~Kritika~

I walked away from the room as quickly as my feet could carry. I couldn't breathe, it was like I was suffocating.

It's time you learn to mind your own bloody business..

A tear fell from my eye and I quickly wiped it away, not stopping walking. I didn't bother to talk to Dr. Victoria, I'll text her later. Besides, all the kids had been tended to and they were being sent back home.

I ditched the elevator and took the stairs, my shoes hitting hard against the marble.

Who do you think you're fooling?..

His words had stung. Ofcourse I knew he hadn't meant any of it but I hated to admit that it still hurt. A lot. Guess when you're hurt by the people you care the most about, it stings the most.

Wow, he was right. I do care too much.

Stop. I forced back any tears that threatened to fall and walked as fast I could across the main lobby.

Just as I clutched the hospital entrance handle, someone pulled it making their way in. Oh no. Oh god, please no.

"I'm so s-- Kritika? Hi." Brianna said, removing and dusting her hat.

"He's in room no. 202." I said quickly, wanting to get out of there as soon as possible. I couldn't face her, not now.

As the harsh cold air hit me outside, I turned back one last time only to find her looking at me curiously "Oh and, congratulations. I'm happy for you both." I said with a small smile before shutting the door behind me and walking away as fast as I could.

Distract yourself.. Distract yourself..

I felt my nose and cheeks burn with the cold wind lashing at them. The road had apparently been cleared as the vehicles were moving freely.

"Good for me, then." I mumbled to myself, making my way towards my car. I touched my face lightly and felt no wetness anymore. Good.

I sighed through my mouth, causing a puff of white fog to erupt as I unlocked the car and got in. I closed my eyes, letting out a shaky breath.

Don't cry. Don't cry.

I let out a little sound of frustration, before letting my head fall onto the steering wheel, causing the horn to go off. I immediately jumped back from it, startled by the sound.

I sat back, the tears long forgotten. All I felt now was anger. I glanced at my face in the car mirror and saw a stoic expression on my face.

"You know what?" I said loudly, still looking at myself "I'm done crying about this. He can go to hell."

I wouldn't looked absolutely insane to any passerby, but I didn't care. I felt a huge weight lift off of me at that moment.

"Good." I muttered and my reflection smiled back at me as I entered the key in and revved the engine.

Crush, my butt.

~Liam~

"Is he dead?"

"No, you idiot he's breathing."

I felt cool droplets fall on my face, causing me to blink. Groaning, I brought my hand to my throbbing head. The headache was back. "Oh good, you're alive." I opened my eyes but shut them immediately as the headache worsened.

"Here." I heard a female voice say that as a slim hand held out water to me. Did she really come back? After everything I said to her? "Are you okay?"

The voice registered and my shoulders dropped. "Thanks Anna." I muttered, taking the glass and gingerly holding it in my hands. She had an unreadable expression on her face as she looked at me. I raised an eyebrow at her with all the energy I could muster.

Instead of replying she loudly said "Hey Niall, why don't you go tell the others that he's awake." she looked right at me as she said it.

"You're right, they're taking ages anyway. I'll be right back." I heard him say, followed by the sound of the door squeaking shut. I realised that we were the only two people in the room.

"Where are the others?" I questioned

"Canteen. One of them had the genius idea to go buy food because apparently, you'd fainted of weakness?"

"Wait, you're telling me that they went to buy food and Niall stayed behind? Granted it was hospital food, but, Niall?

She narrowed her eyes at me "Stop answering my question with a question."

"Which was..?"

She began to say something but then shook her head "you know what, never mind. You fainting randomly is not what I wanted to ask about. Straight to the point. You told her?Wait that's not the question. Did you ask her? More importantly what was her reaction, what'd she say?"

"No." I said.

"No as in no you didn't tell her or no as in no as an answer?" she asked, folding her knees on the chair she sat on.

"The former." I said, rolling my eyes.

"The former." she mimicked "don't make that face at me." she warned "..but if you didn't tell her, and she didn't say no.. Then why did she look so.. I don't know.. Sad."

I lowered my gaze uncomfortably "You saw her?"

"In the lobby." she said and then suddenly narrowed her eyes once again "okay, what did you do?"

