Chapter 11
"The less you know, the more peace of mind you get."
"Deep down, she's very shallow."
At the medical bay of TAPOPS-U station, Lia was lying down on a bed. She was still passed out, and there was an IV in her hand. Minutes later, her eyes slowly opened. In the room with her were Gopal, Yaya, and Ying.
They heard a soft moan which caught their attention. Yaya widened up her eyes, "Lia?" She rushed to her. Gopal and Ying followed, and the moment they saw Lia awake, they gasp. "Lia!"
At another room in TAPOPS-U station, where the discussion of the mission happens, Sonobot and Ochobot were there together with Boboiboy, Fang, and Leizel. Holographic results of Lia's medical tests were shown.
"Well, even without her powers, Lia gets sick easily. She gets tired easily, she can faint easily, in short, she has a weak resistance to events like these." Ochobot reports. Leizel examined the report, "She even has low blood pressure, and her heartbeat can go irregular. Poor her."
"She takes her vitamins, right? And for sure she has supplements." Fang said. "Yeah. Although, this is the first time she has fainted ever since last year. Her mom said she used to have fainting spells almost every month." Sonobot replied.
Boboiboy gave a deep sigh, "Then it happened because she did a huge explosive attack. I could've stopped her, or I should've known about her condition."
"Aiya Boboiboy, it's not your fault," Fang said, lightly patting his shoulder. "We just have to teach Lia how she can use her powers without draining herself. We can't have another incident like that again, she might be forced to withdraw from TAPOPS."
Boboiboy just nodded, he was still worried for her. The moment he saw Lia being treated in the medical bay pained him. She looked so vulnerable, and this made him want to protect her even more.
Ochobot noticed how Boboiboy was feeling down ever since what happened to Lia. He witnessed how Boboiboy treats the other members, and he was sure that he treats Lia differently. There were times some of them get injured because of the mission; when Gopal broke his arm because he fell from a tree, Yaya getting scratches from a creature in a planet, Ying spraining her ankle from tripping, Leizel passing out from too much energy use, Fang suddenly vomiting because of the nausea of the planet's weather. Of course, as a leader, he got worried for them.
But with Lia, it's on a whole different level. Lia was out for almost 8 hours, and Boboiboy couldn't help himself from going back and forth to the medical bay, just to check on her.
All of a sudden, Ying arrived. "Guys, she's awake!"
Her announcement made them all rush to the medical bay, and when they got there, they saw Lia, who was already sitting up, smiling softly. "Surprise?"
Leizel dashed to her and tackled her with a hug, "Thank goodness you're awake! We thought you'll be waking up tomorrow since you were heavily passed out earlier."
"Sorry for that. It happens quite a lot." Lia smiled sheepishly. Yaya crosses her arms, "Aiya. Don't scare us like that again! We were about to bring you to an actual hospital!"
"Excuse her, she's exaggerating. We weren't about to bring you an actual hospital since we have this MedBay." Ying spoke up, making Lia laugh.
Boboiboy slowly walked to Lia, who smiled at him. He didn't say anything but he hugged her. She was surprised but she hugged him back.
Gopal smirked at what Boboiboy was doing, he chuckled. "My boy, doing what I did. He's a grown-up." He whispered to Yaya and Fang. "Don't ruin it." Yaya just replied, smiling at the two.
"You know, for a man like you who's 2 years older than me, I didn't know you were the worrying type of guy." Lia joked, earning a laugh from the others. "Aiya, don't make fun of me. I was really worried." The leader pouted.
"I know, I was just kidding, I'm sorry." Lia ruffled his cap, smiling. "I'll be more careful next time. I probably won't do that again, unless you want me to so I can keep your fangirls away."
Her joke made everyone else erupt in laughter, especially Fang. "Then the fangirls won't like him anymore, they'll end up going to me and I'll be more popular!" He didn't get any replies from him, just their stares that meant second-hand embarrassment.
Fang rolled his eyes, "Hmph."
