A Maiden's Ailing Heart

‘I wonder what Wes said that time in Ms. Ashthorne's piano recital.’

Lunch break found Mia pondering in the classroom. Wes had spoken when the performance ended, but their surroundings were too loud for her to hear his words, and he had told her it was not important after she asked about it.

‘Then, why did he…?’ She remembered how he'd bid her goodbye while avoiding her eyes back then. Her heart tightened, and she felt a faint throbbing in her head. ‘Did I do something?’

“Something’s up with Gwen and Lucy.” Startled, she flicked her gaze up to find Jenny pacing towards her with a serious expression. “Your picture from ten days ago was taken down all of a sudden. Were you able to talk to them? How did you get them to do it?”

“U-Umm…” Her voice faltered, her throat dry. She touched her temple as it started aching. “Sorry, Jenny, I… I have no idea. Actually, I forgot about it. Did the photo really disappear?”

“Yeah, so did some of the other posts in Gwen's account. Strange, right? Oh, and Lucy made all her socials private.”

‘That’s…strange indeed.’ She last saw the two of them in the café with Alice, and ever since, she never crossed paths with them again, even at school. ‘I still keep getting looks around here, though. Quite a few did see my picture. But at least, none of them has done anything to me.’

“Wait, did you say you forgot about it? Seriously, girl? What have you been up to?”

A lot.

She had been confessed to, and she was now in a relationship. Meeting Wes had brought forth many life-changing events that both made her the happiest she'd ever been and left her spent.

Thinking about him sent her stomach somersaulting, her insides warm and fluffy, though it all seemed unbearable at this moment. She was feeling queasier than usual, which she realized could be because she hadn't told Jenny about this yet.

She didn't know what she was thinking by not telling her one and only friend.

“J-Jenny, you see… I, um… I-I have s-something to say to you,” Mia stuttered, her face getting hotter and hotter by the second.

“You don't look good. Feeling sick?” Jenny sat down next to her, worry creasing her brows. “Okay, I'm all ears.”

She glanced around before cupping a hand around her mouth, her voice low and hoarse as she whispered, “I-I have a boyfriend now.”

“A boyfriend?!!!”

Jenny almost fell from her chair. Some of their classmates turned in their direction and shot them curious stares. One group of students nearby even hovered closer to try to listen in.

“P-P-Please keep it between us!”

“Shoo! Everyone, shoo!” Jenny waved them away. “You heard nothing!”

“A-And why are you so surprised? I thought you figured it out before.”

“It’s him?!” she exclaimed again. “I was just teasing you! I didn't actually know!”

“W-Well, uh… Now, you do…?”

“Mia, my girl.” Her friend placed a hand on her shoulder and drew in a long breath. “You have to be careful about this sort of thing. I trust you, but sometimes, you can be too…soft-hearted? He might be after something else, and just how long have you even known each other? You should've learned most things about him before dating!”

“Yeah, yeah! Like his full name! So, what is it?” A lean-framed boy with light blue hair and yellow eyes joined in, accompanied by his friends.

A taller boy with long, stylish black hair and brown eyes stepped forward, his arms crossed. “Zayne, it's rude to just come up to someone and ask them that.”

“But aren’t you interested too, Derrick?” piped in a shorter boy with reddish-brown hair and green eyes. “Makes sense now. I noticed she's different lately, and well, could you believe it? It's ‘cause she's seeing someone!”

“Ugh, boys. They don't understand a maiden's heart at all,” a petite girl with shoulder-length, purple hair and blue eyes bristled. “And I expect more from you, Ian. Really? ‘Seeing someone’? No! It's ‘cause she's in love!”

“Uhh… Aren't they the same, though?”

“Some people see each other but are not in love, okay?”

“Huh? I don't know much about dating, but why be a couple if you don't-”

“Arianne, why are you hanging out with these three?” Jenny deadpanned, cutting off their back-and-forth. “You know stupidity can be contagious. Didn't I say nobody heard nothing here?”

“Hey! You listening, Derrick? That's what being rude means!”

“I do admit it hurts that you think of me that way, Jenny.”

That whole time they were talking, Mia was frozen in her seat, sweating and struggling to breathe—not because there were now a lot of people around her, but because of one striking realization.

She had lost track of the conversation after Zayne asked about it. ‘His full name?’ her mind repeated over and over, for she'd never learned it, and that alone told her that she didn't know her boyfriend as well as she'd like to think. She was unaware of even the smallest details about Wes’s personal life.

Her heart thumped harder in her chest, blood rushing hot through her veins.

“Anyway, good for you, Mia! Honestly, you're the last person in class that I believed would be in a relationship, but I shouldn't have assumed. You're pretty, after all, and you’re nice!” Arianne gushed on. “So, is he your first love? Oh, how romantic~ Did he confess to you? Or the other way around? Have you gone on a date yet? You must have been ecstatic! Did you hug or kiss or-”

“Uh, Arianne. I think you should stop there.” Jenny reached out and plastered a hand on Mia's forehead, only to wince as she found it burning. “Mia! You have a fever!”

'Ahh... So, that's why I feel out of sorts...' 

What happened afterwards was a blur—a flurry of movements that led her to a bed inside the school's infirmary.

Sunlight filtered through the window. Her consciousness returned some time after getting taken there. She tried to blink away the haziness that fogged her mind, but a body-wracking cough tore out of her throat and forced her to shut her eyes closed once more.

Footsteps neared as though called upon by the sound. Her heart raced as she heard someone speak, though she could not decipher the words in her current state. She then felt a hand on her cheek, cool against her warm skin, and she leaned in as if craving for it.

Mia knew this voice, this touch, this presence.

‘Is it really…? But why…?’

---

Wes headed to Mia's school as fast as he could.

It just so happened that somebody else had picked up her phone earlier when he called. Initially, he was planning to ask her to meet up to talk about the other day—about how he'd acted. The least he expected was to receive a lecture and a demand from the other end of the line.

“So, you're Wes, huh? Mia’s boyfriend?” greeted a voice he recognized to be the girl with Mia during their first meeting. “I hate to give you a bad impression of me, but I’m afraid I can't let you see her today, if that is what this call is about. You should've seen this coming, though, have you been paying more attention. Are you aware she's had this habit of working day and night without a proper rest?”

“What?” He had been beyond appalled to hear her words, which were more or less a revelation. “Hold on. Who are you again? And where is she now? What happened to her?”

"Fainted during lunch. Still at school. Down with a fever. And I’m Mia's friend, Jenny.”

“Okay, Ms. Jenny.” He had to be calm and polite despite her obvious resentment towards him, not wanting to aggravate it. “Please call her parents. Have them bring her home and-”

“You don't know that either?”

“Huh?”

“Mia lives alone. She doesn't have a family anymore, so no one's coming for her. She'll stay here until classes end, but if you want, come get her yourself.”

The call was dropped after that, and Wes had to take a moment to process the new information.

Mia was overworked to the point of getting sick, and she had to fend for herself all this time, as she no longer had anyone supporting her. He never would have imagined.

She did seem frail, had calloused fingers, and was often unreachable. He had also suspected she did not grow up in the best environment, but the truth turned out to be far more harrowing.

“Seth, I'll do overtime or whatever,” Wes had said as he hurried out of his office. “But right now, I have to go to Mia's school.”