Who IS Romeo?

"That was the right choice, right? Me and Romeo, we're just friends after all. She has the absolute right to get into a relationship with him. Then why I am so upset about it? There's no reason to be so!", In Maria's house, Lina keeps thinking about this stuff over and over as she keeps spacing out non-stop.

"Geez, what's wrong with you Lily?", Says Maria after flicking her friend's head.

She gets back to her senses, "What?", Says the girl after putting her hand on her forehead, "Oh, it's nothing!"

"Seriously though", Adds Alex, "You've been acting weird all day long. And Romi told me that something was off with you yesterday as well!"

She makes a little short giggle, "Acting weird ha?", Says the girl, "I, I don't know what to say!", Then she starts spacing out again. The other two get pretty close to her, they get close to her and keep staring for a while. The girl gets so confused at first, she starts freaking out a little, then she starts moving back to get away while she gains that blush, "What's wrong with you all of a sudden?", She screams, The other two turn around and look at each other silently, then they close their eyes and starts showing their teeth with quite an unexpected smile! "Nothing", Says the boy after slowly leaning back, "Let's just say that we've got something to figure out for now!"

"Aren't they the ones acting weird this time?", Mumbles Lina on her own. She puts her head down for a while then faces those two with a serious look on her face, "Something's bugging me.", Says the girl all of a sudden, "About Romeo!"

"What is it that's bugging youuu?", Says Alex after putting his hand on his cheek and mocking her with his smile!

-Lina: "I mean, everybody seems to like him and all. But he's a cold stone even though he's so admired by others. Like seriously, if I got known pretty well, I'll be more cheerful and my smile won't drop off my face. But... But every time I look into his eyes, I only see emptiness, I see the pain in his eyes..."

Lina starts getting a bit of sadness that you can even notice in her voice, "It's as if he doesn't have feelings", She says, "As if his heart is a pure void or something."

Maria asks Lina to get closer to her then she starts patting her head gently", Ask him about it then!"

-Lina: "I do want to do so, but it feels that if I'll mention it, he'll be telling me that it's better off if I don't know or something."

A sigh comes from Alex's side, "Well, he's right", Says the boy, "It's better off if you don't Lily!"

Lina immediately gasps in surprise, "He's hiding something?", She adds while freaking out, "Please guys tell me! I want to know!!"

"He doesn't want to tell you", Answers Alex, "So why would I do so? And besides, you won't be able to accept it at first!"

-Lina: "You're making it sound like he has some kind of a dark past behind him!"

The other two didn't add a word and left the girl with a blank answer. She puts her hand on her mouth, "Oh my God", She says, "He does have a horrible past then!"

"Let me tell you something Lily", Says Maria, "If anyone else was to live Romeo's life, he'll be torn apart from the first day. It's that bad", Then she switches her interest to Alex, "I think Romi wouldn't mind if we tell her about his past. She's our Lily, already a part of the group and she does care about Romi after all!"

Alex looks at Lina's face for a while. She's serious, like dead serious. She's not giving up on knowing what's behind Romeo's behavior. They can trust her, right? The real question is, can she keep up with that story?

"Alright you won!", Then he adds a sigh, "I'll tell you everything I know for now. But you've got to promise me that you won't be spelling a word to anyone, got it?"

"Okay promised!", After that, she sits properly and gives him quite the needed focus," I'm all ears!"

"The way she's so concerned about you", Thinks Alex as he keeps looking at Lina with that determination, "Even it'll give her such a paint in the butt if she hears the truth. And even though you told me to keep my mouth shut, I'll be breaking our promise by telling her your story Romi. Because, for some reason, I feel like she can do something, it does feel like she can make a change, for all of us".

If there's anyone in this world that deserves the respect, affection, and attention of all of the living, it would be his mother, mother Leila. She's just a pure soul, she didn't deserve all of that, I'll keep praying until death for her and it will never be enough compared to what she'd done for only one child. 20 years ago, we weren't even born, right? Mother Leila used to have a boyfriend. None of us know his name, not even Romeo. It appears that she loved the guy with such an innocent love. As for him, I don't know if he loved her back or stuck around her just to have his freaking pleasure, using her like a dull since she's pumped up with love that got directed to the wrong person. Soon enough, Mother Leila got pregnant and she'll be giving birth to a child from that man. When she realized that, she was so happy, way too happy, thinking that she'll be living with the man she admired so much along with their child. That's the main reason why, one day, she asked him about settling down, having a house to protect the child, and getting married. I despise that guy, even though I didn't meet him even once, but I truly hate him. If he crosses my path one day, I won't hesitate to punch him dead. He refused, Romeo's father refused to marry Mother Leila, leaving her in such a state after saying such imbecile words from that filthy mouth," I don't want to have babies! They are going to drain my time, my money, and my energy. They'll take everything from me to end up disappointing me in the end."

"But... But I'm already pregnant", She said, "I'll be giving birth to a life after 9 months!"

"Well, does it look like I care?", He asked, "I don't care, just drop that thing or whatever it is...."

