Song No.4

Note: 𝐼𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑐 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑠 - Thoughts

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She was quick to retrieve the fallen sunglasses next to him. "This is nothing," she answered while putting on the sunglasses back. "I tripped and hurt myself yesterday."

"That's a load of bull!" Luc exclaimed, pulling the female's hand to stop her as she started to stand up. "You've given me the same excuses two months before for your swollen cheek and uttering total nonsense about your wrapped left wrist before the tour started a month ago! Have you forgotten about that time when you got bruises on your back when we're out at the pool with the band? Or when you're cradling your right arm like it was a fragile, made of glass Holy Grail a week before that? Do you really think I wouldn't notice any of those!?"

"…What?"

𝐹𝑢𝑐𝑘. 𝐼 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑𝑛'𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡. He let go of her hand and look away from her scrutinizing-even though she's wearing a sunglasses Luc can still feel the stare pinned on him-eyes. "I— I just don't buy your excuses for that injury. There is no way a mere trip will cause your right eye to hurt like that."

There was an awkward silence after the brunette's outburst. His heart thumped faster than normal as he recalled his previous words. 𝐼'𝑚 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐿𝑢𝑐 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑤. 𝐸𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝐸𝑟𝑖 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑟𝑢𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑜𝑚 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑠 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦. 𝐶𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑎𝑠 𝑠𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑤𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒, 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑒. 𝐸𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝐼 𝑎𝑠𝑘 ℎ𝑒𝑟, 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑎𝑠𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑝𝑖𝑐 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛. 𝐼𝑡'𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑡𝑜𝑝𝑖𝑐 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑡𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑜 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑑. 𝐼 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝐿𝑢𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑜 𝑘𝑖𝑑 𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝐼 𝑏𝑒𝑡 ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑠 𝑚𝑒.

"…How did you know?" come the quiet voice of the female.

𝑆ℎ𝑖𝑡. 𝑆ℎ𝑖𝑡. 𝑆𝑡𝑢𝑝𝑖𝑑 𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑦 𝑏𝑖𝑔 𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑡ℎ! "Sorry, never mind what I said earlier," Luc answered as he purposely avoided her piercing stare by pretending to reach for the book next to him.

A pair of hands rested on the brunette's shoulder, pulling his attention away from the book in his hand. "I'm asking you how did you know all those things, Lucy! Did anyone tell you about it?"

"W—what?" Luc was dumbfounded at her question. "What do you mean—"

"Did Micheal told you something?"

"Huh?"

Eri shook her head as she tilted her head down, staring at the white, marbled floor and mumbling to herself. "No, that can't be true. Micheal doesn't socialize much with the family members from father's side. I don't think he and you is that close too. So why...But that…It's impossible though…But he…," her head suddenly shot up and leveled with the brunette's.

"Eri?" 𝑆ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑒'𝑠 𝑎𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔. 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑔𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑛? 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑥𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠?

"Tell me, Lucy," she said as the grip on his shoulder tightened. "Tell me how do you know about the poo—,"

"Baby brother!!" a sing-song voice startled the youngsters.

Both the brunette and onyx stone-haired turned to the opened door. The rest of the female's words were cut off as Gray entered the room with Haruka tailing at his back. Eri quickly retreated to her seat and adjusting the sunglasses she's wearing.

The pink-haired man didn't notice anything was off as he made his way to the bed, grinning all the way to the brunette. "Guess what? Uncle Haruka said it's okay for you to leave the hospital if you feel nothing else hurts. Since there is nothing we can do about your amnesia here, maybe going back at your own house can trigger some memories and you will remember something…or at least that's what Uncle Haruka told me on our way here," he cheerfully explained while patting the back of the brunette. His attention switched to the sitting female next to the bed. "Oh, hi there, Eri. You're here to visit Luc? I thought you're participating in your club's camping?"

Eri slowly nodded. "It ended this morning; I actually came straight from there…and since I still haven't start unpacking," she stood up, brushing off her dress a little and flashed a smile to the older man in front of her. "I better leave now before it gets dark," she continued and turned to Luc. "It's good to see you're well, Lucy. I'll see you later. You two as well, Uncle Haruka, Gray," she said, bowing her head to them and made haste to the door.

The three men watched as she leaves and the door closed behind her. Luc's eyebrows narrowed. 𝐼𝑡'𝑠 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐺𝑟𝑎𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑢𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓𝑓 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝐸𝑟𝑖 𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑟𝑑. 𝑆ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑖𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔; 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑗𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡 2 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠' 𝑆𝑒𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟. 𝑊ℎ𝑦 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑𝑛'𝑡 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑡?

"Do you think something is up with Eri?" Gray asked as he sat down on the bed, snapping Luc out of his reverie. "She seemed to be off ever since Aunt Emma, bless the good woman, passed away. Oh, she's her mother, Luc. She passed away in an accident when she was driving home after sending Eri to her part-time job."

"Poor girl must've still blaming herself for her death," Haruka who was keeping quiet before added. "Emma and her were very close. I suppose it's normal for the wound to take a long time to heal."

Luc balled his hands into fists and gritted his teeth. 𝐼 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝐴𝑢𝑛𝑡 𝐸𝑚𝑚𝑎. 𝐼 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝐸𝑟𝑖 𝑖𝑠 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑢𝑝𝑠𝑒𝑡 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑤𝑠 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑚𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟'𝑠 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ. 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑒; 𝐸𝑟𝑖 𝑖𝑠 𝑅ℎ𝑌𝑀𝐸'𝑠 𝑣𝑜𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑡'𝑠 𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑙𝑙. 𝐴𝑢𝑛𝑡 𝐸𝑚𝑚𝑎 𝑑𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑡 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑖𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑛𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡. 𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑠𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝐸𝑟𝑖. 𝐼𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑑𝑑 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑙𝑦 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑢𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑜 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑏𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝐸𝑟𝑖 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑑𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘. 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑛𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑠 𝑖𝑓 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑘𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑛 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑎𝑣𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑑𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑠ℎ𝑒'𝑠 𝑔𝑜𝑛𝑒.

"What's wrong, Luc?" Gray asked as he noticed the brunette is keeping quiet. "Are you hurting somewhere?"

"Ah, sorry," Luc quickly shook his head. "My mind is elsewhere," he chuckled to ease the tension. "Why are you back so early though? I thought you're coming here tomorrow with Ste—I mean, mom?" 𝐵𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑚𝑜𝑚 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑑𝑎𝑑.

The pink-haired man shrugged. "I was told to check on you since I'm not working today. You know mom. There is no way to calm her down when her worried mode is switched on," he grinned.

"A trait that never change ever since she was little," Haruka sighed before turning to Luc. "You just woke up this morning but I see no problem if you want to leave the hospital today. Your bruises are minor injuries; they'll heal after you put some cream-I'll give you the prescription later-on them. But it's up to you though if you want to leave now or tomorrow. Whichever is fine with me."

"You sure you're not trying to kick him out from here?"

"You're always that person who likes to be dramatic in everything, huh?"

Gray laughed. "I'm just kidding, Uncle. There is absolutely no way you're kicking out my baby brother when he is this cute, no?" he said as he gets closer to Luc and ruffled his hair.

"Stop ruining my hair!" the younger Shepherd complained.

"Your pout is so cute! There, there. My little brother is really adorable!" the pink-haired man's ruffling session and laugh intensifies.

"W—wait. Stop!" 𝐴𝑟𝑔ℎ!! 𝐼 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑙𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑔𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑖𝑟 𝑚𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑-𝑢𝑝!