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Nathan questioned me silently, a rusty eyebrow raised over serious blue eyes. I tried my best to smile casually and respond just as quietly that everything was fine.
What else was I supposed to do when they didn’t want to know what happened in private with the others?
Confiding
DR. GREEN
Things with Sang couldn’t have gone better, as far as Sean was concerned.
Sean left Nathan’s house happy after what he thought was a success. Sang’s blood was in a cooler, and he stashed it and his medical kit in the backseat of his car.
The drive out of the neighborhood was quiet. While there was a chill, it wasn’t so bad out in the sun. He turned the car radio on and searched until he found something happy playing. He tapped his fingers against the wheel.
Sang.
Girlfriend.
He felt he’d made an idiot of himself, but he didn’t care. Did she find him too sappy?
She giggled so much, and at the time he’d giggled, too. He wondered now if he hadn’t gone overboard.
Owen often said he did.
Still, he’d call it a success. He hadn’t had a girlfriend since...middle school? Well, nothing solid. He’d been on a few dates since then.
Sang was different. He’d never felt this way about anyone.
Sure, she was a little malnourished. The new situation was stressful. She’d eat better, even under Carol’s watch.
He was more hopeful about the situation, though. She’d smiled. She’d giggled. Gloom and depression weren’t her style. She never stayed down for long.
It gave him a little hope. She was stronger than he’d thought last night.
He was just turning onto the highway when his phone rang. Kota was calling him.
Sean put him on speaker as he drove. “S’up?” he said, and snickered. Owen would berate him for being so goofy.
Kota paused long enough for Sean to check his phone to make sure they were still connected.
“Are you busy?” Kota asked, his voice a little tense.
Uh-oh. Either Sean was about to get yelled at again or something was wrong. “I’m just driving, but I’m alone,” Sean said.
Kota paused again on the phone and then blurted, “I’m sorry about last night. I didn’t mean to take it out on you.”
“No, no,” he said. “Don’t worry about it. We’re all stressed.”
“I know,” Kota said. “That doesn’t change how I spoke to you, though, so I’m saying I’m sorry.”
“Forgiven. Don’t think anymore about it.”
Another long pause. “How is she?” he asked.
“Low blood pressure. Seems like she ate sugar all week.”
“She ate the same lunch we all did,” Kota said. “Hamburgers and hot dogs...”
“But Pop Tarts and coffee the rest of the mornings, and sometimes Pop Tarts and granola bars at night.” Sean checked the mirrors as traffic slowed and he was forced to roll at five miles an hour. “Ugh. Traffic on the way to the hospital. Anyway, high sugar, super stressed out...”
“No help from me,” he said quietly.
“Now stop blaming yourself.”
“I do. It was my fault.”
“Then if you feel that way, apologize to her, not me.”
Kota sighed loudly. “It isn’t that simple.”
“Isn’t it?” Sean asked, picking up the phone so he could take him off speaker and hold it to his ear. Cars were going so slowly around him now that luckily he could concentrate a little for Kota. “You’re the one always telling the rest of us that if you’ve got a problem with someone, apologize first thing. Stop agonizing about it all day and get it done. If they don’t accept your apology, it’s on them. And Sang will accept it. You know she will. So stop feeling guilty and just do it.”
“I can’t get a moment alone with her,” Kota said. “I’m on the way back from the grocery store, and I know she’s in the house with Nathan and North, and others are showing up as well...” He sighed. “This was always the problem. The others are always around...”
Sean laughed, loud and deeply. “Yeah? We’ve all got that problem. You at least live on her same block. I’m out here on my way to the hospital. Where I’m going to be for days and sometimes weeks on end and never get to see her.”
Kota grumbled.
Traffic started to pick up a little. Sean switched the phone to his left hand so he could drive with the right. “We’re going to have to stop waiting until the others aren’t there to say what we’re thinking,” he said. “So what if the others are there? Just say what you want.”
“They don’t need to be in the middle of this.”
“They aren’t going to stop you, Kota. What’s more important? Telling her how you feel, or what your friends think about you for apologizing when you feel it’s appropriate?”
Kota mumbled something and then released another sigh. “You’re right.”
“Good. Then you can get over it and get back on the same page as the rest of us: getting her out of there.”
“We’re working on it.”
“Uh-huh.” As traffic picked up, Sean put the phone back in the cup holder and pushed the speaker button again. “I take it you’re up for the plan. By the way, we need a better name for it. Calling it the plan is confusing.”
“I...I don’t really know. I want her to be happy.”
“She’ll never be happy if we’re torn apart. We can’t do it without you.”
“I never imagined this.”
“None of us did. None of us knew Sang...” What was the right word for this? He wasn’t su
re. “She didn’t lure us into this as part of some evil plan. We didn’t see it until it was too late. It just happened.”
“I just don’t know how it would work,” Kota said.
Sean paused, thinking this time. “How would you want it to work?”
“What?”
“We’re kind of fumbling in the dark ourselves. So is she. I know it isn’t totally uncommon in the world, but we’ve always been different. We don’t have to do it in a particular way.”
“It’s hard to wrap your head around,” Kota said. “I never would have thought of it.”
“Now we have. Have you had a chance to talk to Lily and her team yet?”
“We’ve been kind of busy.”
“They’re the closest team we have that has done something comparable, especially with the Academy being involved and those complications. Maybe instead of commiserating alone about the idea, you should set up a time to talk with them.”
“Actually, I’ve been meaning to talk to her. Lily. She’s got a background in psychology.”
Interesting. “Practicing?”
“From what I hear, part of what she does now is therapy for children. Off official records.”
Kota was doing a background check on Lily, finding out more about her through Academy networks. Sean smiled about that. Despite Kota’s reluctance, he was feeling her out to talk to her on his own. “Might be useful for Sang, and for all of us.”
“I’ll have to call her.”
“Talk to Sang,” Sean said. “Don’t put it off.”
“Okay.”
After he hung up, Sean picked up speed on the highway, continuing toward the hospital. He shook his head absently.
Having to give each other love therapy over the same girl... it was a strange feeling.
Nap
SANG
After Sean left, Nathan and I went to the kitchen table, where North was sitting, poring over his phone. It was plugged in, charging. He was so focused on the screen, he didn’t look up as we stood nearby.
Nathan and I shared a look. I sensed he was thinking the same thing I was. He wasn’t sleeping, and that was bad.
I sat next to North on a wooden dining chair, waiting for him to acknowledge me. When it didn’t happen, I put a hand gently on his arm. “North?”
