Luke's POV

I walk toward my bedside table and pull out the box with the earrings that I had bought for Ems.

I hope she likes them.

I walk over to her and shove it towards her in a very childish way. Why am I so nervous all of a sudden?

"You don't have to buy me anything, Luke." She states, staring at me.

"I wanted to." I say.

"I can't take this. You've already paid for the dress. This is just too much." She says. Why can't she open the box already?

"I've already told you, Ems. Money is not a problem okay? And consider this as a gift." I say, sighing. God, I want to see her reaction.

"Okay." She sighs. She begins to open the box but stops suddenly.

"There isn't a spider in it, is it?" she asks, looking scared. Is she for real right now? I just want her to open it already. Man, I've never been so nervous before. Why is she making this difficult? Just open the goddamn box already! I give her a 'are you crazy?' look and she sighs once again.

She finally opens the box, revealing the earrings and she immediately gasps.

"Are these really for me?" she asks, not taking her eyes off of the earrings.

"Yeah." I say slowly. She just stares at the earrings. Her lips are slightly parted but her expression is blank, not giving away anything.

Maybe she likes them? Or maybe she doesn't? I start to feel a little uneasy due to the silence. Why isn't she saying something? I saw her looking at the earrings at the mall. I thought that she liked them or else why would she have been staring. Oh god! She doesn't like them! Shit shit shit shit shit shit.

Realizing this, I immediately start rambling,

"If you don't like them, we can return it. Its okay. I mean I did saw you looking at them in the mall. I thought you liked them. I personally like them too. Oh god I'm so stupid, I shouldn't have-..." I immediately stop when Emily suddenly stands up on her toes and presses her lips onto my cheeks. I freeze in my spot. Not even moving a muscle. Her lips linger onto my cheeks for five seconds more and then she pulls away. My skin tingles form where her lips were

"Thanks, I love them." She says quietly. She gives me a small smile, her eyes still red and puffy from crying a few moments ago but the smile she gives me takes my breath away.

Oh my god! Emily kissed me on the cheeks! And I'm fan-girling over it. I sound so gay right now but my body feels like its on fire.

Gosh! Get a grip Luke!

I quickly recollect my composure and give her a smile.

"You're welcome." I say and she turns around to keep the earrings in her bedside drawer. She keeps the box in the drawer and sits on her bed.

"You wouldn't tell the guys and Alice, right?" she asks looking at me. I sigh. Of course, she doesn't want to tell them. I think she didn't want to tell me either. I just kinda found out. I walk over and sit next to her. I put my arm around her shoulders pulling her into a side hug and kiss her temple.

"I wont, unless you want me to." I say, truthfully. She breathes a sigh of relief.

"I have to tell my aunt." She says, picking up her phone. Why isn't she calling her parents? I mean, wouldn't her parents want to know first?

"Why not your parents?" I blurt out. She tenses immediately. What is she hiding from me?

"Uh... they are probably asleep." She says too quickly. I can see she is lying but I let it be. I take a look at the clock and se that it is, in fact late, 11:36pm.

"Wont your aunt be asleep too?" I ask her.

"She is a flight attendant remember? Her job requires staying awake for at least 14 hours a day." She says, dialing on her phone. I nod and head towards the bathroom to take a shower and give her some privacy.

When I re enter the room Emily is still on the phone. I took over an hour in the shower and she's still on the phone?

"Yeah, I know...I promise I will...love you too." She says and hangs up.

"Everything okay?" I ask her, worriedly.

I mean, how could I not worry? God knows about what they talked about for the past hour. They could have decided that Emily should come back to her aunts' home or move away to her parents for all I know!

And I don't want Emily to go.

"Yeah, she freaked out of course, she wants to meet me but she cant, unfortunately, she is currently in Asia for about two weeks, so she just ranted everything that she would tell me in person on the phone." She says, chuckling a little. Her aunt seems to be cool and very caring.

"I'm glad you told her." I say, walking towards my bed.

"There no one I could have told anyway." She whispers and I freeze.

"What?" I ask her, having already heard the statement.

"Nothing." She says quickly. " I'm tired. I'm going to go to sleep. Good night, Luke" she says, hurriedly lying down on her bed.

What the hell just happened?

Why did she say that she didn't have anyone? Why?

I shrug it off, getting tired. I was tired and it was almost 1am. I lie down on my bed but despite of being tired, I find myself fidgeting every single minute. I keep thinking about what happened today. I want to know more about Emily's anorexia. I want to help her desperately.

Should I call her aunt?

The thought just pops into my mind out of nowhere. I am just too curious to be patient. I get up and walk towards Emily's bed. I grab her phone and unlock it. I already know her password. No, she didn't tell me. I just found out sneakily. If she ever comes to know this, she would kill me. Literally.

