Chapter 102: Recover
Chapter 102: Recover
—CELIA—
Three weeks passed quietly.
The doctors called it a remarkable recovery and the nurses called it a miracle.
But Lilith simply called it the answer to every prayer she had whispered beside my hospital bed.
To me... it still felt unreal.
Every morning, I woke up to the soft hum of hospital machines that had gradually disappeared one by one as my condition improved. The IV had been removed first. Then the heart monitor. After that came the wheelchair, replaced by slow walks through the rehabilitation wing with a therapist patiently matching my pace.
Day by day, my body remembered how to live again, even if my heart still struggled to understand where it belonged.
The doctors remained fascinated by my case.
According to them, there had never been any severe brain damage. No permanent injury. No medical explanation for why I had remained unconscious for nearly a month. Every scan returned normal. Every examination contradicted the last.
"It simply doesn’t make sense," one neurologist admitted while reviewing my chart. "From a medical standpoint, you should never have entered such a prolonged coma."
I only smiled politely.
If I told him I had spent those weeks living another life in another world, surrounded by people who had become precious to me...
He would probably recommend that I see a psychiatrist before allowing me to leave the hospital.
So I kept quiet.
Not because I was afraid no one would believe me.
But because... I was no longer certain that I believed myself.
Ever since I had woken up, the same questions had been circling endlessly through my mind, refusing to leave me in peace.
Had everything truly happened? Had I really lived another life, laughed with those people, cried with them, fallen in love, and watched them suffer? Or had it all been nothing more than an elaborate dream woven together by the unconscious mind of someone trapped in a coma?
The doctors insisted that dreams could feel astonishingly vivid under certain conditions.
They spoke of hallucinations, subconscious memories, and the brain’s strange ability to construct entire worlds while suspended between life and death.
Their explanations were reasonable. Logical. Scientifically sound.
Yet none of them could explain why those memories still hurt.
Why, even now, the thought of Sebastian’s quiet concern, Matthias’ unwavering loyalty, Ezekiel’s gentle exasperation, Ren’s warm smile, Aria’s friendship, or Aelith’s lonely devotion could make my chest ache as though I had truly left them behind.
I let out a slow sigh and turned my attention toward the open window beside my bed. Warm sunlight spilled across the floor, while a gentle breeze drifted into the room carrying the familiar scent of summer. Cars could be heard in the distance, along with the faint chatter of people going about their ordinary lives. It was peaceful and comforting.
It was the world I had always known.
And yet...
Why did it feel like I was the one who no longer belonged?
The sound of the door opening gently behind me pulled me from my thoughts.
"Celia!"
Lilith stepped inside carrying a small travel bag, her face practically glowing with excitement. She looked far happier than she had during the weeks I had spent lying unconscious in this very room, and seeing that smile alone made something inside me loosen.
"You’ve finally been discharged!" she exclaimed, barely containing herself as she hurried toward my bedside. "We’re going home today!"
A small smile found its way onto my lips.
"...That’s wonderful."
"It is!" she laughed, setting the bag down before throwing her arms around me with surprising strength. "I’ve been counting the days until this moment."
I returned the embrace just as tightly before resting my chin lightly against her shoulder.
"...Thank you."
She pulled back slightly, blinking in confusion.
"For what?"
"For staying beside me all this time," I answered softly. "For taking care of me... even when no one knew whether I’d ever wake up."
Lilith’s smile gradually softened, replaced by an expression so full of relief that it almost broke my heart. She looked at me for a long moment before gently cupping my face, as though she still needed to reassure herself that I was truly awake and not another cruel illusion her exhausted mind had conjured.
"You don’t have to thank me," she whispered, her voice already beginning to tremble. "You’re my big sister. There was never a world where I would have left your side."
A painful lump rose in my throat.
"I heard you," I confessed quietly.
She blinked in confusion.
"...What?"
"When I still couldn’t move..." I lowered my gaze to our intertwined hands, carefully searching for the right words. "I could open my eyes, but I couldn’t respond, but sometimes... I could hear voices." A faint smile found its way onto my lips. "And I heard you."
Lilith stared at me in stunned silence, her eyes slowly widening.
"I heard you talking to the doctors. I heard you begging me to wake up." My own vision gradually blurred as tears gathered in my eyes. "I heard you crying when you thought I couldn’t hear you."
The tears she had struggled so hard to keep inside finally overflowed.
"Oh, Celia..."
She threw her arms around me again, this embrace far gentler than the first, as though she feared that holding me too tightly would somehow make me disappear all over again.
"I was so scared," she admitted between quiet sobs. "Every day the doctors kept telling me your condition was stable, but you just... wouldn’t wake up." She shook her head helplessly, unable to stop crying. "After a while, I started wondering if I’d already said goodbye to you without even realizing it."
"I’m sorry..."
