LYRICAL FERNANDO

Lyrical Fernando has since her high school days worked various jobs to support herself. Her father worked as a carpenter at a countryside store and couldn't support her further education. All his savings were spent for his wife's treatment when she fell sick just four years after Lyrical was born. She grew up taking care of her mother from a very young age, when her father Mr. Fernando, had to leave for work.

Lyrical always sat beside her mom while doing her school homework or other assignments, cooked meals for them with her small hands with little fingers, and sometimes she also sang the lullaby to her mother, the ones that her mother used to sing to her.

She accompanied her mother for the doctor's appointments, they went for a walk at the nearby garden, sometimes strolled near river banks, sat there and talked for hours. Lyrical knew all her schoolmates, but they were not friends. Lyrical's world revolved around her mother, she was her only friend.

Neighbors, although never said anything, but, Lyrical knew they pitied her. But, she did not mind talking only to her mother and taking care of her. She knew the time she gets to spends with her mother was extremely special, because it is not going to last for long and she wanted to make the most of it.

Lyrical was very identical to her mother Mrs. Grace. She had the same facial feature as her mother. Right from the pale skin, brown eyes, pinkish cheeks with soft freckles to the small cute nose and golden brown hair. Whenever the mother-daughter duo sat down together to look at the old photographs of Mrs. Grace when she, herself was a little kid, Lyrical always felt like she is looking at a mirror. She always replied very confidently, "Mother. I am your rebirth." and Mrs. Grace couldn't help but smile lovingly at her innocence.

Lyrical's mother passed away after long sickness and once Lyrical turned into a teenager, she moved to the city. But she had to leave her father behind. She needed better education and a job that pays her a decent salary, so she would be able to support herself while studying and can get into a good university.

Although, Lyrical wanted her father to accompany her to the city so they both can be together, Mr. Fernando chose to stay right where he was.. at the countryside. Since the countryside house was the place where her mother took her last breath, Mr. Fernando did not have the heart to leave behind all her memories and move on. He had his job and wanted to keep working for a long time, so he chose to stay there.

Lyrical had promised her mother, she would take care of her father when she is not around. And Lyrical also felt she needed to start earning money and wanted to become very rich. Lyrical knew she must share her father's responsibilities and also take care of him..especially because that was teh only think her mother was worried about until the end. That was, even more, the reason why Lyrical had left behind everything that she had known for all this time and moved to the city, studied with dedication, and worked hard all this time.

Lyrical knew she couldn't depend on her father for her living expenses and didn't even want to. She hardly ever had time to visit her father. If she was not studying, she was at work and vice-versa. But, she made it a point to call her father two or three times every single day. She came down to stay with him, whenever she could manage to squeeze in some time for a mini-vacation.

Mr. Fernando knew he would be left alone and also would miss his daughter terribly, yet he chose to send her to his sister's house in the city. No matter how hard it was for him, deep down he wanted Lyrical to have a better education as her future depended on it.

He was happy that Lyrical did not forget about him, even after she moved out and kept in touch with him regularly. Whenever she called, his face always lit up and whenever she achieved or won something, he bragged about it in front of his friends and neighbors.

Lyrical moved in with her aunt in the city and started living in an empty basement room. The room was small, but she did not have any problem, and truth be told she was used to living in a small space. Back at her father's house, it was a small house with just one room and three people living in it.

Aunt Marissa and her husband Mr. Simon were very kind people. And they took her in, so Lyrical could work her way towards her future. Fulfill her goals, have a career and make lots of money.

They have a son, Norman, who has always been like an elder brother to her. They played and studied together, he always protected Lyrical like his baby sister. Lyrical did not shift to the dorm, even when she got into college. Norman accompanied her everywhere, dropped her at college, work, and picked her up if her shift ended late.

They fought with each other and for each other. Nobody could deny they were like siblings because they were very close.

Occasionally, when she and Norman came back to her countryside house, it was like a celebration time for Mr. Fernando. He felt rest assured that Norman was taking care of her and proud that Lyrical was growing up to be a fine woman with goals and dreams.

Norman always wanted to be a lawyer. So, he studied hard and had to move to another city till the time she finishes his internship and currently was working as an assistant under a famous lawyer. When Norman left, Lyrical had promised to take care of Aunt Marissa and Uncle Simon. They both decided to call each other every day and now that Lyrical has completed her studies, she will no longer be doing these part-time odd jobs and instead apply for a better opportunity in a company.

However, today, since she was in the hospital all the time, she couldn't call Norman. But she knew Norman must've tried calling her and found her phone unreachable.

Regardless, it was better this way. She didn't want to lie to her brother or pretend that everything was absolutely fine over here. She might as well avoid talking to him tonight.