"What makes you think that I did something?" I said defensively

She snorted "Believe me, I know that face too well. The I-am-guilty-as-charged face. You made that face when you dropped coffee on my dress during junior prom in grade six."

"Seven." I corrected

"Ah ha!" she exclaimed, snapping her fingers "so you did do something. Spill, boy."

"I might've accidentally.."

"Accidentally..?"

"Yelled at her." I muttered

"You what?" she yelled after a second "you did what? Why?"

"I don't know what got into me. It was a sudden outbu-- what the..? The hell was that for, woman?" I rubbed my arm she just slugged.

"For being a total jerk." she scolded "did you seriously..? And why did that outburst happen, may I ask?"

"Because, a certain Ricky happened." I muttered, rolling my eyes again.

She looked genuinely surprised at that "Ricky?"

"I saw them hugging on her porch yesterday. Think she's with him or something. I mean, she did tell him that she loved him and--"

She held up a finger "Wait.." she said, beginning to scroll through her phone. What is she doing? "Is this the Ricky you're talking about?" she said, holding her phone out in my direction.

"That's him right there." I said, pointing to the guy in the group. He was grinning from ear to ear, his hands around two girls, them being Stacey and Kritika. I wanted to wipe that smirk off his face. Cocky bastard. "Wait, you know him?"

She blinked. Twice. Thrice.

"What?" I asked

It was like my one word triggered something in her. A smile bloomed on her face which soon transformed into a fit of giggling.

"Why are you laughing?" I asked loudly causing her to just burst out laughing completely "if you're going insane just tell me, there's no better time to tell because we're already in a hospital."

"Oh god, this is too hard to believe." she made out between breaths, seemingly having completely ignored my comment "oh m-mother, my stomach hurts."

"Oh and why is that?" I asked sarcastically and this time she heard me. But instead of replying to me, she giggled and scrolled through her phone bringing it so close to my face that it touched my nose. It was another picture. But wait..

"Why are you showing me a picture of that jerk kissing Stacey's cheek?" I questioned

"That jerk." she emphasized with air quotes "is her boyfriend. This picture was taken a day ago " she then started laughing again "this is gold. You thought that..? Oh my god."

I sat back, trying to process everything "..he's her boyfriend?"

"Yes." she said, wiping a laughter tear "it's been a few days. In fact, your girl is the one who set them up." she cooed, winking "but, oh my god. Ricky and.. this is priceless." she fell into a fit of giggles again. I just stared at her, still confused.

"I don't understand.. she said she loved him?"

"Oh Lily, you're so clueless, my child." she said, pulling my cheeks "can't friends say that to each other?"

I sat for a moment, letting it all sink in letting her pull my cheeks for a bit.

"So Ricky isn't..?" I trailed

"Oh, jerk became Ricky, eh?" she teased and I finally swatted her hand away from my cheek.

"Wow." I blew out air from my mouth "I'm an idiot."

"That you are." she laughed, shaking her head "I still can't believe you yelled at her."

"Neither can I." I admitted "It's just that.."

"My baby's in love." she cooed, pretending to wipe away a tear "go get your girl. What are you waiting for, Christmas? Well, there's until tomorrow for that, but might as well do it now."

"Anna, she'll probably hate me after all the wonderful things I said to her." I stated

"No she wouldn't." she protested

I shook my head, not caring that it worsened my headache "I tried apologizing, but she just wouldn't listen." I said "..I don't know what to do."

She whacked the side of my head "are you crazy, you idiot?" she yelled.

"Jesus, Anna. I'm a patient here. Still ailing, not to mention." I winced

"Shut up. And answer my question."

"Which one?"

She sighed and then shook her head "Nevermind. You're an idiot."

I narrowed my eyes at her "Stop doing that."

"Doing what?" she said, raising her eyebrow at me.

"Pretending like you're always right." I said.

"Oh honey, but I am." she winked, grinning.

She so was. I groaned, falling back onto the bed "Why couldn't I just be with you instead. It'll save me the apologizing."

"Well you could have." she laughed "..if you hadn't said the wrong name."

Yep. I had been thinking of confessing my feelings to a girl for years now only to blurt the wrong name while proposing.

No wonder I'm single.

"And if you hadn't tossed that teddy bear in my face." I retorted playfully.

"The wrapping was pink, Pink." she emphasised like it was a justification in itself.

"It was more of a dark red." I argued.

