20 | cherry and plum

Sometimes the words we leave unspoken are the most important ones that should have been said.

-Unknown-

________________________

- L I L A -

In that moment, everything around me came to a standstill, the scream that ripped from my throat echoed in my ear, Matthew's limp body falling to the ground after rolling of the hood of Jackson's car.

They instantly stopped, drunkenly getting out of their car. Greg stumbled to Matthew's body with a shocked expression. Yasmine ran passed me, her hand holding her phone tightly as she shook, her eyes watering.

She mumbled incoherently into the phone, shaking my shoulders violently at the same time I felt a tear roll down my face. She dragged me towards Matthew, his trembling breaths startling me.

I didn't focus on everyone else for too long, but they all began to run in different directions, wanting to escape the cops.

I kneeled by Matthew's body, my hand touching his cheek as I cried, the tears falling rapidly. "M-Matthew, please, stay awake." I fumbled with his glasses, sliding it off his face and looking into his grey eyes.

His eyes kept flickering everywhere, the sobs falling from his lips quickly. "Lila, I-I wanted y-you to know that I—"

Before he could say anything further, the deafening sound of the ambulance interrupted him, his breathing becoming laboured. The breath clogged up in the back of my throat, my heart almost stopping as his eyes began to flutter shut.

---

"What happened?" Katherine sobbed, running towards me with Angus in tow. He looked severely distraught, and had his bottom lip trembling as he tried it keep it together.

My cheeks were red, my eyes sore from all the crying. "It's my fault," I took a seat on one of the chairs, and buried my face in my hands. "He was walking away from me, a-and the car came out of nowhere." I pushed my hair back, weakly wiping to nose. "They won't let me see him."

"Were you arguing? Was he upset? Why was Matthew standing in the middle of the road?" Katherine shot desperately, her metallic grey eyes dimmed with sadness. Angus pulled her into his arms, his hand rubbing her back to comfort her.

"Let's go talk to a doctor," he murmed quietly, shutting his eyes tightly before kissing her hairline. "We can't lose hope just yet."

All of a sudden, a few doctors were wheeling Matthew through the hall, a bandage wrapped around his head whilst his right arm was in a brace. Katherine cried out, her hands curling around the metal bar of the bed. "What happened to my son?" she sniffed as Angus finally let out a sob, his shoulders beginning to shake when he looked down at the cuts Matthew had on his face.

"Ma'am, we need to get him on a machine," one doctor spoke, nodding his head to a nurse. "Nurse Zhang will update you on his condition."

Katherine reluctantly released her hold on the bar, gripping onto Angus as they wheeled Matthew away. I couldn't help but follow him with my eyes, his motionless body striking a pang of pain to my chest.

"He's in pretty bad condition," the nurse began soberly. "A shard of glass pierced the back of his head, and the force of the fall off the car caused it to damage his occipital lobe. I understand that Matthew could see the shape of things if they were up close?"

Katherine instantly nodded, her hand clutching Angus' shirt.

The nurse sighed, frowning slightly. "His sight is more than likely to be completely gone." I could already feel a new wave of tears coming on once she continued. "His arm is broken, and because of the windsheild, there's a possibility that his spleen received trauma, which means there could be internal bleeding."

Katherine buried her head into Angus' shoulder, quiet cries coming from her once her husband cleared his throat. "I want you to be honest when you answer this," he spoke quietly, holding Katherine tightly. "Does he have a chance of getting through this?"

"We're not sure yet," she answered, "we're going to do some more tests, but if his spleen is damaged, he will need a blood transfusion."

"He's AB negative," Angus replied in a panicked manner. "I'm B+, would I be able to give him blood?"

The nurse widened her eyes at his first statement, frowning. "No," she repsonded, shaking her head. "You'd need to be AB-, A-, B- or O-."

Katherine popped her head up, a glint of hope shining in her eyes. "I'm A negative!" she exclaimed, wiping her cheeks. "Would me being anaemic change anything?"

I sighed in disappointment as Katherine spoke. I couldn't think of anything to say because my thoughts were solely on Matthew. All hope vanished from her eyes as the nurse nodded, beggining to move. "He's going to need a blood transfusion quickly."

Gulping down my sob, I pushed myself off the chair, sending remorseful glances to where Matthew had gone. "Please, call me if he wakes up," I sniffed, wiping my eyes. "I can't be here right now."

I raced to the parking lot where Isaac was waiting for me, my heart breaking into a thousand tiny pieces. If Matthew died - and I prayed that he wouldn't - it would be all my fault since I was the reason he was outside, heartbroken, and not with me.

"How is he?" Isaac questioned, glancing at me with sad blue eyes.

"Bad," I cried, burying my head in his shoulder. "Right before he got hit, he said he hated me. And I don't know if I could handle him dying feeling like that."

Isaac pushed my shoulders back gently, a deep frown wedged on his features. "Then maybe it'd be a good idea that you're not here with me, so I'm going to take you home."

I attempted to ignore him, my thought reeling to Matthew once again. "He needs a blood transfusion, and he's AB-."

Isaac cocked his head to the side, and had a hopeful glint in his eyes. "I'm AB negative."

---

His large hand had enveloped mine, but I found myself closing my eyes as I didn't feel his hand squeeze back. "I'm sorry, Matthew." I pressed my lips to the back of his hand, dodging the IV.

The doctors had managed to stabilise him, and the blood transfusion had worked. I knew the last thing Matthew would've wanted was to receive help from Isaac because, in some way, he'd be indebted to him and have to help him.

Pressing a gentle hand to his face, I leaned over and placed a soft kiss to his lips before pushing his hair back from his face. "Please, open your eyes." I whispered softly, kissing his forehead. "Please, Matthew."

"You know this is all your fault."

I inhaled sharply as I saw Mina - Matthew's cousin - and Gloria standing at the threshold of the door. Gloria had her arms crossed over her chest, her icy eyes glaring into mine.

Quickly wiping my tears with my hand, I scoffed. "Ever since Matthew became my boyfriend, you've done nothing but try to break us up, and you almost succeeded."

Standing up, I kept my hold on his hand, my green eyes meeting hers squarely. "If Matthew wanted to date you, he would've. So why the hell are you here?"

"I asked her to come." Mina snapped, "she's a mutual friend of Vanessa, and I needed the support. Or have you forgotten the fact that because of you, my cousin has lost his sight completely?"

Of course Gloria is a friend of Vanessa's.

"I wasn't the one who ran him over." I retorted angrily, squeezing Matthew's hand.

"But you are the reason he was on the road, weren't you?" Gloria countered, her lips pouted. "Just like I had said, you have feeling for Isaac, but like the bitch you are, you had to kiss him at the same party Matthew was at."

"I knew I didn't like you for a reason." Mina humourlessly laughed, proceeding to approach me with a glare. "I want you to leave."

I furrowed my eyebrows and scoffed incredulously. "I'm not leaving my boyfriend when he's in hospital."

"I'm family," Mina emphasised, gesturing rudely to the door. "I mean way more to him than you do, so if you don't mind, I think he'd want you to leave."

I stared at her for a long time before realising arguing with her would be pointless. It looked like Matthew wasn't waking up any time that night, so I silently turned on my heel, and left the hospital.

I never knew that would be the biggest mistake of my life that sparked Matthew's spiral.