Resting Days Part 2

Cover Art Chaper 17 -in the comments

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His mother Ana left work and went straight to the hospital. She didn't go to watch the Awakening Test, because Luan asked his father and uncle not to tell her about the date so that she wouldn't get nervous and anxious, but Ana ended up finding out, because her relatives called to tell her about the Test and ended up telling her about possible sabotage, so she felt very distressed because we know that she doesn't totally agree with Luan's choice, Justin is in Luan's room with Luke talking, Derick is heading towards the room and ends up meeting his aunt Ana, he sees that she looks distressed, and just greets her, then he sends a text message to his father, letting him know that Ana has arrived, Justin receives the message and Luke decides to hide on the balcony of the room, to avoid any kind of fight. Ana then comes into the room, greets Justin and goes straight to check on Luan, she inspects him, looks at his face, his hands, to see if he's hurt and sees his head is bandaged again: 

"Hi Justin, was it Luan who asked you not to tell him that today was Test day?" 

"Hi, Ana, yes, yes I really would have liked to have told you...but..." 

Ana then looks out onto the balcony, she knows there's someone else in the room and says: 

"You can get out of there Luke, I'm not going to fight with you... 

 Justin rolls his eyes in surprise, and Luke is even more surprised and thinks... 

 (Damn it.. how does she know I'm here? She's not a demon, but she's always had a keen sense). 

Luke comes out of his hiding place looking like a "puppy that's fallen out of the house", and raises his hand to say "hello". 

Ana stares at his face and says: 

"No need to hide, I'm not going to fight with you.." 

 Luke then becomes more relieved and smiles, Justin leaves the room and goes to see another patient, to let them talk, and Derick stays outside and sits down to read a book, Ana and Luke sit on the sofa in the room and talk, and in fact they both knew that the Demon had possessed Luan when he was 5 years old, just after they were trying to Conjure the same Demon that possessed Luke's body at the time, There were several mages together including Ana's parents who were very powerful mages, and Grandpa Han tried at all costs to complete the Conjuration successfully, but the Ritual ended up causing an accident between Luke and Ana and being a failure, and the Bone Breaker Demon, in its mist form escaped, thus taking over Luan's body while he was on the playground playing. (This will be explained later in another flashback). Ana comments that 6 months ago the Bone Breaker Demon awakened in Luan, but she and Grandpa Han managed to make a Ritual that delayed this possession, and they have been looking for 10 years trying to conjure the demon completely, Ana explains that her parents thought it was better for her and Luan to return to their country of origin and take care of Luan, which caused the breakup of Ana and Luke's marriage, In the end, they didn't get divorced, they just each went to a different country and never spoke to each other again. Ana and her parents' main focus was on trying to find the best way to Conjure and help Luan, but so far nothing effective has been found, and in the end her parents died in an accident, where only Luan survived. Ana explains that after the death of his parents, Luan went through a very troubled time and this affected him a lot at school too, there was a lot of bullying and accusations against Luan, and that's when Luan secretly started looking for information about his maternal grandparents, and started practicing his magic in hiding, But Ana ended up discovering that he was practicing, and as it started to do Luan good, she didn't stop him, until the day Luan decided to call his Grandfather Han and accept the invitation to the Awakening Test, since two years ago there was a delay in the Awakening Test, because one of the participants disappeared, and they rescheduled it for this year. Ana didn't agree very much with Luan's decision at first, but as it was his decision and his own will, it led to the two of them returning to Rivercity. Luke listens attentively in silence, allowing Ana to speak first, he knows that things won't be resolved in a single day and not everything he might say today, he also has his anxieties and traumas from the past, and has spent a lot of time away from his son and his wife, he tries to use the right words, but ends up not being able to open up completely and can only say: 

 "I'm sorry, I know nothing I can say right now can change anything, and I know a lot of it was my fault, but I honestly wish I could find a way for things to be okay again...I, I'm sorry. 

Ana knows that Luke is a more closed person, who keeps his feelings to himself, but it wasn't all his fault, it was the events of the past and she prefers to give him more time to open up, and in fact also to heal from the traumas of the past, which have come back to haunt them again, so she pats him on the back, as she used to do when she wanted to calm him down, and they then stand looking at Luan sleeping. 

The weekend passes, Monday, when dawn breaks for the 4th day on Tuesday, Luan finally wakes up, he notices that he's in the hospital room and sees his mother asleep by his bedside, holding his hand, he tries to get up without waking her, but it's inevitable that she gets a fright and wakes up. 

"Oh, Luan darling, you're awake!" 

 "Hi Mom, I didn't mean to wake you up, I'm sorry, my legs are a bit numb, I'll get up!" 

He tries to get up, Ana holds him and asks him to wait in bed until his uncle Justin can see if everything is all right, so that he can be discharged and go home. She asks the nurse to call Dr. Justin, and he promptly goes to see them, checks that he's all right, his tests all look normal, and asks Ana to take Luan for a walk in the hospital, so he can get some exercise and if he can walk normally, he can be discharged from the hospital. Luan walks around the hospital with his mother for a while, and when they return to the room they bump into his father Luke, Luke smiles happily to see that Luan is awake and well, he pats Luan on the back and says: 

 "Well done, boy, I'm glad you're all right." 