Once her aunt is out of the Intensive Care Unit and her uncle is back from his business trip, she can call Norman and inform him about the situation here. He may get angry at her, but at least he will not be worrying himself all night, as aunt Marissa will be awake and feeling better by that time the sun comes up.

Lyrical patiently waited outside in the waiting room area. She didn't sleep much and spent most of her time pouring coffee into her system, and talking to Mr. Parker or the nurses to keep her mind away from those dreadful thoughts. Her mind kept playing old memories over and over again. She was reminded of how her mother had died right in front of her eyes and she couldn't help her.

It so happened that, one night she and her parents went to sleep, and as usual Lyrical slept beside her mother. The early next morning, she got up and went to the washroom only to find her mother awake when she returned. Her mother smiled warmly looking at her, tears were brimming in her eyes.

She whispered, "Will you take me out, I want to see the sun rise." The tears that poured out from the corner of her eyes, rolled down her cheeks and Lyrical started to feel weird about this entire situation, but did not question much.

Her mother had become very weak yet little Lyrical couldn't carry her, so Mr. Fernando carried his wife and they sat outside on the porch watching the sun rise in the sky.

Mrs. Grace took Lyrical's hand in hers and breathily whispered, "You are the best daughter I could ever ask for. I love you, my dear Lyrical." Having said that, her mother smiled even brightly while taking a deep breath. Lyrical's father had a feeling that something was not wrong with his wife and so he quickly went to the neighbor's house to borrow their car. They decided to take her to the hospital.

While her father was gone, she held on to her mother's hand and murmured "You will be fine, mother. Don't cry. I know you are hurting somewhere, we will take you to see a doctor. Please wait a little longer."

Lyrical wanted to shout and call out to her father, so he could hurry up and come back, but her mother squeezed her hand very tightly. Lyrical was in pain physically as well as felt emotionally drained. She knew her mother had been unwell for along time and she might lose her today. Mrs. Grace took deep breaths and sometimes her breath skipped a beat and Lyrical watched in melancholy, her mother slowly dying right in front of her.

She was very young back then and just because she always had known that her mother's condition is deteriorating, her death was not a shock to her.

Nevertheless, even after knowing it all along, her mother's death did leave behind an emptiness in her heart. After all, Lyrical spent most of her time with her mother when she was young. She loved spending time with her mother, listening to her stories while they went through her old photographs and also her mother's lullaby that Lyrical sang back to her.

Lyrical being a sensible kid, knew she had to be strong for her father and it was her responsibility to take care of him. It was not until today did she realized that emptiness inside her had turned into fear. Fear of losing Aunt Marissa who was a mother figure to her, fear of losing her father who was still alone back in the countryside, fear of losing Uncle Simon who always treated her like his own child and sided with her whenever Norman and she had fights. Also, Norman.

Norman was her only friend and the best brother she could ever have. Sitting in the waiting area, all thoughts about how she had lost her mother kept bothering her, so she could only try to distract herself by talking to others. Her phone was fully charged long back, but she did not switch it on.

She just waited. Hoping to see her aunt get better by tomorrow morning and so she kept praying all night.

The next morning along with the sun in the sky, came a good news. To start with, her uncle was back and was sitting beside her, smiling at her and telling her that doctors had confirmed that Aunt Marissa was doing better now and will be shifted soon. Lyrical let out a shaky sigh, before her happy tears rolled down her cheeks. She would finally be able to see her aunt and no longer have to avoid her brother.

She switched on her phone and received several messages. Few of them were from Norman, telling her how much he had been worried about her and the rest were spam.

However, in her inbox this one mail popped up, which caught her attention. It was for a job interview as an assistant in some company call Knack Dreamz. Before she could open the mail and read it she decided to call her brother first. Lyrical knew he was worried and so, that mail needed to stay unred for a few more minutes.

The moment Norman answered the call and before he could say anything, Lyrical instantly apologized for not calling and being out of reach this entire time. She kept apologizing until she was sure Norman had cooled down. She told him everything that happened since yesterday without leaving out any detail and assured him that Aunt Marissa was doing better now.

"I know", came his reply. His voice was neither sad nor angry, which surprised her a little.

Lyrical was shocked to know that Norman already knew about Aunt Marissa. She figured Uncle Simon must've told him. However, upon asking Norman scoffed, "How can I not guess the obvious when neither you nor mom is reachable for one whole day?

I even tried calling on the landline and yet no one answered." He paused and sighed, before continuing, "You are an idiot, little sister or you think I am dumb. Avoiding me is not a solution. Switching off your phone only made me worried because I am here, far away from you and mom and I knew dad too, was away for his business trip. Don't do that again kiddo."