All of a sudden, Tarung and KokoCi arrived, surprising everyone. Tarung was in his other personality since working hours are over. Team Boboiboy did the salute to greet them.
"I see you're now awake. How are you feeling?" Tarung asked Lia. "I'm okay. I feel that I've recovered from the mission. I'm sorry for making you guys worry." She slightly bows her head.
"No need to be sorry. Even heroes get tired, you know? You just have to manage it." Tarung calmly replied. "That's right. And well done to all of you for being able to retrieve the power sphere. However, the hunter escaped, am I right?" KokoCi said.
"Yeah. We're don't who they are and where did they come from. They just used the power sphere to attack us, which eventually was given to us. Then the hunter escaped." Yaya replied.
"We tried to search on the hunter that you saw, however, there are no results, for some reason." KokoCi said, sighing. "That's odd, commander. You guys can usually tell who are we up against." Boboiboy replied.
"Maybe this is just one of the amateur hunters, you know, like Adudu and Probe. Probably don't know what they're up to with the power sphere." Fang suggested. "I just remembered something. The hunter left a message for Lia." Ying spoke up.
"Wow, talk about leaving messages." Gopal remarked, Ying just sighed. "She said that deep down, she's very shallow. I don't know what does it mean though."
Lia suddenly went quiet, she started thinking about the message. Deep inside, I'm shallow? Like I'm not a deep person? What?
"We'll worry about the hunter later, for now, congratulations on obtaining the power sphere!" Tarung congratulated, making everyone erupt in a round of applause, and some hoots and whoops. "AnimalBot is already in the vault and surely, it will be safe there."
KokoCi nodded, grinning, "Also, I have another announcement. As of now, we're all cleared in terms of missions. I will still be requiring you guys to stay until the end of this week so we can monitor some things, in case there will be an emergency mission. After the end of this week, you guys will be taking a break."
"YAY!!!"
---
5 days later...
The van that TAPOPS used to send the gang home, has already arrived in front of Tok Aba's shop. One by one, everyone gets out and to their surprise, their parents are waiting for them. Tok Aba for Boboiboy, Mr. Kumar for Gopal, Nathalia for Lia, Mrs. Wawa for Yaya, and Aunty Yang for Ying.
They all went to their parents to give them greetings, hugs, and kisses.
"I don't know why I don't miss you this much, probably because your station is just here on Earth." Tok Aba remarked, hugging his grandson. "Aiya atok, I miss you every day and this is what I get from you?" Boboiboy sighed, making Tok Aba laugh.
Mrs. Wawa and Aunty Yang are doing their typical rivalry conversation as they leave the cocoa shop. Nathalia, on the other hand, kisses Lia on her forehead then checks her from top to bottom. "Don't you have work today, mama?"
"No, I went for a day off because I had to run some errands. And hey, you're not hurt, right?"
"Not really," Lia replied. However, when Sonobot went to them, she whispered to Nathalia about what happened to Lia. The mom looked at her and furrowed her eyebrows, "We'll talk later at the house."
Lia sheepishly smiled, "Okay." She noticed Fang and Leizel were just watching all of them. She saw the sadness in their eyes, so she went to them. "Hey, if you guys aren't busy, you can head to my place for some killing time."
Leizel smiled at how thoughtful Lia was. "Thank you. But it's okay, you might be busy since you'll be going back to school in a few days."
"No, not really. I'll just be doing some school work but you guys won't be a burden." Lia replied, then she held both Leizel and Fang's hands. "I insist. Please. It's kind of boring at the house." She pouted, making the two laugh.
"Alright. But hey, shouldn't Boboiboy come with us?" Fang said, as he turned to see Boboiboy, who was already doing his chores at the shop. "I mean, it would be great to go to Lia's house, right?!" He made his voice louder for Boboiboy to hear.
Lia and Leizel both laughed at his action, then Boboiboy turned to Fang, hearing what he said. "What? You guys are going to her house?"
