05 Let It Be

And when the night is cloudy, there is still a light that shines on me, shinin’ until tomorrow, let it be.

– The Beatles

•••

“I just finished talking with Dad and was about to cross the street when a truck almost hit me. But William rescued me just a second before it happened.” That was how Annaliese recounted the near-death experience. Less than ten seconds.

Gerard and Beatrice exchanged glances. They seemed to not believe how their best friend responded as if undisturbed by the accident.

“What?” Annaliese arched her eyebrows.

Beatrice exhaled loudly. “Are you for real, Ann?” she commented. “You almost lost your life. If it hadn’t been for William, you wouldn’t have been here. You don’t have to pretend to be okay. It’s okay not to be okay. We’re your best friends, aren’t we?”

Annaliese didn’t say a word but let out an audible sigh.

“Ann, you made William confused. You’re acting like he’s made a mistake, but it was only because he gave you that feeling, didn’t he?” Gerard gently pointed out the real problem matter-of-factly. He understood her too well to not notice it.

Annaliese’s eyes widened. Then she pursed her lips.

“Once he comes out of that room, explain to him right away.” Gerard gestured with a movement of his head in the direction where William was being treated.

“But I did. Before you guys came to pick us up,” replied Annaliese hastily.

Again, Beatrice exchanged glances with her boyfriend. “We didn’t see it, but okay. We believe you. Just make sure that your bitter past won’t hurt anyone else. You might not know that he’s actually the love of your life right? Don’t regret it later,” she expressed her opinion.

Annaliese shot a sharp glance at Beatrice. “Don’t. Start.”

“Okay, okay. Just don’t hurt anyone because you’re hurt.” Beatrice raised her palms in front of her chest.

A few minutes after that William showed up in a wheelchair with a nurse pushing it from behind. His left sleeve was rolled up, exposing the bandage around his elbow.

“Is everything alright? Nothing broken?” asked Gerard, showing concern.

William shook his head and chuckled. “No, no. I’m fine. No worries,” he replied calmly.

“Really? But look where you are right now.” Annaliese referred to his sitting in a wheelchair. She turned to the nurse. “He can’t walk?”

The nurse shook her head and smiled. “No bother. Your boyfriend will be better in several days. All you need to do is take care of him well. Remind him to not walk too much, be careful with his elbow, and take his pills,” she explained, unknowingly turning the vibe both funny for Gerard and Beatrice and awkward for Annaliese and William.

At that point, Annaliese wanted to refute the nurse's misunderstanding, but then she decided to remain silent. She didn't think it was necessary to correct her.

“Yea, Ann, do your job,” Beatrice teased her, keeping her laughter inside.

"Well, then. I'll leave him to you," said the nurse while giving her patient a tap on his shoulder.

"Thank you, Nurse Sophia." William smiled at her before she left. Then, he turned back to his three new friends. "Thanks to you all too, for taking me here and staying until I'm finished."

Gerard nudged Annaliese on her left arm. He signaled her to say something.

Getting what her best friend meant, Annaliese then said, "It was my fault, William. Staying here is the right thing to do. But well, it's getting late, so why don't we take you home?" She turned to Gerard and Beatrice.

"Sounds good to me. It's Saoirse's car after all. We have to return it," Beatrice agreed. She then yawned and said, "And I'm pretty drowsy already."

"Let me drive. You push his wheelchair." Gerard opened his right palm, asking for the car key.

"It's okay. I can do it my—"

"No, you can't. The nurse said you have to be careful with your elbow," Annaliese cut William off. "Just let me make amends. Please."

William shrugged and replied, "Okay. Thank you."

Annaliese moved behind William and pushed the wheelchair for him. Meanwhile, Gerard and Beatrice were already far ahead of them. They obviously meant to create a moment for the two of them to talk.

For the first few minutes, there was no conversation between them. The quiet hallway didn't help either. The sounds of their footsteps and the creaky wheelchair were the only things audible enough.

William cleared his throat, signaling that he was about to start a conversation. "Are you okay, Ann? You got yourself checked too, didn't you?" he asked.

"Yeah, I did. The doctor said I'm okay. There's not a single scratch. Thanks to you," answered Annaliese. She gripped the handrails of the wheelchair tighter as the floor ascended slightly.  "Anyways, how are you supposed to walk later? I mean, will you be able to borrow this wheelchair? I believe some insurances allow you to do it."

He shook his head. "I don't think it's necessary. After all, the doctor said I'd be fine in three days as long as I don't use my left foot too much," he remarked in confidence. “I don’t know how but let’s say I heal faster than normal people.”

Annaliese chuckled at his last statement. “So, are you some kind of superhero?”

“Now that you said so, maybe I am. Because medically, I heal pretty fast,” William replied with a joke.

“Good heavens, look how proud you become.”

The tension between them slowly faded away. When they arrived at the parking lot, it seemed like nothing wrong had happened to them. Gerard and Beatrice were slightly surprised, but they didn’t say anything.

•••

It was around 9.30 when they arrived at Saoirse's place. Gerard stayed in the car, waiting for the garage to be opened because he would park it inside. Meanwhile, Beatrice dozed off despite the short trip. Now without a wheelchair, Annaliese had to support William to walk toward the house. But again, it was just their trick to get her to do it.

