*Chapter 17: Past? What's Important is the Present!

Lunely's PoV

"Brother? Brother ... Wake up now... You need to eat ..."

I just smiled as I tried to get some towel and slowly wiped all of his sweat- earlier he was still sweating, and it seems like his fever went down to 37.4 ° C- well, that's a relief. Somehow, Leiro felt a little better. Am I really that good at taking care of him? Hehe ... Now I'm sure our future is secured ...

"Uhm ..." Leiro slowly opened his eyes once smiling at me. "Hey Lou ... What time is it?" He tried to sit on his bed as I just helped him do so. He looked here and there as if he had no idea what had happened while he was sleeping as I just smiled at him.

Alas, Leiro's mood is different now- is this some sort of side-effect? Why? He's calling me Lou, and not Lunely... My, I guess I'm just used to him calling me Lunely ...

"It's already six in the evening Kuya Lei. Seems like you've been asleep for a long time- and I won't argue for that." I smiled as Leiro suddenly forced himself to stand up. "Brother! You still have a fever! You should still be in bed!"

"Eh? I actually would like to have dinner together with my parents..." He said as he gave me a pleading face- hey ... Seeing his face like that- you know you're not allowed to leave your room Lei, right? Don't be such a hard-headed...

"They already ate earlier, brother. You're the only one who didn't. So calm down now... Just go back to where you're lying and I'll take care of you, okay?" I tried to comfort him as he just sighed and went himself back to bed.

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When Leiro finished eating, I immediately gave him the medicine and arranged what he ate. But instead of going back to sleep, Leiro forced himself to stand up again when I suddenly stopped him.

"C'mon Lou ... I'm not leaving, okay? I just want to go out on my veranda first. I've been lying here for a day so I can't feel the wind outside." Leiro just smiled as if he was trying to say that everything is okay ... And there goes that 'Lou' again.

"Hayy ... Okay brother, but you need to wear a jacket first or else maybe your fever will come back okay? Here, I'm going to get you one." I smiled as I went to his closet to find a jacket so that he wouldn't get cold outside but something suddenly caught my attention...

A pink diary?

N-no, I can't read that.

"Hey Lou, are you having a hard time finding my jacket? It's just located on the fourth drawer-" Leiro said to me when I suddenly stopped him and laughed a little.

"Yes Brother ... Don't worry I've already seen it." I smiled as I pull a green varsity jacket with a hoodie and white stripes on the side. I slowly closed his closet but I couldn't lose sight of the pink diary in Lei's closet ... I don't think it's Leiro's, though. Maybe it was Liana's diary, perhaps?

"Here you go, brother Lei." I gave him his jacket and I also helped him to put it on. When everything's fine now, Leiro and I slowly went out towards his veranda.

It was a clear, peaceful night. The moon shone faintly, giving us a little vision. Millions of stars twinkled like crystals into the night sky, the cold air gently blew from the west side, gently touching our skins and we can can hear crickets chirping on those bushes outside the mansion. The night sky seems to be dark blue this time- making it more mesmerizing.

"You seem to like night skies, eh brother Lei?" I giggled softly as I saw Leiro's eyes sparkled because of the magnificent sight before him. My... I just thought he was just a teenager with a sister complex, but I guess I was wrong.

"Oh, don't get the wrong idea. I'm not here just to see the night sky. It's something else I always wanted to wait." He tried to smile at me, as I suddenly ran to the wooden bench outside his veranda while sitting, as I slowly fixed my lap and smiled at him.

"Hey brother Lei, if you want, you can say all the things you haven't told me yet as you rest your head into my lap." I smiled as I just tapped my lap gently, trying to tell him that he could lie on my lap.

"A-Are you sure Lou? I-I mean it's a bit embarrassing-"

"C'mon brother. It's okay with me. You've done so much on pampering me these days, so let me give my thanks by doing the same too ..." I said softly to him as he just sighed and surrendered himself. He slowly placed his head into my lap but he looked sideways- leh, are you ashamed Lei?

"Hey, brother, you can actually look at me, you know? Why are you looking away from me? I'm not embarrassed though." I smiled at her when I felt tears on my thighs.

"S-Sorry Lou ... I just don't want you to see me cry. And I feel more comfortable at this so just let me, please ..." Leiro tried to wipe his tears away when I started petting his head.

"I remember ... Liana tried to do this once but I can't lie on her lap since she's quite small ... But still, her lap's warmness resembled yours, Lou. 'I don't know what's happening to me but... Looks like I already missed her."

I became speechless. So all the things I do to Leiro were also done by Liana back then? My, did Liana merge with me or what? I never felt this too but it seems like everything I do to Leiro is the reason for his happiness.

"Aren't you tired of your situation right now, Brother?" I suddenly asked him, for the reason that he did not say a word as he lied down.

