CHAPTER 8 : In My Own Way

The sound of hurried footsteps echoed through the hospital hall.  Splitting the crowd, the twins rushed towards the indicated space. 

Seeing a Devan in a hurry is a rare sight. But it certainly isn't any rarer than seeing a gold medal winner in the Interschool Swimming Olympics lying in hospital from drowning.  Now almost all the children of the swimming club gathered just to see this rare event.

 "Deandra!  Where's Dean?!  How is he?"

 Ivan shouted excitedly.  His gaze swept around the infirmary which was filled with people.  Then it stopped right at Deandra who was lying unconscious on the bed.  On Dean's side, Amel sat faithfully waiting for his consciousness.

 "Not aware yet."  Said one of Deandra's club friends.

 Without responding, Ivan stepped past the few students and headed straight for the side of the bed.  He patted Amel's shoulder to calm her down.  Even though in his heart, Ivan was not at all calm.

 A few seconds after Ivan sat himself on the edge of the patient's bed, the four young men in the room were made to turn towards the door again because Devan's arrival was a little late.

 "Psst… that's Devan.  It's bad!"  whispered one of the brands as he elbowed his friend's arm by his side.

 Devan also heard the whisper but chose to ignore it.  Of course, his eyes immediately fell on the bed.  Ivan and Amel are waiting for Deandra's consciousness.  While Devan's silence at the door made the four young men in the room tense.

 "How come?"  he asked after a while.

 The four young men looked embarrassed.  They started to nudge each other as if signaling their friend to talk.  But unfortunately, no one was brave enough to speak and face the unfriendly look on Devan's face.

 "If you don't want this to get too long, you better talk."  Devan urged in a voice so cold.

 After a while of pushing each other, finally one of them gave up and took a step forward.  With a face full of guilt, he squeaked in front of Devan.

 "I pushed Dean into the pool.  But really, I didn't mean to drown him.  And usually we always do that too but no one drowns."

 Devan presented a silence in response to the confession of the young man in front of him.  More or less he could understand and seemed quite understanding.  Such games are natural.  Because anyone who enters a swimming club can certainly swim.  Unfortunately, someone doesn't seem to be thinking the same thing.

 "Bastard!"

 One blow landed heavily on the young man's face, and no one in this room thought that the blow was not from Devan, but from his twin.

 "Fuck you!  What kind of friends are you huh?!"

 "Van enough! Enough already!"

 It took two people to stop Ivan.  That too with difficulty.  They had to hold Ivan's hands and pull him back.  It was a bit late though because he had already dropped a lot of punches on their poor friend's face.

 "You think he can swim guarantee anything?  What if he dies?  Don't you have a brain?  Fucking bastard!"

 "Van!  Don't make a fuss at the hospital or we'll be kicked out!"  shouted one of the two friends who were busy pulling Ivan back.

 Instead of helping, Devan was silent and watched.  With his arms folded in front of his chest he seemed to enjoy the chaos in front of his eyes with a cold expression on his face.

 One of them immediately pulled their friend to separate them.  The excitement probably wouldn't have ended if only Amel didn't speak up.

 "Dean?  Dean!  Guys Dean woke up!"

 Amel's exclamation caught everyone's attention. And don't know where the force that came from, Ivan immediately threw the two young men who was held him and went straight to the side of the bed.

 Following behind him, Devan who took the time to give the battered youth a condescending smile.

 "Dean?  How do you feel?  Anywhere hurt?  Where does it hurt?  Tell me!  Right after we come home from here we'll get a police!"  Ivan showered Deandra with many questions.

 On his twin side, Devan looks silent.  But behind this silence, Devan also pays attention to every part of Dean's body that his eyes can reach.  Just to make sure that there are no scars or bruises there.

 "...Thirsty...." Deandra mumbled.

 His eyes blinked slowly adjusting to the light.  Amel's face, which he saw for the first time when he opened his eyes, has now disappeared somewhere, and when Dean turned to look he could find the girl who was pouring water into a glass on the table.

 "Here, drink first."  Amel handed Dean a glass of water in her hand.

 Slowly but surely Deandra tried to get up and sit down with the help of Ivan who was seen crying in relief.  Then reach for the glass and drink its contents until the remaining half.

 Understanding the situation and the state of his twin brother who had forgotten about anger for a moment, Devan took the opportunity to shoo the four men in the room with a glance.

 Fortunately, they are easy to understand and seem to still love life.  Until a few seconds later the four men had disappeared from the room without anyone noticing other than Devan himself.

 "Why are you here?"

 Deandra's question made Devan look straight again.  Still in his standing position with his arms crossed on the edge of the bed, he chose to let Ivan answer the question.

 Ivan sat back down on the edge of the patient's bed.  Still looking worried, he tried to reassure himself that Dean was okay.

 "Amel called, she said you drowned.  So we rushed here."  he said.

 Deandra nodded lightly in response.  It made sense, even though his mind had questioned how Ivan and Amel could have contact with each other.  But that's not important for now.

 "Swimming Olympic champion, drowned.  Impressive."  Devan sarcastically.

 Ivan quickly elbowed his twin brother.  Then looked suspiciously because Devan shouldn't have said such sarcastic things to their friend who had just escaped death.

 "Oh Dev, you come too?  Impressive."

