Neil

I can see it on her face: Rod and Yuri's visit really brightens up her day. She's been bedridden for four days now and the people she usually sees are her parents, Gwen, Allen, and me. Surely Rod's cheerfulness and Yuri's calmness will bring some good to her after what has been going on lately. Rod even bothers to bring her a bouquet of pink flowers, knowing how fond she is of the colour. When I enter her room, the three of them are already laughing. I bet that's thanks to Rod.

I approach her and put my hand on her forehead. Since the day she's hospitalized, it becomes a new routine for me every time I visit. Reine even said it's my new form of greeting her.

After getting used to how lively she can be, looking at her merely laying on bed with her voice unbelievably soft makes my stomach churns. The first two days of her hospitalisation were the worst: she coughed out blood and she couldn't digest her food properly. At least today she can laugh.

"Looking better today," I tell her.

"You bet." She says weakly, "I'm so sick of this bed…"

"Well, you're on this bed exactly because you're sick." I remind her.

She pouts.

A nurse then comes in and greets us. Reine is annoyed at this; she is always annoyed when a nurse comes in with a tray of drugs, because it'll make her feel drowsy. The nurse injects the drug into her, and soon enough Reine's fighting not to fall asleep.

"It's okay, just sleep," Yuri says.

"No… I'm fine…"

She then stares at me. I knew it. I move closer to her and whisper, "I'll try to be here when you wake up."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

She sighs long and close her eyes, and before the count of ten her breathing has become long and regular.

"What did you do to her?" Yuri asks. "Some magic?"

"You can say so,"

"So… you guys came clean to her parents, I presume?" Rod asks, "With you clearly waiting for her for long hours and all…"

I take in a deep breath. "You can say so."

"Something's off?"

"Let's not talk here. She's a light sleeper."

With that, we move to the hospital's cafeteria. "So… what's the story?" Rod asks once we settle down.

"She… accidentally told them about us." I say, not knowing how else to phrase it. "That's a long story." I quickly add once Rod shows his interested look.

"Okay, then?"

"Then her dad went on rampage on me."

"But you're visiting her now…" Yuri trails off.

"Her dad will visit around 8 pm each day, and he'll stay until 10 pm." I tell them, "I can visit her outside this time period."

"So you're going ninja around her dad now?"

"Yeah, you can say so."

"Just now she didn't want to fall asleep because she was afraid she would wake up when you can't be around, right?" Rod sighs, "And how long are you going to keep this up?"

"The first talk I had with her father resulted in her being here now. So… not now."

"Hang in there, Neil," Yuri says soothingly. "I know you guys can make it."

For the first time in this week, I manage to make myself smile. "Thanks."

Gwen

Neil immediately rises from his place once I enter Reine's room with Allen. It's some sort of code between us; when I come, Dad will come soon. He mutters a quick goodbye to Reine who replies with a slight nod.

"I'm sorry," I tell him as he walks past. I always feel bad for being his sign to leave.

"Don't be," is his curt reply before he goes with Allen.

"Bye, Reine," Allen says, "Get well soon."

Reine smiles a bit and nods.

I sit next to Reine, who grins at me. "Hello, how's date with Allen?"

"It's like any other dates."

I don't know how to reply her without making her feel bad. Usually, it's me on the bed and she telling me about her day; I'm not used to our positions being reversed like this.

Reine coughs. Although she doesn't cough out blood like two days ago, it still worries me every time she coughs. There's no telling whether this time she'll cough out blood again or not.

"You don't want to rest some more?"

"I've been spending my day sleeping." She groans.

Dad and Mom come in when the door opens. Mom immediately goes to Reine and kisses her, "How are you feeling?"

"So-so," Reine replies uninterestedly.

"He just came back, right?" Dad suddenly asks.

I can see Reine tensing up, and I decide to play the fool. "What are you talking about, Dad?"

"Don't you think I know he's been visiting her behind my back all this time?!"

"Dad—"

Reine holds my arm as she tries to suppress her cough. "I don't see anything wrong with it," she says.

"How long are we going to keep this hide-and-seek game, Reine Kreiss?"

"I'm not playing hide-and-seek anymore," Reine replies, "This is guerrilla."

"Guerrilla? Is that how you phrase it?"

"You heard me, Dad." She coughs harder this time.

"Why won't you just leave him for someone else, for goodness sake!"

"Because I don't want to."

"So you won't listen to your father?!"

"If he's making insensible demands without being able to—" she coughs several times before inhaling deeply and continue, "—explain it to me."

"Haven't I—"

"Blond is not a sensible enough reason."

"Reine Kreiss!"

"I won't break up!" she yells at the top of her lungs, before her coughs become uncontrollable and all of a sudden blood splatters from her mouth.

"Reine!" the three of us call simultaneously.

Reine opened her eyes slowly. She could see another thing was attached to her IV line; a package of blood.

She could hazily remember what happened before she felt something warm came our from her mouth and everything turned black. Again, her dad demanded for her to break up.

She scanned her surrounding, Gwen was sleeping on a nearby couch—it still felt funny for her to see that since usually that was her place. And much to her surprise, Neil was sitting next to her, crossing his arms together, his head bowed down and his eyes closed.

Although he didn't say anything about it, Reine knew her father had punched Neil and blamed her hospitalisation on him. She then recalled his promise, along with his golden medal in her possession.

I will protect you.

And he did. He did exactly that. He had been protecting her with everything that he had.

And what did I do to him? Reine asked inwardly, I keep causing trouble for him.

Before she knew it, she began weeping.

The sound of her weeping caused Neil and Gwen to wake up. Gwen, knowing better, silently walked out from the room. Neil, not knowing what to do, merely stroked her hair slowly. "Hey," he greeted with a hoarse voice. "You woke up."

"I'm sorry…" she said between her tears, "I'm so… so sorry."

"You and your sister have that habit of apologizing too much, don't you?" Exhaustion was apparent in his voice, and Reine took note of this.

And she recalled how she had caused him to be hospitalised… more than once.

Reine began to harden her resolve. She couldn't ask more from him. She took in a deep breath and said, "The drawer next to you… open it."

Neil did as he had been asked, and found a familiar gold medal in it. "You break no promise," she said, assuring him. "When you leave—no—when you decide to leave…" she took in another laboured breath, "Can you wait until I fall asleep, so that I don't have to see your back?"

Neil knew what she meant and he made no answer. Even Reine had her limits. She closed her eyes, and after a minute or so, her breathing became longer and in a more regular intervals. Neil scribbled a note. He took the medal and headed for the door.

After the door was closed, Reine opened her eyes. She knew he was slipping a note in her hand earlier. She flipped her hand and looked at the words he left, and she began weeping once again.

I want you to have my back.

Suddenly, she realised the other way of reading it.

Can it be…?

She had to make sure of it. With the remaining strength in her, she pulled the needle out from her palm, flinching as it slid through her skin, and then she headed to the door.

Neil was still there, his back facing her. On the other side, there was her dad, his face sterner than ever.

This time, Reine wanted to be the one protecting, not the one being protected. Besides, Neil told her himself he wanted her to have his back.

"I've got your back."

Personally, I think Jack Kreiss is just a overly protective father who has yet to accept that his beloved daughters aren't little girls anymore. Surely he can get a pair of new lenses to look at the world and begin to treat the twins as young adults, but all that he had done is actually fuelled by his love for them.

I shall confess I love closing a chapter in cliff-hanger. I hope you guys aren't too mad about that ^^

Stay tuned for the next chapter!

Mind to share your thoughts? ^^