 Luan then smiles and says: 

 "Yeah, I'm fine, but I want to go home, Mom take me home!" 

 They laugh, and Luke offers to drive them, before that Ana goes to tidy up some of Luan's things, and wait for Justin to sign the hospital discharge, it's already lunchtime when Derick returns from school and goes to the hospital to check on Luan, because he received a message from his father warning him, although he spent the three days with Luan in his room, while Luan slept he read his books, he was getting bored of reading so much, and he really got used to Luan's presence every day, they live next door to each other, they go to school together, they train together, they play in the band together, it was inevitable that a bond of friendship would form, but Derick doesn't let it be so apparent, he still tends to hide his emotions and feelings. He then walks into the bedroom and sees Luan standing there finishing changing. 

"Hallelujah, the sleeping beauty has awakened." Part 3 

Luan looks back as he puts on his inseparable jeans jacket and says: 

"Derick, you missed me, didn't you? I know, I know." 

Derick then rolls his eyes as usual and says: 

"It's still annoying... but I'm glad you're okay now." 

"Oh, I brought your lessons from school, Mary sorted them out for you, you have until Friday to hand them in!" 

 Luan grimaces, says thank you and takes the lessons and puts them in his backpack, but then smiles again, he's excited to be going home. He goes to his mother Ana's and they follow her to Luke's car, which is already waiting for them, and Derick takes advantage of the ride to go home too, of course. 

They finally get home, and Luan is missing his cat Mr. Fluffy, and the first thing he does when he enters the house is grab the cat: 

"Fluffy, you beautiful thing, I miss you, I want to crush you!!!" 

 Meanwhile the cat is trying to escape from Luan, as it's almost suffocating him, he runs over to Luke, and then starts to run his head over Luke's leg, and he manages to get Luke to pick him up, and they finally meet for the first time. Luan then invites his father to dinner, he says he's going to cook for everyone tonight, Luan is really good at cooking, he has a cooking blog, called Cooking with the Devil. He feels very refreshed, it's not like he was asleep for almost four days in hospital. 

His mother, Ana, leaves him to it, as she knows he feels good cooking, so she avoids fighting with him, only doing it when necessary. Derick ends up staying for dinner too, and reminds him that they're having a concert in a few days' time in the square, and asks if he's really well enough to go and perform: 

"We're having the concert in the square, do you want to take part Luan? 

 Luan nods positively and replies: 

"Sure, we'll be performing, Oh and your birthday is coming up Derick, you're turning 16, have you chosen your present yet?" 

 "Hm, I don't want a party or a present." 

 Luan looks disappointed, because he was already preparing a party for Derick, but he understands, he didn't want to celebrate his birthday this year either, they just made a birthday cake at the camp, but he didn't want them to do anything. 

Luke then takes the opportunity to tell him that Justin, Derick's father, will be making a weekend lunch for the family only. Derick grimaces in disapproval, but understands his father's good intentions. 

"Don't worry, Derick, it'll just be between us, and your father wants to give you a present to celebrate winning the Awakening test." 

 Derick scratches his head and wonders what this gift might be, when Luan picks it up and says: 

 "Wow, that's nice, Derick! But what about me, don't I get a present for turning 15?" 

They laugh, and Ana reminds him that he didn't want to celebrate his birthday, but she had given him clothes as a present, and Luke had sent her his dagger for the test, which had been specially made by a craftsman for Luan to use. 

 Luan didn't know that the dagger was a gift from his father Luke, he thought it was just an old family dagger, so he awkwardly thanks him, and then reminds Derick of what they agreed to do when they finished the Test. 

 "Oh, I didn't know, but thanks Dad....Luke, and Derick, where's my reward that I'd get if we won the Awakening Test?" 

 Derick is surprised because Luan has a very good memory, but they've just had dinner, so Derick says: 

 "Well, we've already had dinner, but I can take you to your reward now if you like, but not until tomorrow..." 

Luan then gets excited and agrees to go now, it's not that late at night, so they leave and Derick takes him to the place, 5 minutes later they arrive at the place, Luan stares at Derick's face without understanding and says: 

"Where is it? We're in the square near home...." 

Derick then confirms: 

"It's right here in the square... go to the drinks machines and choose your drink... I'll pay for it, as usual." 

Luan stares at him perplexed, they pass by the square every day and always get drinks from the machines, he really expected it to be somewhere different, but ok he settles for a soda, and gets a soda of Derick's choice, they knock one can against the other and toast and then Luan says: 

"A toast, our victory, now we're employed! Yay!" "Here's to victory, yes now we'll get paid for the DSO, and you can pay me back everything you've owed me in the last year..." 

 Luan chokes, ends up throwing soda everywhere. 

"Cof...cof.....how is it? 

Derick takes several receipts out of his pocket and hands them to Luan: 

"Here, all the receipts you owe me, you can now pay with your first payment...." 

Luan takes the receipts in the throes of hatred, still incredulous at what is happening, then thinks: 

(I'm screwed, I'm on the side of a loan shark and I didn't know it....pif) 

Finally, he looks at Derick and says: 

"If I pay cash, do you get a discount?" Ç_Ç 

Derick, trying not to laugh at the situation, turns and mumbles to himself: 

"I can't believe he actually believed that..." 

....