, sit down. We have lots to talk about."

I grab the seat from the other side of her bed and brought it to Amelia.

"Is your thigh okay?" Amelia asks me.

"Yes?" I'm not sure what she was thinking but when she pushed me down, I know exactly what she's thinking.

I panicked.

Right in front of mother?

She sits on my lap and faces mother with a smile. Amelia's bold action made my mother even happier. I'm sure mother wanted to boast to her friends right now that I found a rich girl to take home with. What she doesn't know is that the future is still uncertain.

"Sending her to System High School was the best decision I ever made since keeping her."

"Lyle at school is the coolest, really. She's the Student Council President and she's always the one that the higher ups call." mother clapped both of her hands and smiles in delight.

"That's wonderful. I hope she's treating you nicely."

"She treats everyone nicely, actually. I had a number of competitors." I flinched at the mention of competitors.

I shift, making Amelia shift too. Amelia looks at me before turning her gaze to mother.

Really, no one is in comparison to Amelia now that I've realized my feelings for her. But she still considers the others as competition. I wouldn't blame her though. If Amelia also had someone pursuing her day and night, I'd get angry and jealous too even though I'm not the jealous type.

"Really? Well, I'm glad you won her heart."

"It took me a while to win her. The competition was neck tight." mother laughed. Her laugh echoed around the cubicle, resonating and echoing.

"Don't you have suitors too, dear? You're very beautiful. More beautiful than models nowadays." Amelia fidgets with her hands on her lap.

"I don't see them like that. For me, Lyle is the only one that deserves me."

We're getting a bit cheesy here, everyone. Maybe you want to tone this down a bit? Maybe something that won't make me feel uncomfortable? Something that I can actually talk about too and not just you guys? No? Nothing? Okay.

"You might as well get married, Lyle."

I asked for something else, not this!

"Oh, it's too soon, mother."

"Shush. Nothing is too soon when it comes to love."

You had love too soon and what happened? We almost died a couple of times.

I can't tell her that. I'm not about to walk right into my death. I'm not that suicidal yet. I still find purpose in my life before wanting to actually decide that I want to die.

"Aha, right." was all I could say despite the thousands of hundreds of words that's circulating inside my mind. It's at the tip of my tongue but the courage isn't there.

"I don't want to pressure Lyle, Mrs. Simon. But if it is to your benefit, I can say that my parents already like her."

"Well, that's great news!"

She didn't even notice Amelia's choice of words. How can this woman be so shameless? But when I look at how happy this is making her feel, I can't help but feel happy too. I feel like I've done something that deserves complimenting.

I haven't seen her smile in over the last years we were together. She's always frowning and always scolding me. Her anger issues are over the roof and she can't handle a single mistake, so this change of pace is good too.

"Can you tell me more?" mother asks in a gentle and whispery voice.

"They also asked Lyle to marry me behind my back when we're not even official yet."

"Ah, I'm with them on that."

We hear a knock on the door. The door opened and it was the same nurse as earlier. She looks at Amelia and I for a moment before smiling a little.

"Visiting hours is almost done. You can come again tomorrow, Miss Taylor, Miss Simon."

Amelia stands up and I did too.

"Okay. We'll come back again tomorrow, Mrs. Simon." I turn to look at mother and she was looking at Amelia in shock.

"You're the daughter of Mr. Taylor?"

"Ah, yes. Do you know him?"

"Who wouldn't! Please be patient with my daughter." she grabs Amelia's hands and clasped it together with hers.

She must've remembered Mr. Taylor when he came to get me. Mr. Taylor is currently the wealthiest man in the country, of course she' d recognize him. She'd recognize even from a mile away.

"I will, Mrs. Simon. Please get some rest." Amelia smiles and squeezes mother's hand before letting go.

"We'll be going now, mother."

"Take care!"

I gave her a smile before Amelia and I head out.

"Wow, that was something." I tell Amelia.

"Really. Can you drive now?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

I kiss Amelia's forehead, not minding everyone looking at us, recognizing Amelia.

"Thank you for being here with me." she giggles.

"I told you, I'm going to make you crazy for me."