Song No.3

Note: 𝐼𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑐 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑠 - Thoughts

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The brunette was staring at the scenery outside the window of his room. Having a room on the 3rd floor of the hospital gives him the view of the lake next to the building; he was staring absentmindedly at the crystal clear, blue water of said lake. A book was on his lap and words in blue ink are visible on the open pages. The family of the previous owner's body left him only an hour ago-after being told by Doctor Haruka that the brunette needs rest-and left the book with him. It was hard to persuade Stella as the woman insisted on staying to take care of her son but soon reluctantly leave when her husband assured her that the brunette young man will be fine and that Haruka is there to look after him on their behalf. They promised to come back again tomorrow though. Luc sighed and returned his focus back to the book in his hands. He stared at the words written by the twin older brothers. 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑒 𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑎 𝑙𝑜𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒. 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑛𝑜 𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑎 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑠𝑜 𝑚𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑎 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑓 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑎 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑜𝑟 𝑎 𝑏𝑎𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑒 𝑘𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑜𝑛 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔. 𝐼 𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑎…𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑤𝑎𝑦. 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛, 𝐼 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑜𝑤𝑛𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦…𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑙 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑒. 𝑀𝑎𝑦𝑏𝑒 𝐼'𝑙𝑙 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑡𝑜…𝑢ℎ, 𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑑.

The previous owner of the brunette body is a college guy named Luciano Shepherd or Luc as everyone called him. 𝐴 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑘𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑙𝑢𝑐𝑘 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑠 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑒-𝑎𝑙𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑒-𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑠 𝑚𝑒. He was born in a family with parents-Arthur as the father and Stella as the mother-and a pair of twin-Joshua and Grayson-older brother. Doctor Haruka is his mother's brother which makes him his uncle. The five-person family live in a 4-bedroom, 2 stories house. The uncle is married and live with his spouse in an apartment not far from where the hospital Haruka worked at located. The Shepherd is a middle-class family; Arthur is an office worker at a law firm while his wife is a stay-at-home mother. Josh-the older of the twins by 5 seconds-is an engineer and Gray is an accountant. Luc laughed at said facts as he cannot imagine Gray to handle a full-set account; he thinks Gray is way too frivolous to deal with something serious or formal. However, Luc isn't someone who judge others based on appearance. The facts about the pink-haired man who is actually very good in his line of work despite his playful personality proves that there is more than meets the eyes; physical appearance is not everything. It's what inside that matters. Oh. The younger twin dyed his hair pink thus its color is different from his older sibling. 𝑁𝑜𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑜𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚, ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑.

Luc stared at the twins' scribbles of Luciano's family and thought of his own. It was clear as day that this family is not as wealthy as Luc's but for unknown reasons the-former-vocalist prefers Luciano's. Despite being told that their son and brother lost his memories and can't remember even a tiny bit details of his life, that didn't change their opinion of him. He recalled the reactions he got from his own parents when he decided to come out of the closet; the hurls of words directed at him cuts him deep and the wound stay even after he lost his original body. 𝐼 𝑔𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑝𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑐 𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑢𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑠 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑠𝑜𝑛. 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟. 𝑂𝑢𝑟 𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓𝑓 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑎𝑦. 𝑁𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑜𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑛 𝑚𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑤𝑎𝑦. 𝑊𝑒 𝑛𝑜 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑒𝑥𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟'𝑠 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑.

Luc switched his focus back at the book in hands. He continued reading and keep on doing so after an hour passed, stopping only because he's feeling thirsty. He closed the book, placed it on the left side of the bed and moved to a water bottle on the end table at right. He loosened the cap and take a gulp, savoring the coldness of water running down his dry throat. He sighed in satisfaction and closed the bottle's mouth with its cap, putting it back to its original place. He was about to continue his reading when he heard the sound of turned doorknob. The opened door revealed a young woman wearing grey knee-length dress and sunglasses carrying a basket of fruits in her right hand and a cake inside a see-through box in her left.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Were you sleeping?" she asked as the door automatically closed behind her and she made her way towards the bed.

