(12) - SHELLED.

Hesitating by the door to the Intensive Care Unit with the beautifully made and wrapped customi-sed cake which only arrived a while ago in her hands, Leonard turned to look at Leo, who had the birthday presents now packed up and wrap-ped nicely in a large gift box in his hands then back at the five boys behind them sitting with hesitancy and expectancy.

" Are you....not really coming.... Michael?" She asked, " You know.... She might want to see you too. You've been looking for her for so long....you should go in."

" I can't Leona." Michael answered helplessly ;ru-nning his hands roughly up his face and through his hair-backwards with a deep intake of breath, then exhaled quiet audibly."The truth is, I hones- tly really want to go see in and see her right now. But I'm afraid she won't remember me or worse, not forgive me for abandoning her, Leona. For now, you two should go in. If there's a chance, wish her a direct happy birthday and a speedy recovery from us." He ended with a small sad smile.

" Okay. " Leona, replied sadly, feeling the tough-ness of Michael's decision. She felt sorry for him and wished she could help him, but felt a bit po-werless. With a deep sigh, she decided to look for possible loopholes and chances for him to meet Stella. Hopefully it wouldn't end in a disas-ter. She added ; " We'll go in now. Let's hope there's a chance you people can meet her."

" It's Okay if only Michael can see her for now." Chris said with a slight smile. " If that happens, we will have a chance to meet her later."

" Alright." Leo said with a nod of his head then opened the door slowly and slightly then peeked in. Pulling back, he looked behind him at his sis-terms and beckoned her to follow. One after the other, they entered, intentionally leaving the door slightly opened.

Looking at the almost closed door, Richmond sighed and looked at Michael who looked very deep in thought with a frown on his his face and his gaze distant, then pointed out ;

" You know our gifts might get rejected or cause us to be called in. If the latter happens, will you go see her?"

" A long moment of silence passed with no signs of Michael going to answer him, then with a very deep and audible sigh he answered in a low voi- ce, not looking at him or anyone. His gaze strai-ght at the slightly opened door through which Leo and Leon's lively voices could be heard sing-ing a ' happy birthday' song to her;

" I will. And just hope she doesn't throw me out but let me be around her to make up for neglec-ting her."

" What if she doesn't want you around her?" Chris asked, pulling his cell phone from his right trou - ser's pocket. " Will you let her be?"

" No." Michael replied quickly with a grimace." Give her space, yes I will. But we will have to speak sooner or later. "

" You don't really have time.... Michael." Philip stared slowly, turning to look at him. 

" What do you mean? " Michael asked, sitting up right. Before Philip could answer, quick footsteps from the entrance diverted their attention towards it. 

" Uncle Brian? " Raymond asked in supprise upon seeing the familiar middle - aged couple almost running towards them then turned to look at Ri-chmond who was already on his feet with a con-fused and slightly scared look. The rest looked on quietly, their faces showing various degrees of confusion 

" Calm down Rich, I don't think they are here in relation to your family." Chris assured him. 

"I feel like it's personally related to them."Michael observed, his expression calming down from its previously confused state. Philip just had on a light confused frown, his deep eyes on the couple who by then were almost walking past them without noticing them. 

" Uncle Brian! " Raymond called with a rapid wave of his right hand. 

" Oh... Little Master Raymond!" The older man, finally noticing who the five boys in school uni-forms he had overlooked we're-cried in surprise and moved closer quickly. " Little master Richmond.... Little Masters." The last acknow-ledgement went generally to Michael, Philip and Chris. 

" Oh.... what are you...Little Masters doing here?" The woman beside the man asked, looking at them with a more worried expression.

"We're okay Aunt, don't worry about us." Rich- mond assured her then explained upon seeing the still confused looks on their faces;," We brou-ght a friend here." 

" Oh..." The man laughed, finally understanding. Then looking at their uniforms, he seemed to suddenly remember something ;" Oh... Little Mas-ters, have you by any means come across two kids....not actually real kids, but they're fifteen...in your school 's uniform around here?" 

" They're twins!" The woman added quickly, mo-ving closer, her eyes wide and anxious. " They are twins...a boy and a girl."

" Twins? " Chris asked as a sudden realisation hit him, making him look at his friends with wide eyes then chuckled."A boy and a girl...twins, we've seen them." 

"Oh you have?!" The older couple asked together, getting a bit closer. " Where are they?" 

" Who are they to you?" Michael asked calmly, looking keenly at them. 

" They are our children." The woman answered. 