An Asian-looking man, who presumably was William’s best friend and Saoirse’s husband, opened the door. "Oh, what happened?" he asked in shock. “Did you get into an accident?”

“Yes. And it was my fault. Sorry,” Annaliese answered apologetically.

“Come on in.” He opened the door wider and let them come inside the house.

While entering the house, William said, “I’m fine, Stephen. Don’t overthink.”

“How could I not? You’re like my brother. Your mother even said to take care of you while you’re here,” Stephen deliberately cracked a joke to tease William.

Annaliese chortled a little loudly in an instant.

“I’ll just sit here,” William told Annaliese and he carefully positioned himself comfortably on the sofa. “You’re embarrassing me, dude. Tch. Now just open the garage, will you? My friends are still outside and he will park Saoirse’s car inside.”

Stephen headed toward the door that connected the living room and the garage. He disappeared behind the door.

In exchange, Saoirse showed up. She looked messy with her hair tied up. In her arms, her baby girl was sleeping soundly. “Oh you’re here already,” she said.

“Oh, you have a baby? Where was she when you were with us? You know, usually, babies would want to be around their mom.” Annaliese stood up to have a better view of the baby.

“She was with my husband.”

As soon as Annaliese saw the cute girl, her eyes sparkled and her face beamed with a wide smile. “Aww, she’s adorable.”

“Do you want to hold her?”

“May I?” Annaliese sounded thrilled.

“Sure. She’s a very calm baby. She won’t cry.” Saoirse didn’t mind and gently gave her baby to her new friend.

As if being used to carrying a baby, Annaliese received her readily. She softly rocked the tiny girl in her arms and caressed her on the head.

The sound of the camera shutter made everyone turn toward it. It came from none other than Beatrice. She nonchalantly smiled. “It’s a beautiful view to remember. So I captured it. Maybe you want to look at this again later. You know, you look like a real mom with the baby,” she commented and everyone seemed to agree.

“But babe, the picture won’t be complete without a man in it,” Gerard added, supporting his girlfriend who teased Annaliese.

Annaliese sighed and shook her head. “Please ignore my friends,” she requested. ‘I knew it. Beatrice was just sleeping. Look how wide and fresh are her eyes now.’

The other three people laughed amusingly.

“By the way, anyone wants something to drink? I know it’s pretty late, but a cup of tea is always good anytime,” Saoirse offered her guests.

“No, I’m good. Thanks, Saoirse. And probably it’s best that we leave since it’s almost ten. We’d better rest.” Annaliese appointed herself as the spokesperson for her friends too. She didn’t want any more teasing from the two of them. “Here’s your pretty baby.”

Saoirse took her baby back. “Well, I hope you guys can come again tomorrow. We can have some barbecue in my backyard,” she invented an idea.

Gerard and Beatrice unanimously replied, "Yes, sounds good!" which immediately earned Annaliese’s glance of disbelief.

It wasn’t that she didn’t like the idea. In fact, she loved mingling with people. It was just because this certain guy had a special effect on her which she wanted to avoid. However, turning down the invitation would be rude to do.

“Okay.” Annaliese resigned herself to the idea. “See you guys tomorrow.”

“Hold on. Isn’t your hotel too far from here to walk?” William prevented them from leaving right away. He remembered the place where he saved Annaliese from the crash. It was close to their hotel according to her earlier. “Let me order an Uber for you.”

“Don’t sweat it. We can do it ourselves,” said Annaliese.

“Please accept this as a token of gratitude.” William smiled at her and then reached for his phone. “Why don’t you guys sit first?”

The three of them then waited for a while until an Uber taxi came. Saoirse returned to her room for a while and Stephen went to the kitchen.

Not long after that, Saoirse screamed from inside the room. Everybody was startled and turned in that direction. Stephen showed up and ran to where his wife was.

“Could you please check what’s wrong?” asked William to Annaliese who was closer to him.

Annaliese nodded. She left the couch and walked quickly toward the room. There she saw Saoirse crying. At that point, she was doubtful whether she should come closer and ask about what was happening or not. It looked worrisome.

“We have to take her to the hospital now, love. Let’s go,” Stephen turned around and saw Annaliese at the door.

“What’s wrong?” asked her hesitantly.

Stephen led her to the living room to make telling everyone what was happening easier. “Guys, Fiona just threw up. We don’t know what’s wrong. Please, I hope one of you can take care of William. I think he can’t move too much in his state now, can he?” he pleaded.

“No, no. I’m fine. You guys can go back. The Uber has arrived too,” refused William. He didn’t want to be a burden to anyone.

Gerard and Beatrice exchanged glances. They were discussing if Gerard could stay and help. However, before one of them said anything, Annaliese spoke up.

“I’ll stay. You guys can leave. I made William this way, so it’s my responsibility to take care of him.” Annaliese made up her mind. Leaving was not an option. It was against her dignity.

“Great. I’m leaving, okay?” Stephen was in rush and didn’t wait for a second longer. He ran to the garage with Saoirse and the baby.

Meanwhile, Gerard and Beatrice left the house and took the Uber back to the hotel. Now there were William and Annaliese in the house.

Annaliese was standing in front of William and uttered, “So, you probably want to go to your room right? Let me take you there.”