IN LOVE WITH YOU [SLOW UPDATES]

11

PHI's POV

"I was raped when I was five..."

I was dumbstruck. Her words pounded my eardrums and made my mind numb for a few seconds. My heart skipped a beat and my body hair was erect. My face was hot and my eyes teary. I had never expected that this chirpy girl would have gone through so much.

"My god! I...I'm so," that was all I could utter. I hugged her again and tried to make her comfortable in my arms. I didn't know what else to say. 

"And you know this wasn't the end," she sobbed with her face on my chest. 

"That monster was a junkie, my mother became a drug addict because of him. She never cared about me, all she did was visit shady places and pump her body with drugs. It was so hard for Dad to get my custody otherwise I would have ended up with her. I cannot imagine how my life would have turned out in that case. I had to enrol in a boarding school because I got bullied every day in my neighbourhood, they said I was a daughter of a druggie.." she spoke in unclear, broken sentences.

There were things I couldn't understand about people, the society we live in.. but this?  How could people be so cruel? She was raped and still, she was bullied!!

Whenever I heard such traumatizing news, a part of me lost trust in humanity; but today I feel all of my trust evaporating away. Few tears trickled down my cheeks and landed on her head. 

"I cannot change your past Pam, but I'll be there for you from now on. Please don't cry, you've got to be strong."

She sobbed for another couple of minutes and I could say nothing more to console her. I could only pat her head or hug her tight, which I did. After a while, she broke the hug and walked towards the washroom.

I sat on the bed, my hands holding my head, haunted by her words. The big room now felt small, so small that I couldn't find enough air to breathe. I pulled open the window on the opposite wall and sat back on the bed. I rubbed my teary eyes and inhaled a long breath. It took me some time to calm myself down.

"You look upset," she said getting out of the washroom, wiping her face with a white towel. I didn't answer. 

I handed her the water bottle. She sat beside me, throwing the towel on the chair and gulped down all of it.

"Phi, can you do me a favour?" She asked after we sat in eerie silence for some time.

"Pam, You don't have to ask. I'll try to do anything I can," I replied.

"Please don't tell this to anyone, it's quite personal and.."

"Don't worry, I'll never mention it ever again," I assured and smiled. 

It was difficult to smile at the moment but I had to manage one to get her out of the depressed state.

"I'm sorry I called you at this hour.."

"Hey it's okay, you can call me anytime,"  I said turning towards her, "you can talk to me whenever you want, anything, anytime. Okay? Never hesitate!"

"Okay, okay! I think I'm fine now," she raised both her hands, accepting my words.

"You want to do something else?" 

"I don't know," she shrugged and looked at the light bulb lost in her thoughts. 

"Let's watch a movie," because this was the only thing we could do. 

She nodded and walked towards her study table to fetch her laptop. She wasn't enthusiastic as she is always but I know it will take some time to get back to her chirpy self.