"Your children?" Richmond asked, confused. Loo-king at Raymond, he could see his understand-ing was n better than his. So far as they knew, uncle Brian, having been their dad's personal secretary before they were even given birth to had no children. On that note, he continued to ask; " You have children? I...." 

" Rich, wait." Philip cutted through, sitting up, " I think.... they adopted Leo and Leona."

" Leo and Leona! Yes!" The man said quickly and urgently. " They are the ones. We adopted them." 

" Wow." Philip said with a light smile then looked towards the door where the birthday song was ending, filled with a bare low girly happy laugh- ter, no doubt belonging to Stella. Then looked at Michael who seemed concentrated on what was happening in the hospital room, an unconcious smile on his face. 

" Do you know Stella?" Richmond asked. 

" Leo and Leona's friend.... Stella?" The woman asked, looking slightly confused. "

" Yes Aunt."Richmond answered. Not waiting for their response, he continued ; Stella is here. She had an allergic reaction and we brought her here." 

" Oh my God!" The woman exclaimed. " Is she okay? Are they all okay." 

" Leo and Leona are perfectly fine." Philip answered this time, calm as usual." Stella's reco-vering." 

" Oh....thank goodness. " The woman - Leah said, sighing. Then hearing the 'hurrays' from familiar voices in the nearby I.C.U, she turned and walked towards it. " Oh...dear come. They're here." 

"Coming... Coming..." The older man said with a chuckle, obediently going to his wife who was excitedly looking through the slight opening in the door."Aren't we going in?" He asked after see-ing the scene in the room. 

"It's Stella's birthday and we didn't even bring any-thing. That girl won't accept any help and I really want to help her. But she's so mysterious and shelled. I can't even go through Leo and Leona. They are so protective of her. But I honestly really like her and want to help her. If we've brought some gifts, it could have helped." The woman ex-plained in a low voice. 

" Maybe..... we should go with the previous plan and adopt her. " The man suggested, tucking his hands into the pockets of his trousers. 

"Do you think it will work...." The woman was as- king doubtfully when a chorus of familiar voices when a chorus of surprised familiar voices asked quiet loudly behind them, forgetting about the need for a low tone;

" You want to adopt her?!" 

" Quiet!" Michael whisper-yelled, glaring at Chris, Richmond and Raymond who had spoken loudly earlier. Turning to look at the now guilty-looking culprits, Philip just glared at them and looked away;

" Sorry." Chris whispered sheepishly. 

" Do you want to adopt her, Mr. Lewis?" Michael asked seriously, looking at the older couple cau-tously. 

He couldn't help being doubtful about the cou-ple.He just found his long lost childhood sweet-heart and hadn't even had the chance to talk to her yet, and he had already gotten to meet two families who want to take her away from him? What was even worse was the unsurity of the trustworthiness of them in terms of her safety in in the short and long term. He wouldn't allow any- one to hurt her again, even if she doesn't accept him back. 

" Have you told Leo and Leona about this?" Philip asked sckeptically. 

" No we haven't told them." Mr. Lewis replied quietly, taking off his spectacles and blinking with a silent sigh. " I know it's been just a month since we adopted them, and it will take a while for them to really trust us with some very press-ing issues they had been facing....but we really want to help them and Stella. We didn't see Stella there at the orphanage when we adopted them. She had already left them. "

" Back then you didn't know her, are you sure you would have adopted her if she had been there? " Richmond asked doubtfully. He and his brother were sitting again. 

Mr. Lewis chuckled. Turning to look through the opening in the door, he continued. " Just meeting her once is enough. We asked about her at the orphanage and we were told she had rejected seven couples that wanted to adopt her at the because of Leo and Leona. She had met them at the orphanage but had been very close and protective of them even after she had run away from there. And even if she is only months older than them. "

" Rejected seven families? " Michael asked in sur- prise. The older couple merely nodded. 

" Wow! " Richmond said and chuckled lightly." I really underestimated the bond Lion and Lioness share with Stella."

" Lion and Lioness? " Mrs. Lewis asked asked confusedly looking at her husband for help with clarification. 

" Idiot." Michael whispered and looked away. The rest didn't need any explanation to understand the situation, and Raymond caught on a bit later. He didn't seem to mind though. 

" I think Lion and Lioness are actually Leo and Leona." Mr. Lewis explained to his wife then started laughing. " It's great!" 