"Still pink enough." she retorted

"But the bear was blue." I shot back "you know I'd gone into so much trouble to buy that, only to have you throw it at me. Hurtful isn't the word."

She opened her mouth probably to reply but seemingly decided against it. She then brought her hand up and I thought she was going to slap me but she patted my cheek instead "Do you really want to sit here and argue with me when you could be doing something else. You know, like.. apologizing?" she said pointedly, grinning triumphantly.

"Don't remind me." I groaned "I'm screwed. I really screwed up. Might as well give up already."

"Do you, you know, love her?" she asked and then shuddered a little too dramatically "..that sounded so cheesy. But do you?"

"Does it matter?" I mumbled and she grinned

"You didn't deny it, you so do." she squealed and I had to urge to duct tape her mouth "You have to apologize to her. It's your only chance at this ever happening. If you don't say it now, you'll probably regret it sometime in the future. So do it while there's still time." she said seriously and I looked at her surprised at her outburst.

"Anything else, wise one?" I asked sarcastically

she paused to think "Actually, yes.You never lose by loving. You always lose by holding back.. or something like that." she mumbled the last part more to herself

The familiarity of the wordshit me with a wave of deja vu.

You never lose by loving. You always lose by holding back.

Kritika had said those lines to me, that night as we sat on the roof. The memory was still fresh in my brain.

"Where do you know that from?" I questioned, curiously.

"Is that important?"

"Yes."

She rolled her eyes "Peter the frog said that to his lover." I gave her a questioning look and she waved her hand dismissively "It was a poem in our English textbook last semester."

I couldn't help but burst out laughing "Oh duck, I love her."

"I.. did you just say duck?" she laughed "I don't know what triggered you to say that, I really don't." she suddenly squealed, again But I'm so happy. My best friend with my other best friend." she said dreamily and I raised an eyebrow at her.

I opened my mouth to reply but was cut off by the room door bursting open. At first I expected it to be one of the boys, but it was a doctor, but not the same one from before.

"Hey, Doc." I said nodding as she walked up to me and grabbed my chin wordlessly and tilting my head upwards, observing my forehead.

"Just a mild concussion thank god." she muttered, nodding to herself. She continued observing my forehead like I had a plant sprouting out of it and I caught Brianna's eye who just shrugged, smirking. I rolled my eyes "So.. Can I leave now, Doc?"

She looked down at me and seemed to be in deep thought. It was as if I had handed her a trigonometry problem to solve rather than asking her a question.

"Yes?" I pressed

"Yes." she said and I sighed in relief "tomorrow morning."

Wait, what?

"I feel perfectly fine, Doc. There's no need to keep me here for the night. " I tried to reason with her.

"We need to conduct a few more tests to be sure. Be glad you didn't get alchohol poisoning as you threw up as soon as you got here."

I winced. Threw up? How do I not remember? "My friends will take care of me." I said, trying to be calm. I was slowly losing my patience and I think my irritation showed in my voice as the nurse narrowed her eyes.

"Look, mister. You've already caused enough trouble. So you'll have to stay." she said in an equally irritatingly calm voice "but good news is, you're off drips. I need to just take out the injection now.

She reached towards my arm and my eyes widened. The room door opened, and I heard a few mumbles.

"This might just pinch a little.." I heard the nurse say.

And then, nothing. My mind went black as I felt myself falling backwards.

I could make out someone yelling "Man, not again!" Before I embarassed myself by fainting for a second time in the day.

Well, what can I say? Twice is the charm.

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XXXXXXXX

Omg hay you guys :')

My internet isn't working. (Internet = Wifi)
I update through my phone so no wifi equals apocalypse.

That didn't make sense. Okay.

Sooooooo?
It's finally going to happen :')))
My Litika people, where you at?

I'm working on the next update right now, as you read this. So it will be up soon.

This is the penultimate chapter of this book. Nexts gonna be the last one :')
I don't know how to feel. Sigh.

But don't worry it'll all be goooood :3

How did you like this one? Was okay? Meh? Good? Bad?

Next update sooon
Hopefully my wifi will get alright by tomorrow. So I won't have to use my stupid data usage thing.

Yep, I'm spending money to get this on for you guys, feel special :P

Cote❤

Stay beautiful❤

Kay❤