Tears Never Dry

Lucia was silent, she didn't know what to say and it made her realize that all this time she had been hurting herself with all the ways she had tried to hide her pain over the injustice she received from her parents.

There was the sound of hurried footsteps and a woman's cry. They turned towards the source and saw Samantha Cohen crying hysterically while walking towards them.

"Leo...! Oh Leo, what happened to you? I won't be able to forgive myself!" Samantha cried, her face looked so desperate.

Lucia didn't want to care about her, for her now the most important thing was Leo's safety. However, seeing her come to the hospital first made Samantha look annoyed.

Samantha approached Lucia, acting sarcastically as if Lucia was the cause of all this problem. Her hand quickly flew a slap to Lucia's cheek, a very unexpected attack.

"Hey, Madam. What are you doing?" Seeing her outrageous attitude, Bryan immediately took action. But Lucia hurriedly stopped him.

"Never mind, Bryan! I'm fine."

"But she-"

"It's okay." Lucia looked at Samantha who looked so frustrated over what had happened to Leo and it was clear that Samantha was blaming her.

"Are you satisfied now?" Samantha asked in a voice shaking with anger.

"What did you say? I-"

"Are you satisfied now? I asked you, are you satisfied now?"

"I don't understand what you mean."

"Why does he have to try so hard to risk his life for a woman like you? What does he see in you? I'm the one who always feels by his side when he has nothing, whatever it is I do for him. But why? Why is it a woman like you that he loves? Why not me? Why you?"

Samantha sobbed, she had stirred up many things for Leo, even her own household to be with Leo. She felt this was not fair enough for her.

"You're right, this is a little unfair for you isn't it?"

"You know what? You're just a spoiled woman who bothers everyone. Because of a woman like you, he has to give himself to those bastards, so they won't want your life anymore. What does he see in you? I have everything, I can give him everything that you wouldn't be able to give it. But instead you plunged him into destruction!"

"Yes, you're right. I was the one at fault, I was the one who plunged him into ruin. I was the cause. If at that time I hadn't tried so hard to care for him, he wouldn't have depended on me. If at that time I had ignored his cries, if at that time I had ignored the feeling the pain he experienced, if at that time I had ignored his suffering, maybe none of this would have happened. I was too small to understand that someone could love you so much when you were the only reason for him to continue his life. You wouldn't understand, Mrs. Cohen. You don't understand because what you see in him now, everything he formed was because of the upbringing of someone like me. I was the one who raised him! I took care of him like my own child, day and night, never a day passed without thinking about him. People like you know what? You don't know how fragile Leo's body was, you don't know. How long have you known him? You don't know anything about him at all. You don't know, so stop thinking that you're the one who's the most broken here!"

Hearing her statement, Samantha fell silent. She was at a loss for words to say. Lucia's tears flowed from her eyes showing extreme anger and pain.

At the end of the corridor, two policemen stepped up to them and one of the policemen stood in front of them.

"Sorry to disturb your time, we from the police have a warrant to arrest Miss Lucia Peterson."

"What? What does this mean?" Hearing what the police said, Bryan, Pierre and Chris panicked. They didn't know what happened and why there was a warrant for Lucia's arrest.

Lucia wasn't surprised at all, she already knew this would happen. But she wanted to accompany Leo through his critical times.

"We'll explain it at the police station, come on Miss Peterson, come with us right now!"

"Sir, there must be something wrong here! Lucia didn't do anything. You can't just take her!"

"Sorry, Mr. Walter. But this is an order from superiors and we are just carrying out our duties. Miss Peterson was proven to be hiding a firearm belonging to a robber and threatening a taxi driver. Apart from that, a man's car was found in the forest some time ago, something to do with Miss Peterson."

"But she-"

"Pierre, never mind! I'm fine. You don't need to worry. I just ask, please take care of Leo. Don't leave him alone and make sure he can get through his critical period. I beg you!"

Lucia looked at Pierre with a blank look, Pierre was silent, trying to digest the situation he was facing. Lucia turned her gaze to Bryan and Chris who couldn't believe what was happening. Lucia walked with two policemen who led her through the quiet hospital hallway.

"Lucia...!" Bryan called her. Lucia stopped walking and looked back, looking at her three friends who were trying hard to hold back their tears.

"Why? Why do you always do this? Why do you always put yourself in danger for other people?"

"You are not strangers to me, you are my most precious friends. You are all my reason to stay alive."

***

A police officer escorted her into the detention room where she will be detained temporarily until further investigation is carried out. Lucia took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

Her tears flowed again after she realized that she could not accompany Leo who was struggling to survive. She felt very deep pain and she didn't know how to deal with this pain.

She sat in the corner of the dim room, sobbing after she found out that no one had seen her cry. She was already at the limit of the fatigue she had to endure and all the images that appeared in her head were only images of Leo.

"Who says I need you? I don't need you, Leo. You're not useful enough!"

"It's okay if you don't need me now, but someday you will definitely come and look for me."

"Don't be too confident!"

"Lucia, I will always follow you forever. It's nothing if no one is your friend anymore. I will always be your friend because to me you are the best."

Her cries were getting stronger than she could hold back. She held her chest which felt very painful and tight. There has been so much sadness and pain, but never anything as painful as this.

All the beautiful words that Leo had said when they were little appeared one by one in her head. She didn't know where to take this pain.

"Leo...Leo...!"

Only that name kept coming out, no other words came out, there was only one name, namely the love of her life.

***