It wasn't long, before she finally gave up and said yes to being his girlfriend.
He was one of those guys who was famous at his school. He told her everything
"I have had girlfriends before. I cheated on the last one I had, but I broke up with her few weeks ago."
He was loyal, or at least he showed that he was loyal.
"I heard you are not a virgin" Amber asked him one fine night on call.
"Yeah. So?" He wasn't surprised
"So are you?"
"No I don't remember when I lost my virginity"
"It's Zina. You know that right?"
"Yeah."
"Why did you cheat on your ex?"
"Because I was immature." He brushed it off. He almost said like he was old enough to know where he stood now.
"Will it happen again?"
"No. That was my past". Isn't that what they all say?
"Okay. I have had bad experiences so don't do anything stupid"
"Tell me about your experience"
"I was 15, fell for a guy. He wanted sex, I said no. Then he went around and said I had sex with him."
"Did you?"
"No."
Life was hard for him. He had just come back to Pakistan, after failing a university in USA. He had told her that but he was jealous of the fact that she was successful and studying abroad. The real question was where did they become aware of each other.
"Amber. Can you come on my Facebook account and talk to this guy? Im not in a mood of a fight" said Merab, who was a year younger than Amber but was more advance than any other girl of her class.
"Okay. Whats the name of the guy?"
"Abdullah"
She signed into Merab's account and opened the chat of Abdullah.
"Stop. Spreading rumours about me and Qandeel. We are not related." It said. Sounded furious
"Uh. I don't need to?" Merab had told me everything, how this girl was going around and saying they were related. Truth is, Qandeel had a huge crush on him.
"Well, you are so shut up." The reply came in seconds.
"Look. This is absurd. She is the one spreading rumours and you are blaming the wrong person."
"Doesn't look like that you are Merab"
"Im not"
"Who are you?"
"Someone you dont know"
"Who?"
"Amber."
"Who? Message from your own account"
"Why?"
"So I know who you are."
She was at that age where girls were either desperate to be in a relationship or were too good for attention.
"Ok"
They soon started talking there.
He was trying to get enrolled in another university in USA, it was his father's wish that his sons would study abroad.
But deep in his heart he wanted to be ahead of everyone. All of his friends were moving on, some got into the best universities while others were moving abroad.
Amber was admitted to the hospital for 2 whole weeks, so that the doctors could diagnose the problem. She was alone in the room, which the her GP had arranged for her when the doctor walked in with his team members.
"Amber?" He said in a deep Indian accent.
"Yes."
"Im doctor Vani. As you remember we did few tests on you. Endoscopy was successful but you didn't let us complete colonoscopy, which we understand was uncomfortable and painful for you. Your CT scan has shown swelling in the lower abdomen. MRI scan has come through as inflammation in the ileum, lower end of the large bowel and at the small bowel that meets your ileum. The inflammation should be of 40cm."
She stared at him confused, wondering what he meant with this all. Truth was, she had never heard about large bowel, small bowel and let alone ileum.
"What do I have?" She asked in a small voice, barely above whisper.
"Terminal ileum Chrons Disease. We haven't properly diagnosed it, but we are sure it is that because of your symptoms. Your Endoscopy's biopsy came out clear but then that is the upper part of the intestine we looked at. We need a biopsy for the lower bit, which is colonoscopy"
"Is it bad?"
"You mean Chrons?" She slowly nodded. "Bad as in?"
"Anything. Cancer, anything"
"Its not as bad as cancer, but it is serious."
"Permanent?" She still had that expression of a lost child, eyes wide open, not a movement in any part just the lips.
"Yes. Unfortunately. But we can control the symptoms"
"Theres no cure?"
"We cant say theres no cure, science is still working on that but we can control the symptoms and keep you in remission."
"How?"
"For now we are going to put you on the lowest dose steroids. If they dont work. We will have to operate it"
"Oh."
"Dont worry. You are one of the youngest case we have had. We will help you."
"Can it kill me?"
"Yes. It can, if you dont get it treated. The way you are losing weight so fast. It can be something serious"
For the first time ever, her mother wasn't there with her. She needed her.
"We'll discuss this with your parents tomorrow."
He soon left after that. She managed to get the courage to call her mother, her father was in Pakistan so he wouldn't answer at that hour.
She explained everything to her mother. Her mother gave her hope and said everything should work out fine. Her mother believed there was nothing wrong and that it was just a stomach bug.
Amber then called Abdullah on his phone. He didn't answer. He wasn't there when she was on the verge of breaking.
