Why Did It Happen?

(4)

By the next day, he had regained his angelic composure. He talked to everyone and everyone talked to him as if nothing had happened. Once again, he was hiding his feelings. I knew that, because by then, I could read him like an open book. With me being a scorpion, and he a virgo, we had amazing understanding between us and could read each other quite easily.

His angelic composure rattled after a month since that incident. At around 7:00pm, he received a call from his sister, saying that their mother was very ill and had been admitted in the hospital. This came as a shock and we immediately went to the hospital. She had been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease (HD), which is a type of lymphoma (blood cancer that starts in the lymphatic system). It had already reached stage 4 and the doctors said that it was no more curable. We were appalled by the news. Mary was sitting on a bench and was crying miserably, while Charles was trying to console her, but in vain. All three of them loved their mother immensely and just couldn’t fathom the piece of information they had received. Dan was in a state of trance. After a few minutes, he looked up at his sister and went to her.

He took her face on his palms, and said in a fatherly manner, “Don’t cry. Ma has only one month left. We’ll try to make these remaining few moments, the best moments of her life. We’ll do everything she has always wanted to do. We’ll go everywhere she has always wanted to go. We won’t leave her side even for a minute and we’ll give her all the love and affection of the world.” With that, the three of them embraced each other in a passionate hug, and stayed like that for some time. Charles got up and came towards me, leaving the sobbing sister and the caressing brother alone.

“You must be Scarlette. Dan has told us so much about you. Whenever we talk to him on the phone, his stories about you go on for eternity. He doesn’t stop unless we tell him to. You have no idea how fond he is of you.” Again, I had nothing to say, so I gave him a smile. He paused for a few seconds, and then continued, “Thank you so much for coming here. We are very grateful to you. Being the eldest of the three siblings, he has always strived to give us everything we ever wanted. In the process, he forgot about himself. He never asked anything for himself.  Studies in the morning, work in the evening. One habit of his, that annoyed each one of us, was he shared everything with us, except his problems. He loves fighting alone. Probably, because, he HAD no one to fight his battles alongside him.” Another pause.

“He really cares for you. Please don’t leave him alone when he needs you.” I could see genuine concern for his brother in his eyes.

“Never”, I replied. “That’s the promise of a friend.” I gave him an honest smile and then looked at Dan and Mary, still in a hug. Clearly, the big brother and the little sister were very close to each other.

Hello!! So here is the next chapter. It's quite a short one. But don't worry, it'll be compensated later ;)
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