13

BRIGHT'S POV

I spent all the free time I had with Win, he was into the cute little dates but we decided to keep it to ourselves. He was scared to disappoint his mom, and how his dad will hunt me down if they knew about us. It wasn't a big deal for me, I want him to tell them when he is ready, not because I want him to. 

"You are going to enjoy every time you have in the US." Win said. 

My flight to the US is tomorrow morning, Friday. We come back on Monday. Win insists that he stays with me before I leave and when I come back. 

"It's not like I am going to be tourist for a four-day stay Win..." I told him and zipped up the backpack I was going to bring. 

"Bright... you can stay with Ton for three days, promise me, I'll ask a video for proof. You need to at least have one day of fun, you're flying to the US, the privilege!" He pointed out. 

"What can I do in Seattle?" I asked him.

"I haven't been there, I don't know, but I can go research and send it to you before you get there..." He said and flashed his smile that I always fight the urge to give into him. 

"I said you go study a lot, fill up blank maps, and go reach your dreams, not search up what I can do Win... I mean that one. Don't be so stuck on fixing me, I'm a lost cost." I said and sighed. 

Win was silent for a long while, I know he doesn't want me talking about how I see myself as a lost cost. I sighed and put my stuff downstairs and went back to Win. He is already fixing his stuff when I got back upstairs. 

"Win..." I called him. 

"No, okay. Be sad until you come back. Drown demons again, I'll be there to pull you off the cliff again. It's always gonna be like that anyway. I just... I can't assure you... that I won't be tired, because I am starting to..." He then walked out and left me like that. 

I was dumbfounded for a long while but then I started running after him but I guess I am late... he was nowhere to be found. 

I tried opening my phone and saw his GPS was open, I watched where he was going until I saw he was home. I left him several messages saying how sorry I am. He never replied, he posted an instagram story though, he was watching his favorite movie... 

I smiled at that thought and grabbed myself some ice cream that is my sister's stock in the fridge until I saw her walking down the stairs with her stuff. 

"You staying longer?" I asked her. 

"No. I am spending some time or a day for myself. I needed the extra space for a little shopping." She said and smiled. 

I know what she means, she's releasing her stress through shopping... 

"What's wrong with you, why are you sad over my ice cream? That's not the point of ice cream." She said sticking a spoon in the ice cream as well. 

"Nothing..." I lied, we haven't told anyone were together and we're not as loud as Krist and Singto about our relationship. 

"Whatever it is you are thinking, Mom called, she said Ton had a successful surgery. They are waiting for the meds to wear off, hopefully she wakes up." Namtan told me which really caught my attention. 

"She's waking up?" I asked. 

"If she pulls through, yeah... but mom said don't get our hope high, she doesn't wanna tell you really but you seem like you need some light in your gloomy life." Namtan said. 

I sighed and faked scrolling on my phone as we ate ice cream, Namtan also focused on her phone until we went up to our bedrooms and tried to nap a little. 

We will be going to Seattle on a private plane owned by our family, one that doesn't have my father's company or name plastered all over it. However, we will be boarding from our family's private runway. There's all the possibilities of seeing our father, he's been pushy with wanting to see all of us and make amends, but how do you do that? 

It was a long flight and I spent most of the time catching up on sleep, there's nothing else I could do, plus, I needed it, I haven't been sleeping lately... Namtan and the attendant woke me up a few times for food and stuff. I tried thinking of a few things I could do... Space Needle would really be on the list of course... 

I was thinking for the last three hours of the flight, Win always talked about Los Angeles, he wanted to go there badly and if I could only bring him... I made out a plan to visit L.A. and how to make most of the time for only one day...

"Los Angeles huh..." Namtan said looking over the plans I drew from the piece of paper I took from my bag. 

"I was planning to go... a day for myself..." I told her. 

"Go for it." She said. 

"Don't you think I wouldn't have enough time for it?" I asked. 

"We barely sleep now Bright... a little all nighter won't hurt that much... We don't know what happens next in our lives anymore, it's very messed up now." She said. 

"Hey, I know things aren't going so well for you either, and this family situation sucks big time, but you can't lose it. We have to be there for each other, let's just do it for our mom." I told her. 

"I'll be going to Los Angeles as well. If you come across me... run, I might hold you captive as my photographer." She said and laughed it out. 

We landed in Seattle on a cloudy afternoon... Mom fixed an apartment for us to stay for the weekend. 

"What time can we visit?" I asked Namtan as soon as we got in the apartment. 

"Bright... go get some rest. We're visiting after a nap." Namtan said. 

I sighed in frustration, she thinks I'm not ready for this... 

"We slept most of the time during the flight. I want to go now." I firmly told her. 

She sighed and placed her stuff down. 