"It's okay," Luc shook his head. "I'm just reading."

"I see. I hope I'm not disturbing you," she said as she placed both items in hand on the table next to the bed. She took a stool beside the table, placed it next to the bed and sat on it. "I'm sorry for not coming earlier. Club's camping ended only this morning," she said as she faced the brunette young man.

"I-is that so…?" Luc replied, flashing a nervous smile. 𝑆𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑜𝑛𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝! 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑛𝑜 𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑎 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑠! 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑎𝑟-𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑎𝑟-𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ… "I…uh…"

The young woman nodded. "Don't worry. Gray told me everything. It sucks not to be able to remember anything, right?" she chuckled.

Luc scratched his chin with a finger. "A-ahaha. Yeah." 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑘 𝑦𝑜𝑢, 𝐺𝑟𝑎𝑦𝑠𝑜𝑛 𝑆ℎ𝑒𝑝ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑑! "Well, um, since…you know, I lost my memories and all…mind if I ask who you are?"

"Oh, right. Where are my manners? I'm Eri Springfield. Your cousin," she answered, extending a hand to the young man in front of her. "The same cousin who went to the family event and informed the others about your disappearance a month ago."

Luc's hand halted midair at Eri's self-introduction. He bit his lower lip, gulping a saliva and reached out the young woman with lustrous, black as onyx stone hair's hand. "It's nice to meet you. And…thank you, Eri. Your swift action saved me. I will not be here without your help," he smiled at her.

𝐺𝑜𝑑.

"Hey, why so formal? We're family, right? It's obvious I'm going to do that," Eri said as she shakes hands with Luc. She released his hand seconds later.

𝐺𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝐿𝑜𝑟𝑑.

The young woman tucked a strand of hair behind her left ear. "But Lucy, you seemed…kind of differe—Hey, you're okay?"

Luc covered his eyes with the hand he used to shake Eri's. "I…I'm fine," he replied in choked voice. "Just give me a couple of minutes."

Eri raised an eyebrow before a crease started to form on her forehead. "Do you want me to call the nurse? Or maybe get Haruka?"

"No! Ah, I mean…I'm okay. Just…hold on. Let me get myself together...Give me a few minutes…"

The room went silent as the young onyx-haired woman stared at the crouching form on the bed in front of her. She was obviously concerned when she saw the shaking of the brunette's shoulder and small sounds of sobs coming from him.

"....Seriously, Lucy," she said as she inched closer to the brunette who was still burying his face in his palms-two hands covered his face now instead of one-and placed a hand on his back. "What happened? Tell me if something is wrong and what can I do to help you," she patted his back slowly.

𝐴ℎ, 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑙𝑒, 𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑡 𝑔𝑖𝑟𝑙 𝐼 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤. 𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝐼'𝑚 𝑔𝑜𝑛𝑒, 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢? 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒, 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒. 𝐷𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒. 𝑆𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑙, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑏𝑖𝑔, 𝑐𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑙𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑒 𝑢𝑛𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑔𝑛𝑖𝑧𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢. 𝐻𝑒ℎ.

Eri was startled when Luc suddenly pulled into a hug. The young man no longer care if she saw him crying. 𝐸𝑥𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑏𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑚𝑛𝑒𝑑. 𝐼 𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢. 𝐼 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦, 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢. 𝐼 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑔𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑎 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑡ℎ 𝑎𝑔𝑜. His grip around her tightened as he continued to embrace her, tears flowing freely on her shoulder. 𝐸𝑟𝑖, 𝑖𝑓 𝐼 𝑡𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐼'𝑚 𝐿𝑢𝑐𝑎𝑠, 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒 𝑚𝑒? 𝑊𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒-𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑐𝑘 𝑓𝑜𝑜𝑙 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑎𝑑? 𝐽𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒?

"Lucy?"

"Eri, I— Wait. What happened to your face!?"