Sunny
"Were you able to stop the criminals?" I asked Mavin.
He was sharing his experience with his work. Since then, his line of work was about catching criminals.
Mavin nodded proudly at me. "Of course! You do not know how good I am at my work." He boasted. "Our team is the best you could ever have." He added.
"You are catching criminals, so I cannot say anything to bash you." I replied. "Just make sure to take care of yourself. Criminals are still criminals. They might hurt you and the others. You still have to be aware." I reminded him.
His line of work is very dangerous. They should not be complacent and be alert.
"Do not worry. We will be fine. We are always alert and we make sure that we are all safe." Mavin responded.
After we visited Steven at the hospital, we all went home. Marco volunteered to send us home. We are back to this activity again, after Steven advised us to stop going out for a while.
I already had dinner with my family. I did what I needed to do before deciding to call Mavin and get some updates from Steven. He said that he was still not awake and their parents were already resting on the couch while Mavin was awake to look out for Steven.
"Mavin." We heard someone call for Mavin's name.
Mavin turned his head. "Steven?" He called. "You are awake." He added.
"Is he awake already?" I asked when Mavin stood up.
"Who are you talking to again?" I heard Steven ask Mavin.
Mavin laughed a little and showed me to Steven.
"Why are you still talking? It's already evening." He complained.
Instead of worrying, my worries fade away.
"Can't we talk?" I asked him. "How are you feeling right now?"
"Ahh, right. I will call the nurse first." Mavin commented and handed the phone to Steven.
"If you are not feeling well, please do not go to school and just make sure to rest. If you need to go to the hospital, then go." I told him. "You made us worried. We all cried because of what happened to you." I added.
"Are you sure you do not have any illness or what? We asked Auntie and Uncle if you had any, but they said you did not have any illnesses. Were you stressed about something?" I asked him.
He did not reply. Instead, he just looked at me.
"You can tell me, Steven, stop making me worry too much. After I saw you clutching your chest a while ago, I do not know what to do. I get mad at you, thinking that you are suffering already and you still chose to not tell me." I told him.
"If this happens again and you cannot stand it, tell me right away. Why do you keep on keeping it to yourself? I am here, as well as our classmates. Do not dare to do it again." I added, which made his eyes widen more than usual.
I sniff. Preventing myself from crying.
He was not able to say anything back when Mavin and the nurse came. Mavin got the phone back and let the nurse attend to him.
Mavin laughed at me when he saw me sniffing and my eyes get red.
"Why do you cry so easily?" Mavin asked.
"It's not my fault!" I complained. "I cannot stop my tears from pouring out." I added.
"Steven is doing well. He just needs to rest. If he is good until tomorrow, maybe he could go home." The nurse said. "You should have seen your classmates a while ago. They all came here together." She added.
"They went here?" I heard Steven ask
"They did. I can remember them running as they entered the hospital, but they were stopped by the guards. They were not able to go inside since there were too many. They asked the information desk about your room number and were told that they were not able to go all at once to your room." The nurse shared.
She was right. We were stopped at the information desk, and the guards, as well as the staff there, told us that we couldn't go all the way to him.
We tried our best to talk to them and let us enter to see Steven.
"But one of your classmates talked to the staff in charge there. He called his parents. The staff told us that his parents called the owner of the hospital and let his classmates enter altogether. That is why the staff in charge let them all go to your room." She added.
"Ahh, Gino." I heard Steven commented.
He was right. Gino was the one who talked to the staff in charge and called his parents. After that, they let us go and we went to Steven's room.
"I heard that the owner was laughing at your classmate. The owner of this hospital said that his parents told him that it was his first time doing something like that. He does not want to use his status and wants to keep it as long as he can, but he did it today." She also shared.
After what Gino did, we learned that he is really something. Who could do that, though? It's like a living drama, and Gino is the main character. As we went to the room where Steven was, we kept on teasing Gino.
He was like a red tomato, avoiding our teasing. He kept on telling us to stop it already, but the boys did not stop at all until we got to Steven's room.
"He is a good friend." Mavin also commented.
"That is why you need to be well. You have classmates worrying for you." The nurse added. "I will go now." She added.
Steven and Mavin expressed their gratitude before turning to me.
"You should rest." I told Steven. "Go and sleep already. You need to be well." I added.
"And?" He asked back.