 Unexpectedly, Dean actually responded to Devan's satire with another satire.  Even a cynical smile engraved complete his speech.  Devan looked at him disapprovingly, and Dean responded with a sinister smile that grew wider.

 "Enough! What are you guys doing?  Have a shame on Amel!"  Ivan intervened.

 Meanwhile, Amel looked awkwardly at the three young men.  she herself had just realized that she was the only woman in the room, and they were really making things uncomfortable for this poor girl.

 "Ah... I'll call the doctor for a minute, okay?"

 "Oh okay."

 Amel immediately got up from his chair and stepped out of the room.  Leaving three friends who don't seem to get along with each other.  Then less than a minute after Amel left, Devan got up from his place and walked towards the door.

 "Where are you going?"  asked Ivan who immediately stopped Devan's steps.

 "Smoking."  Devan replied indifferently.

 "Hah? You- since when did you smoke?  Devan!"

 Ivan was taken aback.  But Devan just ignored his call and walked away just like that.

***

 Dusk passed, night fell.  Devan only realized it when he passed the large window that gave a view of the hospital's backyard in this hallway.  After a few minutes of walking aimlessly, he finally stopped right in front of the glassless window.

 Silence greets.  Devan barely noticed that no one had passed since he stood and leaned against the wall of this hallway.  His head was tilted up, his eyes fixed on the sky outside the window.  Ignoring his two hands that had been shaking since a while ago.

 "I didn't know I could be this relieved to see that boy wake up again."

 His mind mumbled.  Before long, Devan closed his eyes and strained his ears when he heard the sound of approaching footsteps from the direction he had come earlier.

 "What are you doing here?"

 Devan just opened his eyes when he heard a familiar voice.  He turned his head, and found Ivan who was looking at him with furrowed brows.

 "What are you doing either? Why did you leave Dean?"

 Instead of answering his brother's question immediately, Ivan stepped closer and then stood by Devan's side then leaned against the same wall.

 "Amel has returned to bring the doctor."

 "Oh..."

 Silence greets.  For a moment neither of them spoke.  The two of them just silently stared at the dim garden thanks to the light of the ruler of the night.  They are locked in each other's thoughts.  Until finally Devan was the first to open the conversation again.

 "About earlier, thank you."

"Not a problem." Ivan smiled faintly.

  His memory came back some time ago.  When he hit Dean's club mate, no one expected it.  But Ivan felt compelled to do so when he saw Devan's shaking hands.

 "We can't bore the principal.  Sometimes I also have to exist in his room, right?"  Ivan gave a mischievous smile.

 Meanwhile at his side Devan chuckled.  Laughing at his twin brother's quirky way of thinking.  Also laughs at his pathetic self.  Because even now, Devan still can't control his own temper.

 "You're worried about Dean, aren't you?"

 "…there's no way I wouldn't be worried."

 Although it was a bit late to answer, Devan said it without any hesitation.  They didn't look at each other, but Ivan could already guess what kind of face Devan was making.

 "Why don't you show it?  Dean would love to know about how you care about him."  Ivan asked again.

 This time, Devan gave a faint smile then folded his arms in front of his chest.

 "No need.  He already have you and Amel. His father and mother have also changed.  A child like him should not be given much attention.  He'll get a big head later."

 "I don't understand."  Ivan raised his eyebrows.

 "Van, Deandra is an only child."

 "So?"  said Ivan.

 "He's alone.  From start to finish."

 "Which mean?"

 Devan took a deep breath.  A little distrustful of his twin who still doesn't understand.  He just didn't realize that even the way he spoke was difficult to understand.

 "Which means he won't have anyone ready to stand up for him every time he encounters a bad person.  Unlike you."  Devan said while glancing.

 "You have me.  Whereas Dean didn't.

 "Deandra has both of us."

 "No Van.  He doesn't have anyone.  Not you, not me.  Not Amel and not his parents either."

 Ivan just didn't understand.  But despite Devan's true intentions, Ivan was already annoyed.  Because for him Devan was saying that every affection Dean got from everyone was fake including from him.

 "Why do you think so?  That's evil!  Even though since he was little, everyone tried so that Dean wouldn't be lonely."

 "Because fate is funny Van."

 "You've talked too much!"

 Hearing the annoyed ridicule from his twin, Devan actually laughed.  Of course his attitude made Ivan even more annoyed.

 "I'm sure a lot of people don't want Dean to be sad.  So yeah, don't be pretentious!"

 "Okay... it's up to you."

 Devan still chuckled once in a while.  Seeing him laugh was probably a rare sight.  But not for Ivan.  More than anyone, he is the one who knows his twin's annoying temper the best.

 But that doesn't mean Ivan can understand what Devan is thinking.  In fact, it's getting weirder by the day.  Ivan had just realized it now.

 "By the way, I just remembered.  You're getting weirder too."  Ivan said while following Devan's pose by folding his arms in front of his chest.

 "Weird?"

 "Yeah, remember last week's morning?  You cry while sleeping.  And when I woke you up, you panicked.  Run around the house asking everyone the date.  And repeatedly asked where Deandra was to me.  That day everyone was confused.  So what just happened?"  Ivan glanced at Devan at the end of his sentence.

 "That….a nightmare."

 Devan gave him a reasonable answer.  Ivan had no choice but to try to believe it.  Even so, somehow his heart was still not satisfied.  Ivan still felt like there was something Devan was hiding from him.

To be continued....