The two siblings rode the elevator down to the ground floor in awkward silence.
Their parents will go down a bit later, using the restroom as an excuse for the two of them to have some time alone.
For some reason, Alan was acting uncomfortably being in a confined space with Lea.
His gaze went down to the cane she was using as support; his heart ached slightly.
On the other hand, Lea was not acting any differently.
Shortly, the elevator reached the ground floor.
The moment the two siblings stepped out of the elevator, there were still many people as usual.
Still new to being around other Awakeners, Lea reflexively grabbed Alan's sleeve with her other hand.
Alan momentarily went stiff before he started walking again, sticking close to the wall to shield Lea from others.
After returning the visitor pass to the receptionist, he slowed his normal walking pace to make it easier for Lea who was still clinging to his side with her head down.
Once they were out of the association, he slowly moved away as they walked to the car.
Lea cast a side glance towards her brother when she noticed the distance between them. Compared to the lively voice messages he left for her while she was stuck in the hospital room, he was being unlike himself.
While it was just the two of them now, she decided to have a talk with him. If she let this be…
'His overprotective mode will be switched on, and that'll be even worse.'
"Al."
Alan jerked his head up, not expecting to be called.
"You're acting as if I have a severe allergic reaction to Awakeners. You weren't like this when you hugged me earlier," Lea pointed out his odd behaviour towards her.
"…I don't think so."
Alan avoided her gaze as he gave an unconvincing excuse.
That made Lea stop walking and inwardly sigh.
She turned her body slightly and leaned towards him.
Alan reflexively moved back. In that split second, he realised what he had done and lowered his gaze, uttering a quiet apology.
"I'm this close to you and so far, nothing happened," Lea reassured him. "Besides, Doctor Timur wouldn't have let me be discharged from the hospital if I wasn't fine, right?"
Alan slowly nodded his head after listening to her reasonable words.
For one last push, Lea tapped her cane.
"If you need more concrete proof, where are we right now?"
The Awakeners Association.
Alan rubbed his neck in embarrassment when the obvious still needed to be told to him.
"Sorry," he uttered a second apology.
'This will take some time.'
The habit of keeping distance over a long period was unknowingly ingrained in him and that caused their current close distance to feel unfamiliar to him.
'I guess this is one of the things I have to get used to. For me, it only felt like I just woke up from a long nap but to others, it was six years.'
Lea turned away from her brother and looked up to the sky.
'Everyone around me changed in some ways while I stayed the same. This is unfair, don't you think so?'
She didn't know who or what to direct the blame for this bubbling feeling of unfairness.
Was it her weak self for taking too long to wake up?
Was it the fault of the World's system for bringing mana particles into this world?
Maybe she was just another victim of bad luck, you know that saying: 'wrong place at the wrong time'.
Lea continued to gaze at the sky.
Suddenly, she felt an arm wrapped around her shoulder and she heard her brother's clear voice, "Thank you for waking up, Lea."
.
.
.
Mr and Mrs Carter went down to the parking lot.
When they got to their car, they witnessed something that warmed their hearts.
They immediately took out their phone to commemorate the precious moment by taking multiple shots of their son and daughter sleeping in the backseat of the car with their heads leaning on each other.
An old memory of their children when they were little, sleeping in the same position overlapped with the present.
"I miss this," Mrs Carter said to her husband without taking her eyes off her two children.
They never voiced it out loud but the couple were worried that their two children might feel awkward to reconnect and eventually grow distant towards one another.
On top of his constant travelling for work, Alan went through a lot mentally when Lea was diagnosed with Hibernation Syndrome that the change in their son's demeanour was noticeable. Only lately has he seemed to slowly return to his old self.
Mr Carter put his arm around his wife's shoulder and pulled her closer.
"Our family is whole again. Now everything will be alright."
Mrs Carter was about to nod her head in agreement but then changed her mind.
She slapped her husband's hand on her shoulder and scolded him, "Don't say something that can trigger a red flag."
Mr Carter laughed and said to his wife, "You sound like Lea just now."
.
.
.
Lea was stirred awake by a light shake.
Sleepily, she opened her eyes and saw that the scenery outside the car had changed from the association's parking lot to an unfamiliar driveway.
"You're awake. Mom and Dad have already gone inside."
Upon her brother's gentle urging, Lea got out of the car and stood in front of a three-storey modern house that screamed luxurious.
"This is not our house, right?"
Lea's voice filled with doubt while holding on to her brother's arm.
"Of course it's our house."
Alan told her like it was the most obvious thing and led her to the front stoop where the front door was left open.
When they stepped inside the house, immediately, Lea felt at home because of how the interiors were decorated.
The layout was clearly different and the space itself was bigger but everything, the paintings on the floor and the pictures on the walls were still the same as she remembered so she didn't feel out of place in the new house.
"Welcome home, Lea."
Lea took her eyes away from the wall decor and met her brother's warm smile welcoming her home.
"I'm home."
Lea mirrored his smile.
The first part of the house Alan showed Lea was the spacious living room with a large TV.
As soon as Lea saw the big sofa, she sat down.
The sofa's five-star comfiness made her lean further back in a more comfortable position with her eyes closed.
Alan remained standing and asked, "What do you think of the house?"
"It's cosy."
Lea gave her honest impression even though she had only seen the living room.
"Do you want to see your room?"
