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“Noooo!” Rosa whined, eyeing the kite stuck on a tree. “Luke, what do we do now?”
Rosa frowned. It was incredibly vexing because she could see it, it was just right there. It was stuck between two supposedly low branches but whenever she tried to jump as high as she can, her little fingers could barely brush against the string that formed the tail.
They’ve tried everything. Having Luke lift her up to try and reach it, shaking the tree, throwing rocks at it, none of them worked. It was tangled in the leaves.
This would be about time to run to one of her parents and ask them to get the stupid kite stuck on the equally stupid tree. However, both her parents were out working and it was just the both of them at home.
So, the 6-year-old girl stared at her best friend, who was the smartest and most creative among the two, expecting him to magically give another solution, one that would solve their dilemma this time. Luke pursed his lips, tilting his head back to better analyze the situation.
“Uh…,” Luke started, “I could climb up the tree.”
“What? No, that’s dangerous!” Rosa shook her head.
“I’ll be careful!” Luke reassured her. “I’ll head back down immediately if I feel it’s unsafe.”
Rosa felt doubtful about this. But Luke looked pretty confident that he could do it, and so, Rosa could only watch in worry as Luke slowly climbs up the tree. Luckily, he managed to reach where the kite was stuck and free it. With the kite in hand, he began descending the tree. However, when he was close to reaching the ground, his foot slipped and he slid down, landing on his knee.
“Luke!” Rosa screamed, running up to him.
Luke sat down on the ground, examining his knee’s condition. It was dirty and scratched, and beginning to bleed as well.
“It’s bleeding… D-does it hurt?” Rosa asked nervously, looking more overwhelmed and scared than he was when the one who got hurt was obviously him.
She was trembling, Luke noticed. Tears began to well up in Rosa’s eyes.
“It’s- It’s okay, Rosa.” Luke stammered. He didn’t even know if his knees hurt, because his attention was all on the crying girl in front of him.
His heart panged in guilt and sadness. Don’t cry Rosa, please don’t cry, I’m sorry.
Luke didn’t know what to do. He knew how to deal with a happy Rosa, an angry Rosa, a determined Rosa, and a sleepy Rosa. But he really didn’t know how to deal with a crying Rosa. Before he knew it, something wet was sliding down his cheeks. Luke was crying.
“I’m sorry Luke, I don’t know how to help you.”
“It’s okay, Rosa. Don’t cry. It doesn’t hurt.” A half-lie.
“I don’t believe you! Then why are you crying?” she wailed.
“Because you are crying. S-stop crying.” Luke’s voice trembled.
Rosa sniffled, “You stop crying first.”
The two cried at each other for what felt like an hour before the two of them finally got tired of crying.
Luke wiped his tears and pulled the girl towards him. He tightly hugged her as he reassured her, “It doesn’t hurt, doesn’t hurt.
“Do- doesn’t hurt?”, she repeated.
“Mhm.”
It only hurts when you cry, Rosa. My heart hurts.
“Okay.” She said, wiping her wet face on his shirt.
Letting go of her, Luke felt relieved to see no more tears leaking out her eyes. Her eyes were puffy and her nose was red, but at least she was no longer crying.
After crying, Luke wasn’t sure he could speak steadily without his voice trembling, so instead, he held his hand out to her. But Rosa just stared at his palm in confusion.
“I- I’m sorry. For scaring you. Forgive me?” He stammered.
Finally, understanding his gesture's meaning, Rosa nodded, placing her hand on his. “I… forgive you.”
That was how her parents had found them. Their clothes and knees were stained with soil, Luke’s knee was dirtied with dried blood, and both their eyes were puffy after crying.
Later, it became a habit for Luke to hold out his hand toward her when asking for her forgiveness. And every time, Rosa would always accept his outstretched hand and forgive him.
Alright.
Maybe not always.
But there were only two times when she didn’t accept his outstretched hand.
The first one was when they finally met during one of her cases, accidentally, after losing contact for 8 years. While the second one, was before Luke underwent a major operation that risks his life almost as much as it promises to save it.
Rosa sat in the hospital’s waiting area with her hands clasped together in her lap with her eyes closed. She ran over her wedding ring with thumb to ground herself.
Dr. Aaron had warned them that this was an experimental treatment and it was very risky, but this was Luke’s only chance and they were willing to take it. If Luke survives this, he will be on the clear. They will have a wedding ceremony, live together happily, have kids, and die old together. And... she will also forgive him. She will accept the hand she slapped away before the surgery.
18 hours earlier, lying on a hospital bed, Luke had held his hand out to her.
“Luke?”
“I… I promised. I vowed to you that day we signed the wedding certificate.” Luke smiled ruefully. “I vowed that I would make you happy… I promised, that I won’t make you cry… But- but will you forgive me… if… if I-“
Rosa’s heart dropped to her stomach. She quickly cut him off, “Stop. Stop it.”
Clenching her teeth, she slapped away his outstretched hand. “Don’t say it. I… I won’t forgive you, if.. if…”
She stumbled on her words, unable to continue her sentence. After a while, she moved her gaze from the floor toward Luke to see him completely silent. Had she slapped him too hard?
Sensing her gaze on him, Luke blinked himself out of his reverie and opened his mouth to say something. Perhaps Rosa detected that he was going to apologize, for she cut him off again.
“I will forgive you, Luke. But I’ll only forgive you if you survive this. You… you have to survive…”
At her words, he smiled and replied, “Okay, my Watson. I won’t give up.”
Luke went in for surgery that morning, and Rosa waited in the waiting room the entire time.
Luke would be fine, she reassured herself for the 1000th time. She didn’t want to hope, didn’t dare to. She just prayed, and prayed, and tried to reassure herself over and over again.
Rosa had been to the hospital countless times for various reasons and if she had learned something from it, it was only that no matter which side she was on–patient or visitor–it never got easier with time.
Rather, it became more and more unsettling, with the oppressive white walls and the smell of sterilizing alcohol lingering in the air. The forced calm of the hospital staff was stifling, and the random bursts of mayhem as people rushed down the halls for emergencies weren’t any better.
Rosa woke up from her sleep at the familiar sound of Dr. Aaron’s voice. Seeing the surgeon responsible for her husband’s surgery, Rosa was immediately startled awake.
“Dr. Aaron? How’s... Luke?”
She observed his face, searching for any signs, signs indicating the failure of Luke’s surgery. Or, the success of his surgery.
“The surgery went successful.” He responded, and Rosa felt huge relief settle in her chest like a long breath she’d been waiting for.
“Oh, thank god. Thank you, thank you very much.”
For the first time in those long, long hours of dreaded waiting, Rosa felt like she could breathe.
Then, waiting. Waiting, waiting, and more waiting.
She remembered wishing for time to just flow faster, for the clock to just tick faster, all so that she could experience this moment.
This moment when she could finally, finally step into the room keeping Luke and see him look at her with a soft look. Dressed in a hospital gown with breathing tubes in his nose and looking as pale as ever, Luke still smiled brightly enough to rival the sun.
“Rosa,” he said with a voice so raspy and small, “I love you.”
Sitting on the chair next to him, she smiled. “I love you too. Thank you for coming back to me.”