1.10: Clinical Dilemma

After waking up and (begrudgingly) apologizing to Anna, Arthur and I went to visit Ed at the clinic.

It wasn’t all too far from where Arthur and Anna live, to be honest. We got there in just about 10 minutes of leisurely walking along the street, only making a single turn before arriving at our destination.

To my surprise, the clinic was even bigger than most of the surrounding houses, which in themselves towered over my parents’ house. I didn’t really know how to react, and before I knew it Arthur took my hand.

“The hospital is really packed around this hour, don’t get lost now.”

His excellent service from years of experience is kicking in, he’s a natural at making you feel at ease.

Walking into the long hallway that lay spread in front of us, as I was too busy trying to spot the other side of this nigh endless corridor, Arthur went to a guard.

“Hello, we’re here for a visit.” He said calmly.

“Of course, who are you visiting?” asked the guard with a respectful tone.

“Lune, what was your friend’s name again?”

“Edward Saint, we heard he’s in Dr. Harper’s care.”

Just saying Harper’s name made the entire hallway of people in line twitch.

“(Dr. Harper? Did he say Dr. Harper? How lucky… Is the boy rich? He must’ve paid for her care a fair amount…)” and other such whispers came from the inpatient crowd.

“Indeed,” the guard digressed, “there is a boy by that name that was admitted here. What are you to him? Family?”

As he said that, he pulled out a notepad and pencil. Seeing as Arthur isn’t fazed by that, I assume they’re just for his guard duties.

“Friends. I just wanna see how he’s doing, if that’s okay.”

The guard chuckled a bit at my overly formal attitude and patted my head in reassurance.

“Now why wouldn’t it be okay to visit a friend? Don’t worry, I assure you, it’s okay. He’s in room 201, and I’m sure he’s really happy to have such a caring friend.”

As all the attention was pointed to me after I mentioned that damned Harper, the entire crowd started chuckling and smiling.

I made a fool of myself again…

***

Entering the room, I finally got to see Ed. It was a tear-jerking mome-

“Why the hell did you push me off, you dumbass?”

First of all, rude. Secondly, I saved you!

“Lune? What is he talking about?” Arthur asked with a mortified expression.

“Oh, I’m kind of the reason he’s in this place.”

“Sooner or later, I knew I was gonna get injured from your crazy ideas.”

As the scene unfolded, so too did Arthur’s distrust of me rise. Shut the hell up, Ed, don’t ruin this.

“*sigh* Let me guess, you thought if you pushed me off, the people will take me to the hospital and take care of me there.”

See? If you already knew, then why are you complaining?

“Surely not! Lune would never be that crazy! You must still be a bit hazy from the anesthesia.”

“…”

“……”

“…You’re kidding, right?”

Arthur learned something new about me today.

“In any case,” Ed said with an “ahem”, “who is this person accompanying you, Grim?”

“Pleased to meet you, I am Arthur Gray. Lune and I are acquaintances ever since yesterday, and we are here to pick you up.”

Like clockwork, he introduced himself as elegantly as ever.

“Nice to meet you, Mister Arthur, I am Edward Saint.”

With the introductions done, I felt some sort of presence walking toward our general direction, so I started hurrying them out of the room, but to no avail.

In came a young woman who seemed to be in the prime of her life. She looked to be about 20ish and had a caring smile plastered on her face.

“Oh? Edward, could these people be the people you mentioned yesterday?”

Her voice echoed the empty room, she could surely hit it big with such a soothing voice. As I was thinking about her potential success as an idol, Ed answered her without missing a beat.

“Miss Harper! Yes, Grim and uhh…Arthur came to pick me up.”

She seemed a bit puzzled by Arthur’s name, since he obviously wasn’t talking about him with her. After all, they have yet to meet at that point. Even still, she continued the conversation so as not to make things awkward.

“You were very lucky, Ed. The person that pushed you off the cliff was stupid enough to not see the trash bags under you. If they weren’t there, you’d probably have sustained a worse injury than a sprained ankle.”

“Who are you calling stupid? I pushed him precisely because I saw the bags!”

“Hmm?”

“Nothing…”

I chose to remain silent after seeing her gaze that probably had some killing intent to it.

“A-anyways, come on Ed, Annie’s worried sick!”

Both Ed (and Arthur especially) gave me a confused stare, but Ed caught on quickly and Arthur soon followed.

“She is? Damn, I feel really bad for her, she must’ve cried herself to sleep last night just thinking about my injury…”

What the hell are you spouting, you dope? She’s probably grinning ear to ear because we’re not in her presence.

“And who might this Annie be?” asked Harper.

“She’s none other than my dear girlfriend!”

Arthur’s eye twitched at that one. Whatever you’re doing, man, you better stop.

“I see, how wonderful! But the issue still remains,” added Harper, “Your leg simply isn’t healed up yet, and we found you in an extremely starved state. It’s best you stay here for a while.”

“Oh, there shan’t be a problem with that. I assure you Edward will stay in bed same as here, and we will not be putting any strain on his injury in any way.” Arthur said to the worried doctor.

“Well, if Ed is okay with it… But I will still have to make regular check-ups to see how he’s progressing.”

And with that, we had Ed get changed from his hospital gown into some more appropriate clothing. As we we’re heading back though…

“My Annie suddenly got herself a boyfriend, huh?”

“I’M SORRY, MR. ARTHUR, I GENUINELY THOUGHT LUNE MADE HER UP!”

“Don’t worry, Edward, I heard from Lune you’re quite fond of cleaning, so I was just thinking about making you do the dishes as well…”

“NOOOOOOOOOO!!!”