"You want me to kill my child", Interrupted Mother Leila", What kind of mother could do such a thing?"

"You're not a mother", He added," You're still not a mother!"

-Leila: This child will be born and he'll live his life to the fullest! Like it or not!

"Poor child", Said that bastard, "he'll be living without a father. It would be better to drop him if you don't want to see him suffering!", That was the last contact between her and that man. At that terrible moment, everything Mother Leila dreamed of, got burned to ashes, and she ended up having to endure it by herself. Thankfully, she gave birth to such a fine child, to our beloved Romi. He has decent looks, a good physic, a caring behavior and he is a prodigy, his IQ exceeds all of us teaming up together if you ask me. Mother Leila did a good job at raising him to become someone that respects others as fine as needed, someone who'll answer others' call for aid and respected his surroundings as well. However, things weren't supposed to go smoothly for those two, since Mother Leila noticed that her son is a bit different, from normal human beings. At first, when he was still a baby, he didn't scream once, she thought, "Maybe he's the calm kind, who knows?", but even when he grew up, he didn't gain a moment in his life when he expressed any type of emotions. Didn't cry, didn't laugh, didn't express a thing and that worried his mother without a doubt. So, even though she wanted that to be the last resolve, she found herself forced to take her son to therapy. After hearing the way he behaves, it felt like the doctor realized what he was dealing with right away, "Miss Leila", Said the doctor, "I'm apologizing in advance because you won't like what I'm about to do", and then he tweaked him a little rough on his hand which made Romeo pull his arm, "Tell me, Romeo, did it hurt you?", Asked the doctor gently.

"Yes, it did.", Answered Romeo while touching the tweaked zone and without changing his expression. Mother Leila got used to Romeo's behavior like that so that didn't surprise her, but she got quite worried after hearing the doctor's sigh, "It's called alexithymia!"

"I beg your pardon?", Asked the mother after starting to get even more concerned.

"alexithymia", He answered right away, "It's a rare mental illness that makes someone unable to express his emotions properly. Your son, Romeo has this kind of illness but I'm afraid that it's developed to the final phase in his case. Normally, 10% of the population have alexithymia and they cannot express emotions properly. Around 2% of those who have this illness can't even show emotions, so basically, everything happens inside their hearts and souls and they can't let it out. I'm afraid that your son is one of those, miss Leila."

"Then... Then what can I do to cure him?", Said the woman desperately, "I'm ready to do anything for him..."

"There's only one way for him to be able to express his feelings", He interrupted, "He has to get shocked somehow, whether it's happiness or sadness. He has to get a strong emotional shock, that's the only way to awaken his feelings. I'm afraid that this is as far as I can help him... I'm sorry, miss Leila.", Knowing that she can't do anything to help her son, Mother Leila kept wearing sadness for eternity and all kinds of negativity kept hosting her spirit, I do know that much. Because of that alexithymia thing, Romeo was a target of bullies when we were little. Since he won't move an inch to protect himself, others found it enjoyable to make fun of him and all. And not only that, they even mocked him because he doesn't know his father, they insulted his Mother Leila, saying that she used to follow naïve pleasure. They found themselves all alone, and the world didn't even want to accept them at first. That was until Romeo became able to use that brain of his and make it to the top, gaining some respect at least by doing so. But still, it felt like people respected him because they were forced to, not because they wanted to or something like that, and pisses me off as hell, to be honest!

Little Lily, things got even more serious. One day, when we were 16 years old, Mother Leila's hand started shaking all of a sudden, she didn't know the reason, same goes for Romeo. However, Romeo did realize the reason behind that shaking, "It's not stress", said the boy, "This shaking is different than the one caused by stress or anxiety. Mother, I think it's because of your spinal cord."

They went to a doctor and what he said was right, her spinal cord got damaged somehow. The doctor kept asking her if she remembers getting into an accident or falling but she kept denying that so the cause of the damage remains unknown. "The shaking will start getting stronger slowly but surely. In higher phases, she might even be unable to feel some parts of her body because of numbness...", Said the doctor, "Is there another family member except you?"

"No.", Answered Romeo, "I'm the only family she had."

-Doctor: "Listen to me carefully young man! Your Mother got four years at best before becoming completely paralyzed. She needs to get a spinal cord transplantation as soon as possible. But I'm afraid that the fee is around 18000$.

Romeo didn't hide the truth from his mother. She felt so terrible after hearing that for sure. Now she can't work, she can't even walk properly. So basically Romeo is doing the whole thing right now that's why he's a part-timer. He's even thinking about getting a second part-time job you know! Romeo doesn't have a proper breakfast like us, he makes only one breakfast meal for Mother Leila. He doesn't eat lunch, and he gets his dinner for free from the cafeteria. Thanks to their neighbor, Mother Leila gets a proper lunch and dinner every day.

Romeo is working hella hard to save his mother, he doesn't even give a freaking slight care for himself even though he knows how dangerous that illness of his can be. But still, he won't accept others' help, specifically other people's money. You know why, because Mother Leila doesn't want him to do so!"