I go to her contacts and message her aunt's number to my mobile. I immediately delete the message from the sent messages folder and keep the phone at its original place. I walk quickly but quietly over to my bed.

I feel like a detective right now.

I sit on my bed with my legs crossed. I then dial her aunt's number and press the call button.

What if she is sleeping? Emily did talk to her a few moments ago. Maybe she is still awake? Maybe not? I should probably wait till morning. Damn my curiosity. Just when I decide to cancel the ongoing call, she picks up. Well, its too late now.

"Hello?" she says, her voice is a little high pitched but still soft. Her voice doesn't sound groggy so she must be wide awake right now. Good, I called at the right time then.

"Is this Miss Tessa speaking?" I ask her. I hope I don't sound rude. I don't know her last name, okay?

"Yes this is she. May I ask who are you?" she asks.

"This is Luke. Emily's roommate." I reply.

"Ah! She told me about you! Its nice to finally talk to you. Please just call me Tessa. Its like 1 in the morning there right now. Shouldn't you be asleep?" Emily's told her about me? I wonder what she said.

"I wanted to talk to you about Emily." I state.

"Oh my god. Is everything alright?" she asks, her tone worried and concerned.

"Yeah, everything is fine. Emily is sleeping right now. She is fine." I reply. I hear her sigh in relief before asking,

"Okay. That's good. So what can I help you with?" she asks.

"Emily must have told you that I know about her anorexia." I state.

"Yeah she did. She called me a few moments ago." Her aunt says, confirming my statement.

"I just want to help her. I am worried for her and I care about her. Since Emily is in college without you or her parents, I want to help her cope with it. Could you tell me how to make her eat? Sorry, I know very little about anorexia." I say.

"Oh hun, you don't need to apologize. May people don't know about anorexia nervosa. You may know that it is an eating disorder in which the person suffering either restricts himself or herself to eat or take some drugs to suppress their appetite. They may also induce vomiting..." she trails of, sighing. Probably thinking about what Emily did.

"Anyways, you know there isn't a medicine for it and some medicines have only limited effects which is useless. Emily's treatment was a FBT treatment or Family Based Treatment. You can learn more about it on the internet in detail. However, I can tell you this, I know you will try to keep Emily fed but don't force her to shove food down her throat. She will probably eat only a few bites but she will eat nonetheless. So increase her servings little by little, like one or two bites extra." She explains.

"Okay. Anything else?" I ask her.

"Yeah, though Emily's treatment is FBT. Her parents never really took her to therapy too often. They took her only to get her weight checked and revise her diet plan. They practically did everything else on their own. They were very dedicated to helping their daughter like I am now. You have to be patient, Luke, don't get too worked up if Emily is being stubborn. Her parents always tried to make her feel normal. You have to do that too. Emily should not feel like she is sick because it will affect her mentally. So, be patient, Luke." She explains and I listen slowly. I cant help but think about her parents. Why was her aunt using 'were' everytime? Like it was in the past and not anymore?

"Okay, Tessa. I'll keep all that in mind. Thank you for taking out time to explain me everything." I thank her, honestly.

"Its no problem, and I should thank you for being such a nice friend and willing to help Emily. I really appreciate what you are doing, Luke. Thank you." She says, her voice clearly thankful.

"No problem. I care about Ems and wanted to help her." I reply.

"Okay, now I have to go. Duty calls! Thank you so much again. Be patient an I would like to meet you when I return from Asia." She says.

"I'd like to meet you too. Bye and thank you!" I say politely and she hangs up.

Wow! She is a nice woman. She sounded very dedicated. I desperately wanted to ask her about Emily's parents. Emily said that they live far away. but I have a feeling that its not true. Her parents have remained a mystery so far.

I shrug off the thoughts and focus on the present.

What happened today was totally unexpected. I couldn't imagine seeing Emily like that. She looked frail and fragile. Like a piece of glass that you have to handle with care. One wrong move and it is destroyed.

I would've never seen her doing this if she hadn't run past me. You see, I was returning to the dorm when Emily just ran past me in a hurry. She didn't even realize I was there. When I saw her running, I quickened my own pace and barged into the dorm just seconds later. Then I heard gagging noises and ran towards the bathroom.

The scene I saw before my eyes made my heart ache. Emily was plunging two fingers inside her throat and puking out the sandwich I gave her after the test. When she was done, she washed her mouth once and stood there crying. She didn't even know I was there until she heard me calling out her name.

She was surprised to see me, obviously not expecting me to see her. My expression probably mirrored her as I was surprised myself. When I asked her why she did it, she broke down.

She fell to her knees on the bathroom floor, her body shaking violently. I was quick to take her into my arms, wanting to comfort her.

I got her to tell me everything. From Millie to her being anorexic. I was so furious at Millie. Who does she think she is? She harassed Emily and threatened her.

