~Chapter 41~

"Emilia! Mia! Please! Help me!"

Rio's own voice echoed in his fuzzy brain as he struggled to pry his eyes open. It seemed like he had slept for a long time. When his vision stopped being less swirly he came across an unfamiliar ceiling which is not of his house. He felt his heart jump out of his chest but it subsided when the fresh, medicinal, coarse scent of hospital invaded his nose. He settled down further in the bed, nestling in his white sheets.

But…..why is he in hospital?

What happened to him?

"Heya champion." A knowing voice made Rio look at the glass door that closed behind a ginger head boy whom he knew so well.

"Hi Luke." He croaked.

After exchanging some usual questions that how the exam went, what are their future plans, Luke decided to ask lowering his voice; "What exactly happened Rio?"

Rio exhaled. "I—I don't know, I uh heard a crash from the front door, thought I'd investigate, I armed myself with the baseball bat, never let go of the mobile. After that everything is a bit blurry, uh I—I think someone was in the house…..?"

"Yep. No shit Sherlock."

"—then I don't know what happened…..I am here…"

"You called Emilia."

"I—I called Emilia?"

"Yep."

"I don't remember really I don't remember anything—"

"She was surprised nonetheless when she received your call in the dead of the night and called the emergency services to your house just to be safe and later accompanied you to the hospital."

"I—I really….why…Why can't I remember anything?" Rio started to get hysterical and panicky at the same time. Tears started to form at the corner of his eyes.

"Rio, Rio." Luke tried to calm down his friend. "It's alright, it's alright. You're safe now." He rubbed the latter's back and gave him a hug. The poor boy really needs it. He has already gone through so much in his childhood, now when he's trying to live the most out of his life, his past drags him away from all those efforts.

After the green eyed boy has calmed down a bit, Luke placed his chin on his friend's head and advised; "I think you should start seeing Mrs. Roberts again."

Emilia had those same words of crying for help from her boyfriend last night repeated for the umpteenth time in her mind ever since she sat down beside the bed on which Rio is still asleep. Luke has departed few minutes back. He looked uneasy the moment Emilia entered Rio's cabin while talking to Seon-Hul on phone. As soon as she asked her bestie to come over to hospital because Rio could use some company other than his girlfriend, Luke sprung up from the chair he was sitting and became adamant to leave there as quickly as possible. He behaved suspiciously until a nurse entered the cabin to check on Rio who had passed out due to the exhaustion from the hyperventilation before. Luke informed so, he also informed the nurse the medicines his friend was on. Emilia couldn't help but feel a bit jealous of Luke for knowing so much about Rio. Of course they had been friends for long so it's normal. Meanwhile she and him have been dating for….what? Four months? Counting the month of December.

She wished he'd open up to her.

Or…..is four months too soon?

 Rio's status is stable now and he is sleeping. As soon as he wakes up, he'll be discharged from the hospital.

Even though the rain has stopped the sky is yet to clear up. It's still cloudy which is making a chill run around the Roschend town.

Emilia stepped out of the washroom of the hospital after changing her wet clothes to the warm and fresh ones that her aunt had brought to her. Her aunt caught hold of her thoughtful face; "What is it?"

"I—I no it's nothing." Emilia stopped herself from sharing her theory with her guardian. The last time she shared her theory with her aunt, the latter had found nothing weird about Miss Inlon as she had indicated. Maybe she was being paranoid this time as well. But the doubt that has formed due to her theory has become a pain in her throat.

"Aunt, how long has Rio been studying at Roschend school?"

"I'm not sure….uhh…might be from middle school? Why?"

"In which school did he study previously then?"

"I did hear some of the old teachers saying that he had moved in with his grandmother—"Miss Johannes looked at her niece; "Emily, I'm sure Rio would tell you all these if you just ask him."

"No no he won't, he never tells me anything, even if we are dating…"

"Are you dating?"

Emilia looked at Miss Johannes in disbelief; "What do you mean of course we are!"

"Did any of you ask each other out?"

"Ah...….No. No we did not." Realization dawned upon Emilia. Her aunt was right. They never asked each other out in a traditional way. They just randomly started to date permanently after Rio defended Emilia from Brenda after claiming himself to be her boyfriend even though Emilia never meant to date him this long. It's not like because she didn't like, she likes him but they had their first date just in the form of a reward for Emilia for scoring well in her test. "Do you think that is the reason he's tight lipped towards me?"

"Dunno for sure. Maybe or maybe not."

"It could be!"

There was a moment of silence that was broken by Miss Johannes. "What else is troubling you, Emily? I don't think you need to be at the hospital to take dating advices from me."

The said person sat down beside the older woman, and after a bit of hesitation she started to share her thoughts; "T-this might be kinda random Aunt…."

"Oh sweetie, both of our lives have been entirely random, what else is supposed to be more random than that?"

"My theory. It is random and might be unbelievable. I—I know I don't have any solid evidence to support my theory but…" Emilia cleared her throat. "...I think someone is trying to harm Rio. I mean Roschend has been the safest and quietest town ever. Why on earth such things are happening out of the blue? That too, to a quiet and almost invisible kid like Rio? There has to be something….you know, I caught a glimpse of his house before boarding the ambulance, his house was trashed." Emilia shook her head. "Only someone having deep grudge on somebody can do something like this."

"So, what do you wanna do?" Miss Johannes asked.

"First, I am going to protect Rio."