Leizel giggled, "Goodness! He really heard it. You have very sharp ears!" Lia smiled, "And yeah, they are. Would you like to come? You can go after you do your work."
Boboiboy nodded, "Yeah, I'd love to. I'll follow you guys. I'll be there after this."
Lia brought Fang and Leizel to their house. They were surprised at how it looks.
"Feel at home. I'll be preparing some snacks. What do you guys want?" Nathalia asked them. "Uhm, anything would do, Mrs. de Vera." Leizel replied.
"Instant mi goreng noodles would do." Fang nonchalantly replied, earning a look from Leizel. "Aish, don't ask too much!"
Nathalia chuckled, "It's okay. And do call me Aunty, will you? Mrs. sounds so old. And yes, instant noodles for you, Fang. Would you guys like the same one?" She turned to Leizel and Lia. They both nodded.
Nathalia went on to the kitchen with Sonobot helping her.
Lia led them to her room. "So, this is my room. Nothing much though." Her room was neat. The walls were painted Lavender. Her room had a bed, a study desk, a vanity desk, and some shelves that were on the wall.
Leizel was amazed, she instantly went inside and roamed around, much to Fang's enjoyment. Lia chuckled as she sat on a study chair, "Feel free to see everything. I'll just be checking my notes for school."
Fang observed everything that Lia has in her room. His eyes went to a shelf wherein there were picture frames. He looked at every frame as there were pictures of Lia: kindergarten and junior high school moving up ceremony, elementary graduation, her with her group of friends, and when she visited a temple during her trip to South Korea.
Another picture frame caught his eyes; the family picture. He noticed that there were two older men, which are her brothers. There was Lia, herself, and her mom. He saw another man there, who looks older than all of them. He widened up his eyes. Why does it look like I've seen him before?
He turned around and saw Lia, who was still on her study desk, reviewing her notes. Then he saw Leizel, just sitting at her vanity desk observed the things that were there. He sighed as he just disregards what he saw.
Minutes later, someone was knocking on the door. "Come in!" Instead of Nathalia entering, it was Boboiboy, holding a tray of cooked instant mi goreng. Leizel raised her eyebrows, "Okay aunty, since when did you become Boboiboy?"
Boboiboy sighed, "Aiya. It's me!" Fang laughed, "Wow aunty, I can't believe you can shapeshift into other people now." Lia joined them, "Mom... What happened to you? You look like Boboiboy!" She fake cried, much to Boboiboy rolling his eyes.
"Ha-ha, very funny." He placed down the tray on a small table that was beside Lia's study desk. Leizel and Fang both rushed to the table and got their food, so did Lia. Then they both munched on their food.
"You're not going to eat?" Lia asked. Boboiboy shook his head, "No, I'm quite full. Thank you though." Then he asked her, "How are you feeling? Are you feeling better?"
"From the battle?" She replied. "Well, yeah. I've recovered already. Although, I think mom's going to give me another lecture about it." She sighed.
Leizel flicked her forehead, making her moan in pain. "We really have similarities. You should bring energy bars like me; I take them whenever I get tired from my powers."
"You mean Fang brings your energy bars." Boboiboy corrected, smirking. Leizel returned a glare, "Whatever you say, Mr. leader."
All of a sudden, Leizel's power watch was ringing which made her stop eating. "I'm going to take this. Excuse me." Lia nodded, then Leizel went out of the room.
Boboiboy shifted over to Lia's bed, he asked permission if he could sit at the edge of her bed so he could be closer to her. He was allowed to do so.
"Uhm, Fang." Lia called, earning his attention. "I've been meaning to ask you this if you don't mind." The shadow boy raised his eyebrow, "Okay. What is it?" Before asking, Lia looked over at the door, then she looked back at Fang. "Is there something between you and Leizel?"
Her question made Fang choke on his food, alarming Boboiboy and Lia. Lia was about to go and help him, but he raised his hand to halt her. He was able to recover from the choking, as he kept on clearing his throat. Then he drank water.