Alex finally finishes highlighting what Lina needs to know and he lets the unwanted silence take its share of the show. Both he and Maria keep focusing their interest on Lina, realizing that she's starting to breathe heavily and her spirit is shaken a bit too much," What… What did you just say?", Questions the poor girl, "What, what are you…"

"The sooner he awakens his feelings the quicker he'll die as well", Interrupts Alex, "We tried our best to convince him so we could help his mother but it was a no every single time."

Her whole body starts shaking as well, "What is this nonsense?", She says right away, "What are you talking about? No, that's not true, no one… No one would live such a life...."

"BUT IT'S THE FREAKING TRUTH!!!!", Alex can't hide out how frustrated he's feeling right now. He stands up and shows off an awful expression tainted by pain, "We want to help him", Says the boy in a painful way, "Everyone wants to help him. But we simply can't Lina, don't you get it? He won't accept our money. We tried all kinds of shit to awaken his emotions, he watched the weirdest horror movies, we surprised him with a pillar of chocolate WE TRIED EVERYTHING! It's helpless, we can't, I can't do anything about it", He takes some steps until he reaches the door then adds rudely before leaving while giving her an empty look, "Don't act as if you care about him more than me, okay? Romi is my brother, I love him more than my freaking brother in blood and the same goes for Mother Leila. I'm ready to sell my soul just for his sake. But, but I'm just…..", He's not even able to finish off his line, Alex gets so messed up in his head he leaves both of them alone without adding a word. Lina turns around to her friend Maria, to find her trying her best not to drop those dots off her ruby eyes, "It's not like he doesn't have emotions", She adds with quite the shaking voice, "Romi is the most emotional boy I've ever met if you ask me. He can't express them, they keep stockpiling in his heart, and eventually, they'll come out one day, they'll explode like a bomb, messing him up even more." Lina can't hold it anymore she drops into tears all of a sudden, which made her friend stand up and get closer to her friend. Maria starts patting her friend gently to calm her down a bit, "I know that what I'm about to say might be a little out of subject for now, but remember when I invited you to the cafeteria and when you kept bragging about his personality? That annoyed me a little, to be honest. Because I knew from the start that he doesn't want to act like that…"

Lina stands up all of a sudden, she keeps trying to inhale but it feels like she can't even breathe properly now. Tears stop dropping on those cheeks unexpectedly as if they got locked in her eyes for no reason. Out of nowhere, she tries getting that feeling that she wants to throw up; she puts her hand on her mouth while holding her stomach with the other hand and you can even hear how loud her breathing is getting right now. Concerned, Maria jumps right away, "Lily what's gotten into you?", She asks but Lina didn't dare to answer her question. She just leaves the house right away and leaves her friend worried with a blank answer.

Alex is still in his girlfriend's house, he's up the roof, just gazing at the sky while smoking a cigarette, "I was sure that I'll be finding you here", Says Maria after hugging him from behind which did weave both of their souls in a way that is a forever bond, "I thought I told to quit smoking though, it's bad for your health you know!", She says so, still hugging him.

He raises his hand and puts it in hers, "I'm sorry", He says, "I'll try quitting from today. Maria, do you think that I went a bit too far with what I said to Lily a while ago?"

Starting to caress his back with her head warmly, "It was a bit hard, to say the least. But I believe that you lost your cool because bringing up Romi's pain makes your heart ache, right? You did nothing wrong, Hon!"

Getting back to Lina, after leaving the house, she keeps running desperately without having a slight idea about what she's doing. Those Hellscreams of hers kept echoing all over the neighborhood until she lost every last drop of strength in her body. As for her eyes, they are shaking like crazy with tears still locked in them, she can't handle the story, it's leaving her in such a chaotic pain...

"I became this miserable by only hearing the story! What if it was me? The one who was chosen to bare all of it? Romeo, please, are you really alright? Is it really okay for you to suffer all of it on your own? Let us help you! Please!"

"Lina?", Someone says while she's in that state. The girl turns around to find Romeo in front of her while holding a plastic bag", ROMEO?", Screams the girl right away, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING AT SUCH A LATE HOUR?"

"There was no need for you to scream", He says, "I just finished my part-time job and I'm heading home now. What are You doing?"

"I just got out of Maria's house", She answers while trying to hide her worries in front of him. When she decides to avoid him by turning around and starting to walk, the boy takes her arm and pulls her closer to him, "Why are you crying?", He asks while she finds herself forced to gaze into his void eyes, "Who dared to make you do so?"

-Lina: "No... It's not... It's not like that...", She finds herself out of words because of her actions, since he pulls out that piece of cloth and starts getting rid of those sorrowful tears, "You're a crybaby, just like my mother", Says the boy, "I always end up wiping out her tears almost every day you know.", Then after feeling that she started to calm down, Romeo steps back and adds, "Stop crying. I hate seeing those dear to me in pain. Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm the one who should be asking you that question", Those words can't stop wandering around Lina's mind, "You keep always putting others' safety before yours! Why?"