Just Strangers

Tonight, at dinner. Bella's face looked pale, she had lost a lot of weight because of the depression and mental stress she had felt since Randy left without news.

"Bella, why is your face so pale?" Mrs. Mira asked gently.

Bella took a breath, right now she didn't want to talk and didn't want to get angry. His stomach had been feeling very painful since yesterday, but tonight it felt even worse, making it difficult for him to walk. Even though Bella didn't want to show her pain to anyone.

"Are you sick, Bella? Do you want me to call a doctor?" Diana asked, seeing Bella who looked thinner made Diana worried.

"Do not have to !" Bella got up slowly, while enduring the excruciating pain in her stomach.

"Where are you going ?" asked Mr Hermawan. Bella was reluctant to answer and continued walking.

Bella took her bag and car keys. He prefers to spend time in nightclubs rather than resting at home. Bella found it difficult to sleep and staying in her room all night would only make her soul even more shaken.

"Bella!" Mr. Hermawan shouted when he realized that Bella had gone to drive her car in that condition.

***

"Uh..." Bella grimaced, after partying all night while being sick and falling asleep in the car. Finally, Bella's body could no longer bear the pain.

After struggling to drive the car back home. With a limp, Bella got out of the car while holding her stomach. I even felt like I couldn't walk.

"I can't take it anymore...it hurts..." Bella thought while wincing in pain.

Meanwhile, Diana, who was driven home by Ricky that afternoon after returning to teach Mrs. Herliana flower arranging, was surprised to see Bella staggering out of the car.

"Bella!" Ricky quickly caught Bella's body, which almost fell. Bella was completely unconscious. His face was pale and his body was covered in cold sweat.

"Oh my gosh, Bella..." Diana was shocked. Ricky lifted Bella's body and carried her into the car.

Ricky immediately drove his car, taking Bella to the hospital.

"What happened ?" Ricky asked Diana, who was still in shock seeing Bella's condition which seemed to be getting worse.

"Last night her face was pale, Papa had forbidden Bella to go, but she still went," said Diana.

When she arrived at the hospital, several nurses immediately took Bella to the ER and checked her condition. Ricky is very worried about Bella's condition, however, his feelings for her have not disappeared.

An hour later, Mr Hermawan, Mrs Mira and Grandma came. Grandma looked very panicked when she found out that her beloved grandson had fainted in the yard and was taken to hospital.

"Bella..." Grandma shouted hysterically and immediately walked into the room where Bella was lying weakly.

"What happened? Bella, why?"

asked Mrs. Mira panicked.

"Diana saw Bella faint when she got out of her car, Diana and Ricky immediately took Bella to the hospital."

"That child, Papa is tired of banning him. He still goes out at night, comes home early, drinks all his work. What kind of woman is that!"

"Sir, that's it. Shame on Ricky, after all we're in the hospital!" Mr. Hermawan stroked his chest, even though he felt very emotional, deep in his heart, as a father, he was the one who was most worried about Bella.

Ricky was silent, pretending not to hear what Mr Hermawan said. Ricky doesn't know what Bella is really like, he doesn't know what kind of life Bella has been living all this time. Even so, somehow his love for him hasn't changed at all.

***

Three days after Bella was hospitalized. Slowly, the situation is getting better. The doctor said that Bella was suffering from quite severe stomach ulcers and in addition, she had consumed too much alcohol in the past two weeks. That's what made his health condition worse.

Bella leaned her back against the pillow as she stared at the window. This afternoon, there was no one to look after him at the hospital because of his own request. Two hours ago, Grandma had just come home, besides, Bella preferred to be alone.

"Bella, can I come in?" Ricky shouted from behind the door of the room where Bella was being treated. Since Bella's first day in the hospital, Ricky has come every afternoon to visit Bella.

"Are you coming again?"

"I can't come?" Ricky smiled, in his hand he held a bouquet of white roses that he bought from Bella's stepmother's flower shop.

"But you come every day, don't you get bored?" Bella asked, her voice still sounding weak.

"I will never be bored with you"

"Bring more flowers? Looks like you go to that shop very often."

"Yes, my mother really likes flowers, so she always asks me to buy flowers at that shop," said Ricky, after placing the flowers he brought in a vase on the table. Ricky immediately sat in a chair right next to the bed.

"So, where is your lover? He didn't come?"

"No !"

"He must be a very busy man"

"Yes, he's too busy with another woman." Ricky was silent for a moment, trying to understand Bella's feelings at the moment.

"Forgive me!"

"Sorry for what ?"

"I shouldn't have asked that"

"It's okay. I've spent a lot of energy crying over him leaving, I don't know whether he cares about me or not."

"He must really care about you, more than you know."

"I don't know... it's just that I feel very tired..." Bella's eyes looked sad, making Ricky even more worried about this woman.

"Everything will be fine"

"No, nothing is fine for me. In the end, one by one the people I consider important will leave me. I was born to feel lonely all my life."

"You have a family, you have parents and siblings who love you, you...

"They're just strangers to me, ever since they came. I don't belong anywhere anymore."

***