"It's not that, Lou-"

"Do you want to take a break from your problems brother?" I asked him again, but instead of crying, he forced himself to laugh.

"C'mon now, Lou... You know I can't do that-"

"Did your heart and mind hurt so much because of what's happening in your life, Brother?" I asked him more questions, but he still insisted on not crying ...

"Lou, please... I can still endure it-"

I slowly leaned my head towards his ear and gently whisper these words.

"Life's been so rough brother Lei... Hasn't it?"

Suddenly, Leiro's voice changed, when I felt he could no longer cope with the pain he was feeling and he released it by crying. My, he's really hurt so much. His sob made me feel that what situation he was right now was really unbearable.

"Yes Lou ... Life ... Life's been rough." He started to cry but he's still trying to speak. "Everything that happened to me was really a pure misfortune ..."

"All right Brother ... Just keep going. I'm just here to listen to you." I said softly to her as I continued caressing his head. Leiro's still sobbing, although he still continued to speak.

"I-I feel... I'm probably the most unlucky person in the world... After Liana, my special younger sister, disappeared, everything happened to me was really painful ... My singing voice as well as my school then disappeared, you almost disappeared from me Lou, Yusarine also disappeared... Now, my illness is level two ... My life really is a misery but I didn't even realized that!!"

I've noticed Leiro clenching his left fists as he tried to shout but he didn't do that. He just kept crying while he slowly wiped his eyes.

"I'm still here brother, don't you see? Manang Fae is also here as well as your other maids, as well as your parents- they're all here to support you brother. You just have to fight okay? Don't ever give up... "Gosh ... I never thought I'm good at making those comforting words.

Suddenly, Leiro stood up when he saw something above the sky, making Leiro fired up "Hey Lou, look up! It's already started!"

Out of curiosity I suddenly looked up and surprisingly, I saw a lot of meteor showers raining down from the sky- luh, so all this time, Leiro knew this phenomena to happen?

"Eh? Meteor showers?"

"Yes, it was called as Southern Delta Aquarids. This is the most active of a diffuse group of streams and, as the name suggests, is best seen in the Southern Hemisphere. These meteors may be seen between July twelve and August nineteen and peak near July twenty-eight." I saw Leiro smiling as both us watched those showers from the night sky. And I really don't understand what he said earlier, I promise.

"So you know there's a meteor shower today Kuya Lei? That's a bit surprising. I never thought that even if you were sick you would still try to go out just to see them. How childly ..." I said jokingly as I giggled softly. Leiro, on the other hand, just smiled as if he hadn't heard what I was saying.

"Say what you want Lou. I won't mind. These meteor showers, they always remind me of Liana. When I was young, Liana and I always went to this veranda just to see these meteors. We also made a lot of wishes since we used to believe that when you make a wish when you see a meteor shower, your wishes will come true- "

"The heck?!" I suddenly told Leiro with a laugh. "Hey, brother Lei, that's a shooting star you can wish for and not meteor showers!" I just kept laughing when I noticed that Leiro suddenly scratched his head.

"Oh, is that so?" Leiro just laughed with a wink. "I'm sorry. That's why no wish comes true for the two of us because we're wishing on a wrong shooting star."

"But seriously Lou... I thank you."

"Hmph, I hate you." I suddenly pouted as I tried to push him away from me.

"Oh, Lou. Is there any problem?"

"Well, Calling me 'Lou' is the problem!" I shouted at him as I crossed my arms again and averted my gaze from him.

"Calling you 'Lou'? Didn't you say you want me to call you by your name because you're not a child anymore? You said that yesterday while we were in the car." He said to me when suddenly my face turned red- wait, I didn't remember anything like that! Maybe he got it in his dreams. Well, persons with illness tend to remember their dreams more so yeah ...

"Y-You just said that if we're in public! Y-You call me 'Lunely' when we're at home, okay? And ... And ..." I tried to think of some ideas so that I could change the topic. "And yes ... brother Lei, maybe you should focus what you have right now."

"Eh? Why did we get there Lou- I mean Lunely?" He suddenly laughed at me for the reason that I let out my tsundereness again. But it's a relief that Leiro called me 'Lunely' once again.

"I'm trying to say that don't think about your past first. What's important is the present! We need to find a way to get rid of your disorder Kuya Lei, I don't want you to just disappear from my life ..."

"Here we are again Lunely ..." My brother just smiled in front of me and suddenly pet my head as he always does to me. "Didn't I promise you that I wouldn't leave you? Cheer up now. My illness is only level two and I know that our scientists will find a way to get rid of my illness. For now, let's not lose hope, okay?"

"Yeah, sure... We'll, let's call it a day for now, okay?"

"I love you Lunely..."

Eep! Why did you say that all of a sudden! W-w-wait...

"I-I love you too, brother Lei..."

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