"Oh my boy. My sweet boy. What is wrong?"
"Nanny... Rain..." he sniffed.
"What happened?" she asked again.
"I have lost Rain."
"Enough now, stop crying, Florate. Pull yourself together and tell me what really happened." She cleaned his face with her palm, trying to calm him down.
"Rain saw I and Lilith together, and misunderstood things. She thought we were betraying her," he spoke sadly.
"Oh dear. Now that's very serious. But enough of the tears already." She wiped his face more with her palm, drying his tears like a true mother would.
"She must think I never loved her now, and I do not even know what to say to convince her otherwise."
"This is all my fault," Lilith suddenly said, drawing the attention to herself. "I never should have dragged you into my personal problems, Florate." Tears began to flow down her cheeks.
"No," he objected sternly, looking at her. "No, Lilith. Don't do this to yourself. None of this was your fault. Rain just got too emotional and misunderstood," he tried to explain.
"No need to put the blame on her, Florate. You know she is totally blameless. Anyone in her shoes would do so. Besides, I have not even been a faithful friend so far that I should be causing you both issues in your relationship. I have kept my relationship from the two of you in utter deceit, which is very wrong and deserves no forgiveness, talk less of causing a problem between you and Rain. That was very bad of me." She bowed her head slightly.
"I have told you, Lilith," he started again calmly. "This was never your fault. None of it was. You are my friend and Rain's too. I am sure she will calm down soon enough, and I will go talk to her and make her understand everything. Please don't put blame on yourself."
"It is alright, Lilith dear," Nanny Adelaide turned to Lilith. "Florate is right. Rain just misunderstood. Don't worry, I will go talk to her and make sure she understands. You both are not to be blamed for anything, and neither is Rain. She only got emotional; she only needs time to cool off a bit. Don't worry, I will go talk to her," she assured them.
"No, nanny, don't. I will do that myself." Florate stood from the bed. "I need to be the one to talk to her. I am the one she is mostly mad at. So I need to be the one to clear her head too. She is my girlfriend, and I must take responsibility for this and fix our relationship because I do not want to lose her." He wore a serious look on his face.
"Well, my dear, that would be later, and definitely not now." Nanny Adelaide shook her head in disagreement.
"Please, nanny, don't stop me from going to Rain, because I cannot spare it for one second." He looked very desperate.
"Let her rest for now, my dear. And then you can talk to her all you want tomorrow or maybe next. She has indeed stressed herself today and deserves some peace and quiet at least."
"Florate, Nanny Adelaide is right. Let's allow Rain to rest for now, and first thing tomorrow we will go and see her." Lilith looked sad too, but that was the truth.
"Okay, fine," he finally agreed. "But there has to be someone there with her to at least take care of her, nanny. At least, she has to be attended to and looked after. I am going." He made his way to the door, not minding what they might say, but his nanny held him back.
"Not so, my boy," she called him back.
"This is very important, Nanny, and I am not going to listen to your excuses. Rain needs help right now and..."
"And, she has that in abundance already." She stood up as she spoke.
"What did you just say? She has help in abundance? Who is helping her? The nurses? But they have other persons to attend to. Let me help them out and be with Rain."
"Not the nurses, son," she corrected sternly.
"Not the nurses?" he furrowed. "Then who? If it is you, Nanny, I would like you to rest and let me do the job. You look very tired and in need of good rest." He held her shoulders and caressed them a bit as he smiled sweetly to her.
"I know I need rest, son," she smiled back, cupping his face with her palm.
"Exactly," he concurred.
"And that is why I am not going to look after your girlfriend. Someone else is," she stated, looking intently at him as his green orbs rolled in confusion.
At this point, Florate gave it a quick thought who else would want to be beside Rain apart from the three of them in this room right now. Nexine.
"Nex?" Lilith asked with wide eyes.