"And we will continue our talk." I answered, pertaining to the talk with his brother.
Steven squinted his eyes. "What talk? Stop talking too much. It's already late and you are still talking." He responded.
"Wow. So when you guys watch dramas late at night and sleep late, it's okay?" Mavin commented.
Steven can't answer his older brother back.
"Got your tongue tied now?" Mavin added.
"So what? Why do you care about us watching dramas late at night." I heard Steven reply.
"If you guys can, Sunny and I can do that too." Mavin responded.
"No." He replied.
"Why? Why can't we do that?" Mavin complained.
"Because I don't want to." Steven strongly disagrees.
I could not even say anything because it was evident that he was clearly mad.
It was also the first time I saw him that mad. It was scary, even though I could only see him through the phone.
"Why are you mad at me? We are just having a friendly talk." Mavin defended himself. "It's not like we are talking about something that we should not. I can also talk to her, we are friends." He added.
Steven did not answer. Instead, he faced the other side.
"Do not get mad. We will just talk. I would not take your brother away from you." I told him.
I heard Mavin laugh. "It's the other way around, Sunny." He told me.
My forehead creased. "Huh? Why would you even take me away?" I asked back.
Mavin laughed again. "Nothing. It's just your friend here who does not want you to make friends more." He explained, pointing at Steven.
I laughed too. "Steven, we are still friends even though I do not get you sometimes." I told him. "If you are not available for tonight, maybe I can talk to your brother. Do not be so jealous. We are not taking each other away here. Just talk." I added.
"If you want to do this, then get well soon." Mavin also commented, but Steven did not bother answering at all.
Our talk lasted for two hours. Mavin also showed me that Steven fell asleep after a few minutes. Since Mavin was not going to sleep, I decided to talk to him longer and keep him company.
He said that he needs to make sure that Steven is fine. That is why, instead of his mother, he volunteered to do it.
I admire Mavin because of that. It shows how he truly cares for his younger brother. Although they seem to nag at each other and fight often. When it comes to situations like this one, their love for each other shows.
Uncle and Auntie grew them up well. They are not just smart, but lovable sons as well.
After ending the call with Mavin, I was now looking at our ceiling.
I remembered what Mavin asked me a while ago, that would I look at him differently if he was not the person I knew before.
Although I told him that I would not. He also tried to ask different questions, but still connected with the first question he asked.
I told him that it would not change my view. I will still look at him the way I looked at him before.
He laughed and said that I was able to say those things because it was still not happening. If the right day comes, I will know what he was talking about.
I kept on defending that it would not change. Whatever the reason, I will still accept him, just as they did me. I explained that everyone has their own secrets, and so did he. He does not need to worry about me. I will stand by him.
He and his family are already a part of me. I would not let anything bad happen to them. They were one of the nicest families I have ever met, and I am grateful for that.
I also think of different scenarios of Mavin telling me his secret, whether he is a ghost or a rich mafia man. I even practice what I will say if that happens. I am still considering options as to what he might say and explain, and I am trying to understand every situation, so that I will be able to say it perfectly to him.
That it would not change my mind and he is still the person I knew.
Every person has their own secret and we deserve to keep it. There is a right time for everything.
I heard a lot of stories about their childhoods. I desperately want to see the younger him and Steven playing with their friends outside their house. I wanted to ask why Steven was that active before, but then realized that something happened along the way. That made him like that.
He must be traumatized after what happened. The trauma he had was still with him until he grew up, turning him into a serious and not always smiley Steven.
I also promised Mavin that we would do our best to make Steven enjoy this place before going back. We will help him get out of his comfort zone.
Because of that, I learned about Uncle and Auntie's love story. I was happy that, after all, Uncle did his best to gain Auntie's answer and show her how much he loves her. After that, I shared mine as well. My mom and dad met each other and even have funny stories about our family.
My dad was working overseas, and we were not able to talk all the time. That is why I wanted to graduate and make him proud. That I will be able to finish my studies and have a stable job. I promised myself that I would make Dad come home and work here.
I think we both know the stories of each other, which I am glad about because he was comfortable sharing stories with me.
Before we ended the call, I reminded Mavin to update me about Steven's health or if he was okay to go home.
I told him that I would visit Steven tomorrow and would make sure to nag at him for keeping his suffering.
He will be dead meat tomorrow.