CHAPTER 12

The next day Leonardo arrived, true to his agreement with Jason. He rang the doorbell and Noelle answered it. As Noelle opened the door to see who had rung the bell, she stared in shock as she admired how her older brother had grown over the years. Leo was rooted to the spot, his younger sister had matured, she was now a beautiful young woman.

As they stood there staring at each other in shock, Leo embraced his younger sister. He pulled her back from the embrace to closely inspect her again. "Are you sure you're my Elle?" Leo asked skeptically "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you're a slightly more beautiful version of my sister," Leo said laughing. 'Even when things are looking bleak he always finds a way to make me smile," Noelle thought.

Jason came down the stairs rubbing his eyes due to his tiredness. It was 8:30 am, and for Jason, it wasn't an acceptable time to be awake on a Sunday. "Oh hey Leo, what's up," Jason said hugging him. "Hey, How is my brother-in-law doing?" Leo asked. "I'm good but I'm not you brother-in-law....yet?" Jason laughing it off. Leo and Jason always joked around about being future brothers-in-law since they were kids, and Noelle always reprimanded them for it. But for a slight minute, she seemed to enjoy their back and forth.

"Enough! we should get going to the hospital," Noelle reminded them of the current situation there were in. "Ok go shower I'll make breakfast, I know for a fact that both of you haven't," Leo said, pushing them towards the stairs. Luckily for them, every room in the house had a bathroom, so they wouldn't have to take turns. Thirty-minutes later Noelle came down the stairs to find, Jason and Leo eating and talking. "Lason, don't leave me outta this," Noelle said using her pet name for the duo. "We told you not to call us that, anyway eat up we're going," Leo said.

Noelle ate her breakfast and did the dishes, she turned off all the lights, grabbed her jacket, and went outside to the duo. After the thirty-minute drive, they arrived at the hospital and were escorted to their wards. The doctor had informed them that, their mother had died the previous night and requested that they relay this message to them: she loves them with all her heart and that, no matter where she is, she will continuously look after them, their father was in the ward waiting for them.

And at that, the dam within Noelle burst, the emotions she had kept inside her came crashing down. Leo couldn't handle the shock of their mother dying, he repeatedly blamed himself, and even Jason couldn't hold it in, Mrs. Silver was like a second mother to him, anytime he needed something she would provide him with it and now she was no more.

But he managed to pull himself together for the siblings' sake they had no one but their father left. He escorted them to their father's ward. Mr. Silver had been in a coma and hadn't woken up so it was up to the siblings to decide if his life support should be taken away or if it should stay on. The siblings broke down at the sight of their ailing father, and the fact they had to decide whether to live or die was their choice, took a toll on them as well.

Noelle went closer to her father's bed and started weeping. "Dad, I wish you hadn't gone to that stupid party, now your life rests on our shoulders," Noelle said, still not getting a hold of her emotions. She held her father's hand in hopes of getting him to react slightly, like that in movies, but nothing happened. She knew better, but she still had to try.

Leo came closer to the hospital bed and knelt, at this point to him he had failed. He wasn't present at the passing of his mom, and now his dad's in a coma. Before the accident, he hadn't seen his parents in a year, their only source of communication was the telephone or a video call. "Dad why, now as Noelle said your life now rests on our shoulder, this is too much for me to handle," Leo said. Jason stood at the foot of the bed, and he could feel the hot tears streaming down his face, the more he wiped his face the more the tears came down.

Mr. Silver advised home on many occasions and had been like a father to him, so his accident had been a big blow to him. They went out of the ward and started contemplating what they would do about Mr. Silver. "If dad were awake he would tell us to remove the life support," Leo said. "Even though this is hard to swallow, on one occasion he told me if ever he was to survive on life support, we should remove it he made a serious face, and then we laughed it off," Noelle disclosed.

"If we remove the life support, even though we'd turn into orphans it would be in our his best, and dad can be with mum where ever they are," Leo concluded. So after their brief agreement, they told the doctor that they were ready for the life support to be removed from their father. They went close to him and kissed him goodbye.

"Dad, I'm gonna miss you very much, but I know that wherever you are, you'll protect us," Noelle said weeping. Leo went to his father and broke down crying, he couldn't handle it anymore, having his parents die on the same day was too much for him to handle, he was just a college student. "Dad, I hope wherever you're going you'll be happy," Leo uttered his last words to his father. Jason went closer to the man who had been like a father to him for as long as he had known him.

"Mr. Silver we're going to miss you very much," Jason said. After their parting words, they watched as the doctor removed the life support from their father. They left the hospital in tears to prepare for their parents' funeral.

On the day of the funeral, there were only a few people present: Jason's parents and sister, the relatives of the siblings, and few people from their parents' workplace. After a few minutes of parting words from everyone, they went on to bury the lifeless bodies of Mr. and Mrs. Silver.

~END OF FLASHBACK~

Noelle felt tears streaming down her face. 'That's weird I haven't cried since the day I ate Maya's food' Noelle thought as she wiped her tears. Noelle continued reading her book, and not long after Noah came in with their food. "Noelle, have you been crying?" Noah asked in a worried tone. "N-No, something just got into my eye," Noelle lied.

"I know you're lying but I won't probe any further," Noah said. Noelle took her coffee and milk, and Noah ate his sandwich silently