"Let's go freshen up, I'll tell the hired driver we're going in 30 minutes." Namtan said which made me smile. 

We decided to freshen up quickly and head to the hospital. 

"We have to go to the pediatrics." Namtan said looking at the board which contains the map of the hospital. 

"Here, we could go grab some snacks or at least an energy bar from the vending machines before we face whatever has happened to our sister now." I said to buy us a little time to be prepared for whatever the findings are now. 

I left messages for Win, it's 5pm here and it's supposed to be 9am there... he could be awake... or not. I haven't told him about the Los Angeles escaped. I just wanted him to talk to me right now. 

Win Metawin

Win

Please talk to me. 

I'm scared right now. 

I'm really sorry. 

Talk to me when you wake up.

We reached the entrance to the pediatrics section of the hospital and there is a row of vending machines in the waiting room. But my phone started ringing so I signaled Namtan to go grab some for us. 

"Hey... I'm sorry..." I said when I saw it was Win who called me. 

"Bright... it's fine, I just woke up... I've slept the emotions out." he told me with a sleepy voice.

"We're at the hospital already..." I said. 

"Don't be scared... you'd be fine. Update me when you get news, don't be such a baby... I'm not there to pick you up or whatever it is that you need." he said ang giggled. 

"I wish I could bring you here... I have something that needs your opinion, but let's put that on hold until I get to see my sister, good news or bad, I'm gonna need to talk to you. I miss you so bad already." I told him. 

"You're gonna kill me with leaving me hanging, but go get to your sister, I'll ask my dreams if they can tell me what your something is." He said in a sarcastic way. 

"Talk to you later hooman." I said. 

"Talk to you later... I love you." I froze for a moment there when he started giggling. 

"You don't have to say it back Bright... chill out, go see Ton, I want updates" He said and hung up on me. 

I smirked when I put my phone inside my pocket and went to Namtan who just finished buying a bunch of snacks. 

"We're not going to a picnic, let's go" I told her grabbing some energy bar from her. 

"You seem to be in a good mood huh." She told me. 

"Got to attract positive energies, we need it..." I said and gave her a small smile. 

We walked to the room mom said. She's still in the ICU section so I figured she really hasn't woken up yet... 

"Mom..." We hugged her when we saw her...

"Hey... how have you two been?" She asked. 

"Fine... very anxious" I said. 

"Oh, nothing to worry about, she actually had some hand movement a while ago. We just have to give her a longer while to recover from surgery again and she could possibly wake up." Mom said. 

"That's great news, mom, would you like to get some rest? Or freshen up a bit?" I asked. 

"Okay, but just a nap, I'll be back as soon as I can, I wouldn't wanna miss the news when she wakes up. Both of you could stay there... that's the only lounge available, we're not allowed to go and stay at her room as long as she's in ICU" Mom said. 

She left us and we stood at the glass door separating us from our sister. 

"Are you her siblings?" The lady in scrubs asked us.

"I'm Doctor Montgomery, I am her doctor for now..." She said and smiled. 

"Oh, h-hi... yes we are her siblings." Namtan said and shook her hand. 

"Your mom talked about you two... She said you two were amazing and would kill to protect your sister. I admire that, wish I have siblings like you." She said. 

"Thanks, how is our sister doing?" I asked. 

"Oh, she's doing very well on recovery, she even managed to move a finger a while ago... but she was unconscious, we're just waiting for her to actually wake up." She said in an assuring tone but that didn't ease up my thoughts.

"How long do you say... she'd be in this recovery phase?" I asked. 

"A day... two is maximum. If she doesn't wake up... she's still in a coma and that's something... that's her fight, and we couldn't tell how long..." she said.

"But the hand... moving... it's good right?" I asked again. 

"I know you are scared, but it is very good progress. I'm gonna allow you both in there... you're gonna have to talk to her, she might or might now hear you... but it helps a lot, she needs a guiding voice back to consciousness. Tell her positive things..." Doctor Montgomery told us. 

She ordered someone to get us prepared to go inside to be able to go bedside with Ton... I made Namtan go first as I waited. 

"Your mom is very stressed out, and I know you are very scared but you have to keep fighting for her, so that she knows how to fight for herself. We could pump her up with everything that would keep her alive, but it will be her fight, and what she needs is a healthy family when she wakes up. You're gonna have to stick like glue to make her a lot better when she wakes up." Doctor Montgomery told me. 

I smiled and nodded to her, if only she knew how much this risks my mental health, to keep my family together, when there should have been a father figure doing that. I was figuring out what to say to Ton when I go inside but I didn't until they called me in. 

"Ton... it's good to see you again..." I said holding her hand. They left me alone and nobody could hear me except for Ton. 