Before Lyrical could reply, Norman had already disconnected the call. And when she called back, he did not answer.

Aunt Marissa was moved out of intensive care to another room and Lyrical was more than happy to see her aunt in front of her, breathing slowly. She took her aunt's hand and placed a kiss. "Thank you." is all she said and left the room. Uncle Simon followed behind and asked her, why isn't she with her aunt when she waited for so long to see her.

Lyrical looked sad. She told her uncle about the conversation between her and Norman and also that Norman was upset with her and wouldn't answer her calls anymore. Uncle Simon, after listening to what happened between the two kids just stood silently staring at her gloomy and tired face, lost in her thoughts. He knew very well how deeply Lyrical loved this family and Norman was her only friend. Trying to say anything to re-assure her will be useless, unless it comes from Norman directly.

All of a sudden he crossed both his hand in front of his chest and spoke in a very serious tone, "THAT'S YOUR PROBLEM. OK? DO NOT DRAG ME AND MY WIFE INTO THIS."

Lyrical was startled by the response, this was the last thing she had expected to hear from her uncle.

He suddenly laughed, before saying, "Listen to me, my child.." Now that Lyrical' attention was on him, Uncle Simon spoke again, but this time in a softer tone, "..we all know you and Norman fight. Your aunt and I always get dragged in it and later get cheated on. Because then you both forget about the fight the next moment and get back in one team."

Both Lyrical and her uncle started to laugh because it has always been the case.

Uncle Simon put his hand on Lyrical's head, "He won't be angry for a long time. So, don't think and worry about it so much." He reassured.

But, Lyrical knew this time her brother is not just simply fighting with her, but he was clearly upset  and had been deliberately avoiding her. She dialed his number again, which was disconnected almost immediately. Then she received a text from him, "I trust you, sis. Take care of mom for me, please."

She smiled and went inside the room and sat beside her aunt. Uncle Simon went back home to freshen up. He had planned to rest for some time before returning to the hospital later in the evening. He called up Norman to tell him that his mom was getting better and he shouldn't worry. He needs to focus on his work and his dad is here to take care of his mom and Lyrical.

Mr. Parker had left in the morning when they received the news of Aunt Marissa getting better and was being moved to another room. But, before leaving he ordered Lyrical to call him and updated him about Aunt Marissa's condition and also recommended to immediately eat something before she ends up feeling dizzy.

Mr. Parker knew Lyrical hardly ate anything since yesterday and was worried about her. He did not tell Mr. Dike about this, instead called Jennifer who was Lyrical's office colleague and close to her. They both had been working for him for a long time. He requested Jennifer to get a home-cooked meal for Lyrical.

He knew Lyrical won't eat anything unless someone forces her to, till the time Aunt Marissa does not get better. But, what she doesn't realize is that starving will not help her aunt get better.

Her phone which was kept on a side table along with her aunt's medicines rang again. She noticed that it was an unknown number. She was disappointed, as she was hoping for her brother to call back. However, since she was sitting idle doing nothing, she decided to answer it.

Just when she was about to swipe the green button, a nurse came in to check on her aunt. She checked her pulse, took her blood sample, gave her medication, and recorded it in her report. The elderly nurse looked at the worried face of Lyrical and smiled, "Your mother is getting better, so don't worry. Sit down and relax, she will wake up soon."

Having nothing better to do, she sat down beside her aunt holding her hand and dozed off. After an hour or so, her aunt woke up to see Lyrical sleeping beside her. She touched Lyrical's head and then placed her hand on the other that she had been holding. Lyrical woke up as soon as she realized her aunt was moving. She ran out to call the elderly nurse to check on her aunt, now that she is awake.

Lyrical couldn't hold back her tears and she was trembling too. Only after the nurse confirmed her aunt was getting better, could she relax. Jennifer also came in with food at that moment and watched her colleague laugh and cry at the same time.

"Sorry to make you worry so much", her aunt apologized and hugged her tightly. Lyrical could finally feel a sense of relief. She called her uncle, Mr. Park, and informed them about her aunt. She also called her brother, but either he did not answer or his number was busy. So she left a text message and warned him to call back or she would be the one to be angry this time.

But, the truth was, Lyrical was too happy to mind anything.

Lastly, she called her father and told him about the incident, and apologized for not telling him earlier. But, her father only praised her for handling the situation so well and taking care of her aunt too. Now that her aunt is better, there is nothing to complain about.

"Thank you my dear for taking care of your aunt." Her father replied. "Since now she is out of danger, I don't have to worry about her anymore. I leave the responsibility on you to take good care of her and your Uncle Simon. You should take good care of yourself too."

Lyrical had the food, Jennifer had brought for her. Just then, she received a call from the same number from earlier.