" What's great?!" Mrs. Lewis snapped, glaring at her husband who immediately pressed the his lips together but the amusement still remained clearly on his face." Calling my children animals is great?! You're forgetting I'm also like that uh? I'm Leah! Just like....like a Lioness!" 

" Oh.... Chris and Richmond muttered together. Realising they did, they looked at each other and snickered, almost bursting into laughter. 

" So....the Lion Family uh?" Raymond asked quietly but seriously. And that did it! It was defi-nitely the last straw that broke Chris and Rich-mond.'s last string of control - they broke into uncontrollable laughter whilst desperately co-vering their mouths and trying not to meet Mrs. Lewis' glare. 

Fighting back their own laughter, Michael and Philip cast a look at Raymond who was intentio- nally facing towards the entrance -avoiding every-one and seeming focused. But from his hand co-vering his mouth and slightly shaking shoulders, they could tell he was in an uncontrollable silent laughter. Shaking their heads helplessly with their lips twitching, Michael and Philip looked away - back at the door to the room. 

" You...let's go and get some gifts for Stella now!" Mrs. Lewis ordered sternly, looking very annoyed. Then made her way to the entrance without look-ing at her husband. " For calling me and my chil-dren Lions, you're sleeping in the guest room tonight!" 

" So....sorry honey.... I was wrong. I honestly like your names. You know the Lion is the head of the jungle and is the bravest of all! Please don't be angry anymore..... " Mrs. Lewis explained des- perately whilst hurrying after his wife, looking a bit scared. 

" Wow! Being in love or married can be really scary. " Richmond observed in awe,looking after the older couple as they disappeared from their view. 

"Wait till you find your love or get married to someone you really love." Michael stated cooly. 

" Right." Richmond said sarcastically. " Like that's even a possibility with all these opportunistic, I'll-mannered, sluty and aimless girls all over." 

" You know....it would actually be nice to have someone you love and grow with together like that. It's very rear. Dad keeps telling us that." Ray-mond said with a sigh. 

. " Not everyone can be lucky like him. To find such great love that he has chosen to live with her memories than find someone else. " Richmond said with a sigh, sounding a bit distant and sad. 

" The last time I went home, my dad got home late slightly drunk from a business meeting and mom made him sleep in the guest room. He was so miserable and repentant that he couldn't help but laugh. My goodness! You guys should have seen him." Chris said and laughed at the end. 

" It's happened with my dad a few times and he learnt from it. " Philip said calmly with a snort and a chuckle. 

" Guess what the man told me when saw me lau-ghing at him?! " Chris asked then turned slightly serious. Getting his friends' silent attention, he continued ; "He told me to learn from his mistake and not follow Steven's footsteps." 

"Whooaaaa man!" Raymond exclaimed, forget-ting to keep his voice low. 

" Keep it Low Ray!" Michael whisper - yelled. 

" Sorry guys." Raymond said apologetically. " Got carried away a bit. But damn Chris. That's a great advice there. Following Steven's footsteps will result in hell!" 

" I heard your - Steven is getting engaged. How did he even end up with her?" Michael asked, barely keeping his disgust in check? "

Precisely at that moment, they heard a commo-tion in the room across from them to their right. What seemed like an argument then escalated then a cry of Stella's name from Leona, before a really loud pained scream from Stella got them all on their feet abruptly. 

" What's going on?" Michael asked seriously, look-ing through the opened left by the door and saw Leona rushing out in fright. Her eyes wide and her body shaking. Behind her in the room, Leo's anxious voice could be heard calling out to Stella. Looking back at Leona, Michael asked ; " What's going on with Stella?" 

" What happened?" Philip asked urgently, instan-tly by Michael's side with the rest coming closer too with very serious expressions. 

" Stella.... Step..... Stella has.....something is ha-ppening to her!" Leona stuttered nervously, her eyes watering. Then another pained scream came out the door, more so than the other 

" Doctor!" Chris called, Jaws tensed and his voice very loud. 

 Almost as soon as the calling was done, the doctor and two nurses came running past them and into the room. A moment later, a scared and unwilling Leo was pushed out gently by a nurse who spoke as gently as possible in the situation ;

" What happened in there?!" Michael almost shouted, at the twins, increasing their misery and fright. 

" Mike....calm down." Richmond said gently.

" She....she heard you guys talking outside and asked if we brought friends. Not thinking it's the right time to tell her, we tried making.....some-thing something up. But she kept insisting and tried to get out of bed. Suddenly she...she held her head and began screaming and writhing in pain. " Leo explained, his voice full of panick.