If Things Were Different

Cure

Kalim is walking down the hallway to go to Jamils room when the Sultan saw him.

"Kalim, how's finding a girlfriend going? Have you seen one to your liking?" The Sultan's face and voice are stern.

Kalim is really tired and sad. Although his father's questions annoyed him, he still answered him with respect and calm behavior.

"I haven't found a right one for me." Kalim closed his fist.

"You must make haste. It will take some time to build a relationship with a girl. I'm not getting any younger." The Sultan said.

Kalim snapped, "Father... How am I supposed to do that right now? Jamil's life is in danger and you expect me to court a girl this time? Please... At least after Jamil woke up. I promise to find a girl." He bowed to the Sultan and walks away. To the Sultan, this is the first time Kalim answered with annoyance so he just sighed and walk.

"Kalim-senpai." Epel caught his attention. "Are you okay? You look pale."

Kalim smiled but not his usual smile. "I'm fine Epel-kun. Where are you going?"

"I'm going to Jamil-senpai's room. Here." Epel hands him an apple juice from his hometown hoping it will help Kalim relieve his stress.

Kalim's face lit up and start drinking the juice. "Waaaaahhh thank you so much, Epel-kun!" Then his usual grin went back.

They reached Jamil's room and saw Rook and Vil sitting beside him, thinking.

Meanwhile Jamil...

"Hoho... Can you see that? Kalim is being forced to get married. Which of course you know." The voice reached Jamil and no denying. He is not comfortable talking about it.

"Tell me Jamil. Is it really fun, watching and hiding your feelings to him?" The voice said and Jamil's eyes widened.

"How did you know about that?" Jamil said still acting cool.

"I told you, I am watching you. And it's really entertaining... Hehehe" The voice inside Jamil's head said and he startes frowning.

"I think I also said I will help you... But I have decided to make it more entertaining. Wanna know why? Because I'm bored!!! Hahahahaha" the guy laughed like a lunatic and Jamil just made a disgusted face.

Meanwhile, outside...

"This is getting harder than we thought." Vil said.

"W-why?" Kalim mumbled.

"The caster is strong. I think he's using a special type of curse." Vil stated.

"No way..." Kalim's eyes became wet with tears trying to fall. The thought of Jamil not waking up forever is the last thing he wants to see.

"If we still do something to counter it, it will just backfire to us. We can try, but we can't take a risk of hurting us all." Vil continued.

"I..." Kalim said before running away... He's blaming himself for what happened to Jamil. He can't help but hoped he's the one lying there and not Jamil.

Kalim is tired. He's tired of waiting and thinking of a way to wake Jamil up. His eyes are getting dark and sore because of staying up all night and crying, praying about Jamil to come back and open his eyes again.

He's tired but he won't give up. There's still hope. As long as Jamil is alive and breathing, there's still a chance. So he ran and ran to go to a place where he can be alone and just be himself. A place where he can breath for a while then go back to Jamil.

While running, he bumped into someone and caught him before falling.

"Kalim!" Kalim looked up to see the owner of the voice that somehow familiar.

"Nashim, I thought you're at NRC? What are you doing here?" Kalim whiped his tears.

"I came to see the both of you. You're taking longer to come back, I'm getting worried. W-wait... Are you crying? What happened?" Nashim asked.

"I-its... J-Jamil... Vil said we can't counter the curse." Kalim sobbed again.

"That's bad... How's he now?" Looking worried, he asked.

"He's still sleeping. Wihout knowing when he'll wake up." Kalim didn't tell Nashim about his consciousness.

"Can I go see him?" Kalim hesitates to go back to Jamil's room but he still accompanied Nashim. When they arrived, Vil, Rook and Epel are still there looking at the opened door.

"Everyone, this is my cousin, Nashim." Kalim said to the Pomefiore trio and Vil frowned.

"Isn't he an NRC student? Scarabia?" Vil asked and Nashim's eyes lit that someone know him.

"Yes!!! I'm new. I came here to visit Jamil-senpai." Nashim explained with a smile.

"Okay... Kalim, we should make more research. Do you mind if the three of us go?" Vil said.

"Ohh of course not!" Then the three nodded before going outside and left the two of them. Still feeling down, Kalim went outside with full trust leaving Jamil to Nashim.

Inside Jamil's room...

"Jamil-senpai..." He talked with peaceful voice.

"Jamil." Then change it to low and stern voice.

"Did you see Kalim? He looks miserable." He continued forming a dark smile on his face.

"He looks miserable because of you." He sat on a chair beside his bed.

"Fool Pomefiore folks. They may do endless research but they can never lift my curse to you. I am your cure and without me, you will never wake up!" He said and laughed like crazy but almost whisper.

"For now, I'll stay in this room and keep you from harm. I left you the precious vision so just continue to behave and watch." He laughed again and eventually stopped before someone enters the room.

Meanwhile, while the Pomefiore trio walk their way to Vil's room...

"Rook. I have a bad feeling with that Nashim. See if we can know more about him. Don't let Kalim know yet." Vil instructed.

"Oui, Roi de Poison." Rook nodded with a smile.