THE POSSESSIVE SOUL

CHAPTER 19: The awaited meetup

No One's pov

The entire way back home, Tine had a faint smile on his face which didn't leave even when he reached home. There was a sudden calmness around him which diluted all his stress of the last few days ever since he got to know of Busaba's health issues.

Ever since he had planned to meet Busaba... he was hell nervous to an unbelievable level and couldn't really sleep as he tried anticipating how she would react to him. All the countless moments of him accusing her of ruining his bond with his father and never appreciating her pure hearted efforts to make him feel loved and cared about, the realization of all his cruel acts were giving him a lot of stress. But to his utter surprise... in no time when he entered her ward, her magnificent positive aura evaporated all his stress. Despite of her tiredness due to the therapy session, the radiating smile on her face lightened up the atmosphere.

He remembered Mil wishing him luck when he pushed the door to get in. He silently looked around the room to see Busaba lying on the bed with her eyes closed and took very slow and quite steps towards her. The tears which he didn't want to appear had already made his vision blurry as he sat on the small chair beside the bed with his eyes glued to his stepmom's face. This was the very first time he was actually looking at her properly... her face clearly showed the toll her health issue had been taking over her and in that very moment the only emotions his heart felt was that of fear and concern for the female he never respected...the same fear and concern he had felt for his mother when she was dealing with cancer.

He recalled getting irritated at receiving Busaba's daily messages and whenn all of a certain she stopped sending the messages... he did feel weird but instead of checking it out... he did nothing about it which he was totally ashamed of. He couldn't believe what kind of person he had become to be so hateful towards her when did not give him even one reason to be cruel to her. It was because of her that he had become so close to his dad which he never had ever. As he kept on thinking about his wrongdoings...he became hard for him to control his sobs and he put his hand over the mouth to stop from making any noise but as destiny would have it, at the exact moment Busaba slowly opened her eyes taking in the scene before her eyes.

It took a few seconds to believe that it was actually Tine who was sitting infront of her, with red eyes pouring tears. A sight she never wanted to witness, it was very clear that all her attempts to hide about her disease from him had failed. She knew it quite well that in spite of being the most unimportant person to him, the mention of cancer was going to pain him even if remotely making him recall old painful memories. She lifted her left hand with some efforts and put it on Tine's cheek trying to rub away his tears which ended up making him even more emotional. In the very next instant, he rose and moved forward to pull her into a bear hug.

He was careful not to hurt as he hid his face in her neck which pleasant shocked her and in no time, she circled her arms around him. Neither of the two spoke, she kept rubbing his back as he kept on weeping uncontrollably. By now, her eyes had already teared up...she could feel all his emotions...his fear, his guilt, his concern, his anxiety.

"I never wanted to see you in this state darling which was the very reason we didn't let you know anything," she confessed after a while.

She patiently waited for him to reply but when he didn't, she carried on, "I know you have dealt with the same situation with your mother. Your father had told me how devastated you were to lose her to cancer. Though you don't really like me...also knowing that my existence doesn't really matter to you...hence thought why trouble you even for a bit."

She suddenly felt Tine pulling away from the hug...his face showing annoyance.

"Is this the reason why you tried to distant yourself from me? That you stopped sending me messages because you felt that it would make me forgot you? Who gave you the right to decide that!"

She had seen Tine using angry tone with her multiple times before but unlike any other times, when it would have hurt her, this time...her heart felt lighten up as she saw the warm change in his emotions towards her.

"Do you have any idea how would I have felt if anything happened to you? I know I have been a pathetic son to you but didn't even deserve to know about the situation?"

"No Tine. Please try to understand..."

Tine didn't let her speak cutting her in between, "No, I don't understand! All the affection you showed me...was it just you pretending to be a good mother to me because you felt it was your responsibility and not because you had any attachment to me? How does Type has all the rights to be around you, to help you out with everything, to be with you in your difficult times inspite of him being younger? Is it because he is your blood and I am a nobody to you?"

He said everything in a go...venting out his pain while Busaba was out of words to reply! When did Tine start caring for her to such an extent that he was questioning her as if it was his right. She started crying as she felt his concern for her...she had actually succeeded in her efforts to get some place for herself in his heart which she felt wouldn't happen in her lifetime.

Tine got nervous witnessing his stepmom crying all of a sudden and cursed himself for being rude to her when she was on her hospital bed. He rubbed her cheeks and asked her to stopping crying and that he would leave the room instantly if he made her uneasy but before he could have attempted to leave, she held his hand and kissed her softly surprising him with her action.

"Please don't leave... I just got emotional because of your display of love! You have no idea how long I have waited for this moment, to have you around me. I always had this baggage in my mind that I had failed as a woman to keep my family together but I was happy that you have started getting well with your father and if I am not wrong with whatever Type had told me... you had started developing some sort of sibling bond with him too."

Tine kept his undivided attention on her face not wanting to miss a moment by looking away from her.

"And I used to get selfish wanting you to have some soft corner for me... but ever since I got to know that I was suffering from cancer, I felt like it was God's calling to tell me that I should stay away from you as if punishing me for giving you pain ever since I married your dad."

"Please don't say that! It was my foolishness to leave you all and come to Bangkok to escape everything. You took care of dad when he needed a partner's support the most!"

There was a lot of say...to talk about...to apolozise for! Tine really wanted to keep going but he could see Busaba was still very tired and was trying hard to keep up the conversation with heavy eyes. He told her to sleep which she immediately denied not wanting him to leave but when he requested her to take care of her health and that they would talk later, she unwillingly agreed.

He had just made it to the door when she called for him.

"Tine"

He turned back to see her smiling.

"When will I get to see you again? I mean...whenever you are free and can spare sometime for me," she said hesitantly.

"Don't worry. I will always be around from now on. I promise! See you soon," he replied calmly which further lighten up Busaba's face.

*****

Hi everyone!

It's been a while since I updated the story.

A lot happened in between in my personal life. Lost my grandfather and it took me a bit longer to restart the story.

Hope you all are in good health.