She immediately pulled back just enough to frown at me before lightly smacking my arm.
"Stop apologizing."
I couldn’t help letting out a small laugh despite the tears threatening to fall.
"I’m serious."
"So am I." She sniffled before wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her cardigan. "You didn’t choose any of this, so stop acting like you did." She let out a slow breath before looking at me with affection. "Do you know how many nights I slept in that chair beside your bed because I was terrified you’d wake up and find yourself alone? I barely went home except to shower and grab a change of clothes."
My chest tightened painfully.
"...You stayed here... every day?"
She nodded without hesitation.
"Every single day."
"But... your work?"
"I took a leave of absence."
"...Lilith."
"What?" she replied with a tiny smile.
"You could’ve lost your job."
She shrugged as though it were the most insignificant thing in the world.
"So what?"
I stared at her.
"I can always find another job." Her smile grew warmer. "I only have one big sister."
The simple sincerity of those words shattered something inside me.
I quickly looked away, suddenly unable to meet her eyes.
"...I don’t deserve you."
Lilith frowned almost immediately, the confusion in her eyes quickly giving way to concern.
"What are you talking about?"
I lowered my gaze to our joined hands and let out a quiet sigh. The words had been buried somewhere deep inside me for years, but now that they had begun surfacing, I found myself unable to stop them.
"I spent so much of my life convincing myself that I didn’t matter all that much." My voice softened with every sentence, as though I were confessing something I had never intended another soul to hear. "I always believed that if I disappeared one day... people would grieve for a while, but eventually they’d move on. That perhaps... I wouldn’t leave much behind."
A faint, self-deprecating smile tugged at my lips.
"I was always so proud of you, you know." I looked at her with genuine admiration. "Between the two of us, you were always the talented one. You had dreams you chased with everything you had, and you had the ability to bring entire worlds to life with nothing but words. Every time I read one of your stories, I kept thinking..." I laughed softly, shaking my head. "...’She’s going to make it someday.’"
I looked down at my own hands.
"And me..." I exhaled slowly. "I’m still stumbling through life, trying to become a designer one tiny step at a time. I’m still an amateur compared to everyone around me." Another small laugh escaped me, though there was little humor in it. "Sometimes I couldn’t help wondering if I was the ordinary sister standing beside someone extraordinary."
Lilith’s expression gradually hardened with disbelief.
"Celia..."
She tightened her grip on my hands before forcing me to meet her eyes.
"Did you really think that’s how I saw you?"
I remained silent.
She let out a frustrated sigh before continuing.
"You’re family." Her voice trembled. "Did it never occur to you that without you... none of this would’ve happened?"
I smiled weakly and reached up to pat her head, hoping to lighten the mood.
"Alright."
"No."
She caught my wrist before I could pull away.
"I’m serious."
Her brows furrowed so tightly that I almost laughed, but the tears gathering in her eyes stopped me.
"Have you really forgotten everything you’ve done for me?" she asked quietly. "Celia, you’re the most stubborn person I’ve ever met, yet you’re also the softest-hearted woman I know. You complain every single time I shove another manuscript into your hands and tell me you’re tired of reading my drafts..." A watery laugh escaped her. "...but you still read every single Chapter."
She smiled through her tears.
"And when you criticized them..." she continued, "you never did it to tear me down. You always showed me where I could improve. You’d point out plot holes I never noticed, tell me when my characters sounded fake, remind me when my endings felt rushed." She shook her head with a bittersweet smile. "You weren’t just reading my stories, Celia."
"You were helping me write them."
My throat tightened.
"Lilith..."
"No, let me finish."
Her voice became steadier, filled with quiet conviction.
"After mom and dad died..." She paused briefly, swallowing the emotion threatening to overwhelm her. "You were barely an adult yourself. You should’ve been worrying about university, making friends, chasing your own dreams..."
Instead...
"You buried all of that."
I lowered my head.
"You took every part-time job you could find." Her eyes glistened as the memories resurfaced. "You worked during the day, stayed up at night sewing commissions because you refused to let me quit school. You skipped meals pretending you weren’t hungry because tuition came first. You wore the same old clothes for years because buying new ones meant I could have textbooks."
Every word struck harder than the last.
"I saw all of it, Celia."
Her voice finally broke.
"I wasn’t blind."
I felt something hot slide down my cheek.
"You think I became a writer because I was talented?"
She laughed through her tears.
"I became a writer because every single time I wanted to give up... you were standing behind me telling me to keep going."
Her fingers squeezed mine more tightly.
"You kept believing in me long before I ever believed in myself."
She looked straight into my eyes.
"So don’t sit there and tell me you don’t deserve me."
Her lips trembled.
"If anyone doesn’t deserve someone..."
"...it’s me."
She shook her head.
"I’ve been chasing my dream while you’ve been quietly sacrificing yours."