"There's a problem with that," Lea said with her lips pursed. "I don't wanna get up, this is the comfiest sofa in the world. Let me sleep here from now on."
Alan chuckled and shook his head. The smile never left his face.
Right then, their dad walked in wearing an apron.
"Food will be ready soon, so Lea, you can just rest until then."
"I'm already doing it."
Still with her eyes closed, Lea burrowed herself deeper into the sofa with a relaxed expression and fell back asleep.
A delicious smell woke her up from her nap.
'I smell chicken.'
Lea followed the irresistible delicious smell to the dining area where she was greeted with a dining table full of her favourite side dishes.
Alan appeared in new clothes, looking all fresh from the shower and sat down beside her.
When all four of them were seated around the dining table, their dad briefly explained the main dish as he scooped the hot soup into a small bowl and served it to Lea.
"A friend of mine sent over some ginseng so today we're having chicken soup with ginseng."
Lea carefully took a sip.
"Delicious."
The atmosphere around the dining table was unusually quiet but Lea did not notice as she was too focused on the chicken soup.
After the satisfying meal, Lea was reminded to take her supplements by her mom. She took them with a frown on her face.
'Out of the hospital, still can't escape the bitter things.'
A large-sized bubble milk tea was timely delivered, much to her delight.
.
.
.
Lea now habitually woke up at dawn.
Her eyes opened in a room with dim cosy lighting. It took her a few seconds to realise that she was not in the hospital room anymore.
She got up slowly.
The corner of her mouth curled up into a small smile upon seeing her brother sleeping peacefully at the other end of the sofa.
Last night, her family huddled together in the living room for an impromptu movie night marathon and watched classic family movies until everyone fell asleep.
Lea very carefully tiptoed past her parents sleeping soundly on the carpet on the floor, and stood in front of the large window.
Since it was still dark outside, she did a bit of stretching while standing.
When the sun began to peak over the horizon, she stopped stretching and just stood there and watched the sky.
'I never got to properly see the sunrise when I was in the hospital.'
"Lea?"
A hoarse voice called her but she didn't turn around cause she had already seen her brother getting closer through the reflection of the window.
"How long have you been standing here?"
"Since dawn."
About an hour or so later, when sunlight brightened up the whole house, their parents woke up at the smell of Alan making his morning coffee.
Lea was slowly enjoying a cup of hot milk tea which was also made by Alan.
Their dad cooked a simple breakfast of porridge made with yesterday's leftover chicken ginseng soup.
"You're still here?" Lea asked Alan who was still in his pyjamas.
He didn't look to be in a hurry to leave for work.
"I'm officially on a break unless there's an emergency dispatch."
After taking her morning supplements, Lea looked around before asking, "So, where's my room?"
"Your room's upstairs, I'll take you there."
Alan stood up and took their empty dishes to the kitchen sink.
Then, Lea followed him to the staircase.
She hung her head in exhaustion before she even climbed the stairs. While she was staying in the hospital, there was never a reason to use the stairs since she would either ride the escalator or the elevator.
The two of them stood in front of the staircase for about three minutes.
"Do you want me to carry you?"
"No," Lea rejected.
With one hand on the handrail, she took it one step at a time.
"I thought coming home meant I get to not exercise for a couple of days."
Lea complained when she was halfway up the stairs.
"Should I just carry you, Lea?"
Alan offered again, trailing alongside her.
"I'm still good," Lea responded with the desire to finish it herself.
"Okay, but if you slip, I'm carrying you."
To avoid that scenario from happening, Lea became more resolute in reaching the last step by herself.
And the result…success.
Though it took ten minutes longer than a normal person would take.
.
.
.
"Here's your room."
Alan opened the door before moving to the side to let Lea in first.
Lea glanced around her new room in awe.
'It's bigger than my old room, better too.'
She was clearly impressed.
The other thing she noticed was the shelf, it was stacked with her books and manga collection.
'That must be dad's doing.'
"Except for your secret stash, we brought all your things when we moved."
Her brother pointed to the neatly piled boxes in one corner of the room; every box was labelled Lea's. The secret stash he was referring to was the snacks she hid all over her room.
"I'll let you get acquainted with your new room. Shout if you need help."
Alan left the room without completely closing the door.
Before she does any unboxing, first things first - shower.
When Lea checked the bathroom, she was amazed that there was a shower and a bathtub. What's even better, it was stocked with bath products she personally liked.
"Shower first, soak in the bathtub later."
Once she was out of the shower, Lea wore a shower robe and looked for clothes to wear in the walk-in closet.
Yes, she really did mean walk-in closet.
Somehow, it suddenly turned into a sorting game where Lea sorted out clothes that still fit her (loosely), and clothes that couldn't pass as an oversized shirt or be salvaged with a belt. Unfortunately, the latter kept piling up on the floor.
After Lea went through almost all of the clothes she had ever owned, she put her arms on her waist and let out a long, weary sigh.
"I'll have to buy an entire new collection to fill up the empty spaces in the closet."
Amongst the small piles of clothes that Lea had deemed still wearable, she picked up a t-shirt dress and put it on.
knock knock knock
Just in time, her brother came to her room with a box of pure happiness.
"Macarons!"
Lea's face lit up, and she popped one into her mouth to boost her low energy.
"Thanks Al, I really needed this."