"He has been my imaginary friend since I was five, Prince Andreas."
"Prince Andreas?" he furrowed. "Who is that? And why do you have an imaginary friend? Are you not too old for that?" He seemed amused.
"I am serious, Florate," Lilith frowned.
"Ok, ok," he held back his laughter and comported himself, not wanting to get her annoyed as he decided to keep paying attention to her.
"Andreas has been with me since I was five and I have grown to love him. I have grown to not know how to live without him but now he has left me, Florate. He said we can't be together," she broke into tears.
"Calm down, Lilith," Florate rubbed her arm gently, trying to calm her down. "I understand how you feel."
"No, you do not," she cried more.
"I do, honestly I do, but why did you not inform Rain and me about this friend, this Andreas? How did you even meet him?"
"I am sorry I kept him from you both," she sniffed. "I just could not let you guys know because he could only be seen by me, with the help of my imagination. He revealed himself to me when I was five years old and since then, we have been so close and inseparable," she sobbed.
"Since you were five? Thirteen years ago?" He looked stunned. He still found it very difficult to believe most of the things Lilith was saying but he still chose to keep calm; he could not afford to annoy her now.
Florate could not help but imagine within him how Rain was going to take this news when she gets to hear it.
The thing that shocked him the most was how she was able to hide the fact that she had been in love all this while. He always believed that girls were not built to be experts in hiding their feelings. He not only confirmed that with Rain, but also, he had taken notice of the spark finding its light between Lyra and Linthorn. He always thought girls were too emotional and expressive to conceal their mood whenever they were in love but obviously, Lilith was built differently.
She was always teasing Rain for showing her feelings too much toward him. For being very sensitive and intentional about things that concerned him, the man she loved, and always expressing the love she had for him in any way she could, down to the way she looked at him and the times she always told him that the thoughts of him made her blush. She obviously could not hide that she was in love but how was Lilith able to conceal hers so well that not even Rain or he himself could notice or even get the slightest idea that she was in love?
Honestly, he was beginning to feel deep down within himself that maybe Rain and he himself never really knew and understood Lilith. Because if she was able to hide something this huge away from them so perfectly that they could not guess even the slightest hint, then they were for sure still yet to understand her well.
"Yes, Florate. Can you still remember the time Sensei Helia showed us our dominant emotions when we were still in level two?" she asked him, drying her tears a bit with her palm and sniffing.
"Yes?" he nodded with his brows raised as though he was thinking and answering the question at the same time.
"He was the reason why my dominant emotion then was love. I love him so much, Florate. I really do." She burst into tears. She kept crying, sniffing, and hitting her head on his chest in agony and he did not bulge at all. He just kept mute like he was totally lost or something.
"We have been in love for such a long time, Florate. Why would he leave me in such a way? I love him regardless of the fact that we were totally different from each other. We put our differences aside and gave our hearts to each other. Why then did he just leave, only because we can't be together? I want him back, Florate," she held his gi tight. "I want him back at all costs. Whatever it might take, I will do it. I just love him so much and want to remain with him."
Florate looked for ways to calm her down at least but it wasn't working at all. He tried cuddling her but her cries were persistent and now confusing him more.
He was still very baffled that Lilith kept her relationship hidden from him and Rain, not minding how close they were. He was also very upset at whoever it was because he left her. He may not know what really happened but seeing Lilith in this condition really wasn't speaking well of him at all and he literally saw this imaginary friend as someone not worth her care. However, he was very sure that if she had told him and Rain about him, they would have never let this happen and allow her to be in this condition. He wondered why she kept his existence a secret from them and who he really was that made him imaginary to her.
"It is alright, Lilith," he cupped her face. "Stop crying already." He dried her tears with his palm. He, notwithstanding, was still not happy with the fact that she kept the so-called Prince Andreas a secret for such a long time but seeing her like this wasn't helping matters at all. He had to calm her down if he wanted her to tell him more about 'her love,' because she was definitely not going to say anything reasonable if she remained like this.
He tucked her loose hair behind her ears and wiped her face properly before finally speaking. "Now calm down and tell me who he really is," he told her, still cupping her face and staring into her purple eyes.
"He..." she sniffed. "He is Prince Andreas of Gorgor."
"Prince Andreas of Gorgor?" he looked puzzled. "Which Gorgor?"
"I know this might sound crazy but I am talking of the same Gorgor that our past rangers sent to the abyss many years ago." She sounded really serious now. He let go of her and drew back a bit.
"You are unbelievable, Lilith. Gorgor? Seriously? That world only exists in storybooks now," he said sensibly while he gave her a weird look like she was going crazy or something.
"I am being very serious, Florate. Prince Andreas is real! I am not making this up. Like I told you before, he came to my room one night when I was five and we became friends then. But now, we are more than friends. We are more like soul mates now but we just can't be together." A tear flowed down her left cheek.
"And why is that?" Florate was beginning to get emotional. He knew very well that Lilith was good at many things but lying was not one of them. She would rather not say than lie so what she was saying now was absolutely true but hard to believe, even for him.
"Well, because since his world, Gorgor, has been in the dark, all her children including him turned dark and can never remain with light unless light is restored to Gorgor." Her shoulders trembled and she forced herself to hold back from bursting into tears again.
Florate tried to catch up with everything she said but it just wasn't comprehensible. "What do you mean by restoring light back to a lost world? Does that even make sense? Besides, he is only made real by your imaginations. Just let him go, Lilith. He is just not the one for you."
"How can you even say that?" she looked at him with so much irritation. "I love him, Florate, and he loves me too and the only thing I require from you now is your support and not you deciding if he is the one for me or not." She broke into tears again, this time hitting his thigh out of frustration.
Florate felt hurt. It wasn't his intention to hurt her feelings, he was only being reasonable but Lilith didn't seem to care right now. She must really love this Prince Andreas and would sacrifice anything just to be with him.
"I am sorry, Lilith." He pulled her into a forced hug, stopping her from hitting him more. "I am really very sorry for what I said. I should not have. You love him and he loves you too so you both deserve to be happy and I promise to help you in whatever way I can, because I love you and want the best for you." He pulled away from the hug and dried her tears for the second time, wiping her face properly and cupping her face before speaking again. "Get enough rest, I will return to check up on you later. I have to go see Rain." …