"But of course, my dear." She turned to Lilith while Florate's face turned sour. "He is a very wonderful boy, and you should be thankful to him for the time he spared just to take care of your girlfriend," she smiled cheerfully. "He is such a blessed soul, and Rain seems to be getting fond of him, you know."
Florate's heart shattered into pieces.
"That scum!" His voice was raised, and his face was squeezed in an angry frown.
"Bring your voice down, Florate," Nanny Adelaide cautioned. "This is a clinic, not your combat ground." She frowned slightly.
"I am so sorry, Nanny," Lilith apologized on his behalf as he was too angry right now to. "But Florate is right," she affirmed just right after. "Nex is a scum, a scoundrel to be precise."
"Language, Lilith!" Nanny Adelaide looked at her, very appalled at her use of words.
"You don't understand, Nanny," she continued. "I once thought him as my friend, but Nex is just a wolf in sheep's clothing. He is not what you think he is. He is just fooling you, nanny."
"I beg your pardon?" Now Nanny Adelaide was obviously angry.
"We are very sorry, Nanny," Florate decided to speak.
"Sorry for yourselves." She looked at them in utter dismay. "I am very disappointed in the both of you. You see someone good and ready to help you, and you call him scum! This is not the young man I trained you to be, son. I am very disappointed in you and you too, Lilith. What you both have said about that innocent boy is totally unacceptable and hope you realize that soon. Excuse me." She hissed and left the room with anger written all over her face, leaving Florate and Lilith bitter with what they said, even though it was the actual truth.
"She would never understand," Lilith began, shaking her head sadly.
"Why would she? Nex is very good at fooling people, you know, but I promise him that I would never lose my girlfriend and nanny to his deceitful schemes. He will never be successful with any of his plans," he said, clenching his fists.
"Of course he will not," Lilith agreed. "My hunch is he has something to do with what happened today. It seems strange to you, doesn't it?"
"Doesn't what?" Florate looked lost.
"I mean the fact that Nex appeared just after Rain has finished cursing us. I am very sure he had all this planned out, making Rain come here. He was sure she would misunderstand the whole situation, and that would give him an upper hand to claim her as his," she said, looking at Florate and hoping he would get the point.
Florate fell into deep thoughts. He began to see sense in what Lilith was saying. Nex's sudden appearance in the scene is very questionable. Plus, he had told Rain to rest and wait for him, and he knew very well that she never disregarded his instructions. So now, he was sure someone had made her leave the room to meet him with Lilith, and that person was none other than Nexine.
And now, he has gone for the finishing moves, winning her heart. No! He was never going to let that happen; he had to meet Rain and fast.
"You are right, Lilith. Nexine had this game all played out, and I must stop him. I must see Rain."
He did not wait to hear her object to what he said, although she did not. Rather, she followed behind him as they made their way to Rain's room.
They hastened their steps and got to where she was in no time. They looked at the door for seconds and then exchanged glances before he finally knocked, but no one answered. He looked through the glass upper part of the door, but its curtains were drawn, so he had no choice but to open the door, and they walked in to meet a most beautiful sleeping Rain.
They heaved a sigh of relief while they slowly walked closer to her.
"She would not like to see you here," Nex said with a serious look on his face. He was standing at the door with a bowl and towel in hand.
"Not like she ever wanted you around her," Florate retorted. "Leave my girlfriend alone!"
"Shushhh," Nex frowned. "Can't you see she needs rest?" He walked closer to Rain while Lilith and Florate just looked at him in utter disgust.
"Leave Rain alone, Nex," Lilith made her voice low, but her frown was deeper than his.
"Why should I, when the both of us are meant for each other?" he smiled wickedly. "She needs my help, and I am here to offer it."
"We know of the game you played, Nex, and we are here to let you know that it would never work. Rain is our friend and..." She was still speaking when she felt strong arms grab her from behind.
She tried to set herself free with her fighting skills, but the owner of the arms used his mutant powers on her. He simply said "sleep" with his hands firmly holding her as she fell into the sea of darkness...