The atmosphere in the bedroom was dull, to say the least. Jack waking up after a week, an event that should have been a happy moment for all his friends, was met with complicated gazes and silence.

  Jack, despite being too weak to speak, was slowly regaining some of his vision as the seconds went by and could now see their expressions.

  Am I supposed to die or what? he wondered. They seem to be looking at me as if I were a ghost who just came back from the dead. Oh, maybe… is there something wrong with my face?

  For a time, nobody in the room made any attempt to speak.

  Rachel, having had more time than the others to process what had happened, tried to smile, but it came out so forced that she looked as though she was about to cry.

  “Jack, you are… finally awake,” she said, with a momentary pause she hadn’t meant to take.

  Jack had woken up so abruptly, right in the middle of the four’s meeting, that they hadn’t had time to plan how they should break the news about Amelia to him.

  No. They didn’t even know if they should in the first place.

  They were stuck in a limbo, and if one of the four, by some accident, let out even the smallest detail while the others tried their best to cover it up, then… Jack would definitely pick up on it, and the truth would be exposed.

  Rachel’s words snapped Cassidy, Thomas, and Samuel out of their thoughts, and, following her example, they smiled as well, ugly, forced smiles.

  In a more normal situation, they would have been able to fake it better, but Amelia’s departure had greatly impacted them, so much so that they weren’t able to pretend to be happy. At least not when they had just found out.

  They’re acting weirdly. Just what happened?

  Jack thought as the four faces were reflected in his pupils.

  Cassidy was the first to regain some semblance of composure and softly said, “It’s best if you don’t stress your body and rest. You’ve been unconscious for almost a week.”

  Her aim was to placate any suspicions Jack might have and quickly leave with Rachel, Thomas, and Samuel to talk about the next steps.

  Dropping a bomb like Amelia leaving the moment he woke up wasn’t something any of them wanted. It would greatly affect Jack’s mind, and in his current weakened state, that was a risk they weren’t willing to take.

  Thomas and Samuel quickly nodded, as if to reinforce Cassidy’s words, but didn’t dare open their mouths and risk saying something they shouldn’t.

  Jack’s eyes widened.

  I’ve been unconscious for almost a week? No wonder they all look so serious, they must’ve been worried sick this whole time.

  He didn’t question her words, knowing full well just how strong the construct’s blow was, and he was already too tired from merely keeping his eyes open for a short while. He took a deep breath and, with what seemed like the faintest of nods, closed his eyes.

  Seeing this, Rachel’s eyes gleamed. She shot her friend a grateful glance and, turning back to Jack, muttered softly, “We’ll be back soon. Rest well.”

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  Then, as quickly and silently as possible, the four of them left the bedroom.

  Once outside, Cassidy didn’t pause. She signaled with her head for her friends to follow.

  While it might have been difficult for Jack to overhear anything even if they spoke in the main hall, it wasn’t impossible.

  They needed a more secluded spot where they could speak freely.

  It wasn’t long before they gathered around a table in one of the village’s many gardens.

  Thomas let out a long sigh, as if he’d been holding his breath the entire time, and said, “That was close. If Jack had stayed silent just a few seconds longer after waking up, he would’ve heard everything.”

  “Indeed, but… do we tell him? And if so, how do we even plan to break the news?” Samuel said quietly.

  Even though they were far from Jack’s apartment, none of them dared raise their voices above a whisper, that was how careful they were being.

  Rachel gave the three a long, deep look. “Should we… lie to him?”

  “What do you mean?” Thomas frowned.

  Samuel and Cassidy stared at her, saying nothing, their expressions as inquisitive as possible, trying to read every flicker in her eyes.

  “For one,” Rachel began, “we could say none of us expected him to wake up so early, and Amelia, in her despair, entered a Purple portal searching for anything that could heal him.” She paused briefly, then continued, “This could buy us a few months… perhaps longer, and…”

  She didn’t continue, but she didn’t have to. Her cold, piercing eyes spoke for themselves.

  Thomas was taken aback. “You can’t mean that.”

  Rachel simply met his gaze calmly.

  “No. No, I can’t agree to this.” Thomas shook his head quickly, shock etched across his face. “We can’t tell Jack that Amelia died, it would destroy him. At that point, what’s the difference between that and telling him the truth?!”

  By the end, his tone had dropped to a low growl, no different from that of an animal.

  Samuel chimed in, echoing him. “I can’t agree to this either. This plan has too many flaws, and once the truth comes out, because it will, our relationship with Jack will never be the same. I wouldn’t even be surprised if he decided to cut all ties with us.”

  It was far too difficult to mend trust once it was broken, impossible for some. If they chose to lie about something so important to one of their closest friends, they had to be prepared for the day that friend discovered the truth, and for the consequences that would follow.

  Amelia entering a Purple portal to search for a way to heal Jack was believable. But Amelia, with her level of strength, dying in a Purple portal? That was stretching it. Not to mention that they had no way to track her movements on Earth, forcing them, from the moment they chose to lie, to live in constant fear that Jack might somehow encounter her.

  “What about you, Cassie?” Rachel turned to her friend, who had remained silent until now. Facing two friends who had rejected her suggestion so vehemently, Rachel felt like a heartless monster, someone capable of lying to her closest friends without hesitation.

  But she wasn’t one.

  All Rachel wanted was to help Jack overcome this hardship as quickly as possible. In her view, preserving the sweet memories he had with Amelia was far better than telling him that Amelia no longer cared for him, and that whatever they had shared was only the product of her delusions.

  “I’m sorry.” Cassidy stepped forward and gently took Rachel’s hand, giving it a light squeeze. “I know your intentions are good, but I don’t think we should lie about this.”

  Rachel’s eyes began to moisten. “Why…?”

  Thomas and Samuel’s expressions softened at the sight.

  Each of them knew she wasn’t a bad person, she was only trying her best to help a friend in need. It was just that, in the current situation, the best course of action was something else entirely.

  Cassidy hugged her and whispered, “Think about Jack’s well-being. Amelia just up and left, leaving only a few words behind. We, as his friends, should help him get through it. But if we were to lie to him and he found out… wouldn’t that mean we failed him? Not only would he be in pain because of Amelia, we’d be adding to it instead of easing it.”

  “We should tell him the truth and help him get through it as best we can. That’s what we ought to do.”

  At first, Rachel shivered slightly, but as she listened to Cassidy’s words, she slowly gathered her bearings. Everything had been happening so fast that she had forgotten the most important thing.

  While they might not be as important to Jack as Amelia, they were certainly not far behind.

  The loss of Amelia would indeed hurt him, and he would need time to come to terms with it, but losing all of them would be a hundred times worse.

  Rachel hugged Cassidy tightly. “Thank you.”

  “No need for thanks between us,” Cassidy replied, gently patting her back.

  Cough, cough.

  Thomas cleared his throat. “So… we all agree on telling him the truth?”

  Cassidy pulled away from Rachel and nodded solemnly.

  “As soon as Jack gets better, we’ll tell him the truth.”

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