#certified_bitch.

However, the thing that got me was the fact that Emily was anorexic. She didn't tell a single soul. Not even Alice.

I held Emily for god knows how long but it didn't matter. I let her get it out. She needed to let out the stress building up inside her.

I interrogated her more about the topic. It all made sense now.

Emily is anorexic.

That's why she denied eating almost everything.

That's why she always ate salads.

That's why she weighed as light as a feather.

That's why she is so thin.

After digesting all these facts, it was final that I will not get any sleep tonight. I take out my laptop and place it on my lap, turning it on. I Google,

'Anorexia Nervosa'

The page is filled with links to websites almost immediately.

I visibly cringe when I see some photos displayed showing anorexic patients. They are all boney skeletons in peach colour. I am somewhat relieved that Emily's condition is not as bad as this. Emily is thin and definitely under weight but she does not look like a skeleton. She has meat on her bones. Her elbows or ribs don't jut out and her cheeks are not sunken like the ones in the photos. I let out a sigh of relief at that.

I open a bunch of websites in different tabs. Wikipedia is the first one that I open.

Wikipedia is a gift bestowed upon students by the gods. It has information on almost everything. It has been helping me since middle school for my homework and projects.

I go through everything on the page. I learn almost everything about anorexia.

There are two types of anorexia. One is the 'restricting type' and the other is the 'purging type'. Emily's anorexia is definitely the 'restricting type' because she restricts herself from eating more food and only eats enough to stay awake. She also goes for jogs sometimes and comes back too tired to function properly. Her anorexia is not the 'purging type' because she doesn't purge frequently as she told me the last time was when we had dinner with my parents.

I am so thankful to learn that the severity of her anorexia is actually moderate and not extreme.

As for the treatment, as her aunt told me, there was Family Based Treatment (FBT) with many subtypes like the one in which the family members go together to the therapy to support the patient.

However, the cure of anorexia is a proper and healthy diet plan and enormous compassion and support. It doesn't mean that you have to become the food police and stand with a calorie meter watching over how much the person is eating. That will affect the person mentally.

Also, there are different causes of anorexia. It can be genetic and passed down through generations or it can be psychological. I doubt that its genetic after hearing that Emily's parents were very dedicated and supportive. I don't think Emily has inherited anorexia from her parents.

The cause is most probably psychological in Emily's case.

Its clearly mentioned that anorexia is not about food and weight- at least not at its core. Its much more complicated than that. The food and weight related issues are only symptoms of something deeper. Like depression, loneliness, pressure to be perfect and insecurity.

That's not good.

After probably an hour of research, my eyes begin to sting from looking at the screen for so long and I finally turn off the laptop, placing it on my desk. I glance at the clock. 3:17am. I sigh, its been a long day.

I lay back on my bed, resting my head on my arm.

I look over to the girl sleeping opposite to me. I came to know so much about her today. Its like a whole new chapter opened up before my eyes. A chapter, which was meant to be a secret. I understand Emily so much better now. Today's events took my feelings towards Emily to a whole new level.

Emily is not afraid to eat. She is not afraid of food like some people.

Yeah, its true. People are actually afraid of food. Its called 'Sitophobia'- phobia of food. I learned this during my research. At any other time, I would have laughed my ass out. Because, well phobia of food? I mean, c'mon guys that cant be true. Who is afraid of food? Its practically impossible in my opinion. What do they eat then?

Are they vampires or something?

Okay, I'm just diverting the topic now. Anyways...

Like I said, Emily is not afraid of food. She is afraid to gain weight. She is terrified to gain weight. Most probably under the pressure to be perfect. She is insecure. She thinks she is fat. She thinks she is ugly.

But the girl before me is anything but ugly. Her brown eyes shine with an unknown happiness. Her long wavy brunette hair is so soft and falls to her waist. Her smile lights up the entire room. Her smile is so bright when she is happy. She is so beautiful. She's perfect. She just doesn't realize it.

Her disorder is eating her up. Its making her destroy herself.

The girl before me is destroying herself.

And I cant let that happen.

I have to save her.

I need to save the girl I am falling for.

......................................................................................................................................

Soooo? I am back! wohooo! I updated as promised.

Lets clear some things up. Everything written about anorexia in this chapter is true. I did research on anorexia and most of the facts are from the Internet, mostly Wikipedia and some other sites as well. I like to portray the actual meaning of the disease rather than imagining wrong facts.

I know its probably boring but I like it this way. I want to give information on what I am writing about.

THERE IS A PHOBIA OF FOOD- SITOPHOBIA. ITS NOT A JOKE. YOU CAN SEARCH THE INTERNET.

Thank you everyone who has read so far. Thank you for all your votes and comments. It encourages me to keep on writing.

Love you all!

Bye!