"Sheesh, who knew such a question would make you choke?" Boboiboy remarked. Fang glared at him, "Whatever. And to answer your question, Lia. Uhm... Well, it's quite complicated."
"Oooh." Lia made her mouth go ":o", Boboiboy laughed. Fang sighed, "Aish. Well, I do have these feelings for her, but it's kind of complicated because it will hurt someone."
"And that someone is Ying, right?"
Fang nodded, then he explained to Lia about how things happened. It turns out, Fang used to secretly like Ying back then, but they were too young and oblivious to know such a thing. When they started at TAPOPS, that's where Fang's feelings began to fade since he doesn't get to talk to her, plus there was a time Ying seemed distant to him.
He explained that when Leizel came, he felt she was the only one who really understood what he went through in his early years. They both shared the same feeling of having to train at a young age.
"Does Ying know you like Leizel? And does Leizel know Ying likes you? And does Leizel know you like her?" Lia asked, making Fang groan. "Talk about your questions, huh. But I don't know if Ying knows that I like Leizel, and Leizel doesn't know as well that I like her."
"They have tension with each other. I've noticed it back then. Maybe Ying sees that both of you like each other." Boboiboy said. Lia gave him a soft smile, "But hey, despite the tension, I don't think you should hold yourself back from Leizel. She's an awesome person, and I'm glad to know that she helped you become a better person."
Boboiboy nodded, "Yeah. And about Ying, you should clear things out with her. In that way, she and Leizel can start clearing things out with themselves. It's kind of sad seeing both of them like this."
Fang lowered his head, feeling guilty. "I know. I'm really guilty about it, the two had a great start in their friendship then this happened."
"It's not your fault, things just happen all of a sudden, you know?" Lia comforted him. "I'm sure things between them will settle eventually. You guys got this." She gave a small smile.
After more exchanges between the three of them, Leizel went back. "Phew. Wow, I didn't realize I was out for that long. Sorry for that." She proceeded in finishing the noodles, unaware that she was the topic of the conversation earlier.
"No problem. Is everything okay?" Boboiboy asked. "Yeah, it was just Kaizo. He informed me about my training with him. We were supposed to head back next week, but he postponed it, until further notice." Leizel nonchalantly replied.
"Is he okay? And why didn't he call me?" Fang grunted as he asked. Leizel giggled, "He feels that I'm the younger sibling, not you." She joked. "Just kidding, but he will call you later. Just wait for it."
Boboiboy found himself staring at Lia, who was drinking water. Her ivory skin tone matches with her chestnut brown hair, which was shoulder length. She was wearing a light pink crew neck t-shirt paired with black trousers. He got so lost in staring at her to the point he didn't hear Fang calling for him.
"Oi, Boboiboy!" He was snapped back to reality with Fang smacking his head, causing him to yelp in pain. "Ouch! What was that for?"
"You weren't listening." Fang replied, wiggling his eyebrows while smirking. He knew Boboiboy was staring at Lia, that's why he wasn't listening. Leizel and Lia didn't mind the two, they were already used to seeing them like that.
Leizel continued talking, "As I was saying, Kaizo told me that TAPOPS found information about the hunter we encountered. Although, it's not that much. All they know is that hunter belonged to an organization that is still unknown, as of now."
"Organization? Like the Tengkotak Gang?" Boboiboy asked. Leizel nodded, "Yeah. They also said that it's hard tracking them down, it will take months to know more about it."
Lia sighed, "Looks like we just have to wait and see what's going to happen. We'll stay prepared then."
Everyone else agreed with her.
She heard a sound from her phone, meaning there was a notification. She picked it up and saw the notification. It was a message, a message that made her speechless.
From: AA Dad
Hello, Anak ko. Sorry for the late reply, was caught up with work. And I miss you too. I'll be going home quite soon.
A/N: Hello! "Anak" means child in Tagalog. So "Hello, anak ko" means "Hello, my child". Hope that helps :> And I also hope you guys liked this one! Many more chapters go :> Keep safe always!