"You've been sleeping for a while now... You're gonna have to fight harder for me, mom, Namtan... and dad, he caused this, but you have to fight for your life, because you're the glue to this family. You keep us from falling apart. Anyway, I have this time to talk to you, I met someone in paradise Ton, he's the reason I'm still here beside you, fighting as well. I got myself a boyfriend Ton, and that is so scary without anyone... you're the only one that knows aside from the two us... You'd enjoy hanging out with him, like another sibling for you, he met you while you were unconscious, and he couldn't wait to actually meet you. I know I'm talking more about myself but nothing much has been going on really except for the fact that I just couldn't figure out how to glue pieces of me that keeps falling off. Anyway, we'd be here for a little while, and I would love to go back home with you awake." I said. 

I stayed there for a little while and decided to give her some rest and also to seat at the lounge where we can stay and watch her from a far... 

I was busy making some school works in the lounge when the jet lag started to kick in... My sleeping pattern has been messed up again. I snoozed off on the chair without even realizing it, it was actually a comfy lounge and they even dimmed the lights. 

I was peacefully sleeping when I felt my phone vibrating and some machines beeping and a few people running with high pitched voice. I looked around and saw that they were running to Ton's room. Namtan is no longer beside me and so I ran towards the room. 

"I called mom" Namtan said waiting for some updates, all we could see is that they've crowded Ton...

I was trying to see if she was doing okay but then my phone kept vibrating, I pulled it out it was Win when I was about to answer the call Doctor Montgomery came out with a smile on her face. 

"I don't know what you've told her... she's awake... we're checking if she can breathe on her own and if she's gonna be able to be on her own for a while so that she can be transferred by tomorrow to a regular room for monitoring... my staff would call you in when everything is ready." She said and smiled. 

The people started coming out of the room with equipment and such that used to attached to Ton... we had a peek at her and she smiled at us. 

"She is awake OMG!" Namtan said and hugged me as she was crying and I couldn't help myself too. 

"You can go inside now." Another man in scrubs informed us. 

We raced to Ton which made her laugh and we hugged her as gently as we could.

"Hey..." She said. 

"Hey you... you little fighter." Namtan said. 

"You both should stop crying, you are ugly" She told us a giggled. 

"You are still you huh." I said. 

"Oh, my angels" Mom announced before she threw us all in a hug and started crying. 

We talked a little when Doctor Montgomery walked in. 

"So, good morning sleeping beauty. You had a long rest, but I want you to consciously rest more, you're gonna need to stay here a little longer, a month maybe... we'd  be running tests and we'd have to get her through physical therapy and some psych consults, once everything clears out, you'd be back where you left off" She said and smiled. 

"I'm gonna have a lot of catching up with my siblings, I kind of heard their life updates before I was sucked back in reality..." She said and giggled. 

It all feels unreal. 

"Okay but that is gonna have to wait until tomorrow, we need to do a full run of tests with her, I'm gonna have to take her for a little while and bring her back a little later, so gossips and catching ups will have to wait." She said. 

"That's alright, we'll just be here" Namtan said and smiled. 

Mom and Namtan both started calling relatives and friends. I checked on my phone... It's 1am here in Seattle and it would be around 5pm in the Philippines... I dialed Win but he didn't picked up... I tried a couple more and he answered for the fourth time. 

"Hey, how are you? I'm sorry I had to take extra shifts, I was working." Win said with obvious stress in his voice. 

"Win... breathe... you get as much rest as you can okay? You don't have to worry about me anymore, Ton woke up, she actually woke up!" I said. 

"Really?! I can't wait to meet her again." He said and I know he is smiling. 

"That won't happen for a month, she needs monitoring, but you, need to take time for yourself..." I told him.

"I miss you, and the freebies I get from my boyfriend" He said. 

"Aww, I miss you too Win... so the thing..." I told him...

"Don't be a cliffhanger, say it already!" He said like a kid who couldn't wait for candy. 

"I'm going to Los Angeles... I'm going to the places you wanted to go to, I'm getting you those hollywood souvenirs that you want." I said smiling. 

"You even got me a better something Bright..." He said which got me confused. 

"What?" I asked in confusion 

"You are happy, that's all I want." He said. 

"Win, break time's over!" I heard someone from the call. 

"Oh, I'm gonna have to go, I'll try to call you after my school stuff later. See you soon" He said and hung up. 

"I love you Win..." I said putting my phone down. 

While we were waiting for Ton and my friends actually went crazy with the news... I came across the thought of Win. I decided to use my father's connection and get into Win's records from his school, I needed to know when he will be free. 

I figured things out and planned some stuff, if things go as planned, we're headed back to paradise... a little something that would make Win happy, my turn to make him happy...

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Thanks for reading! <3