"Not so long ago, I was alone and lost and then you came along and I was home. thank you for finding me
After 10 years of disappearing, when Ember Helberg returns to India to meet his childhood crush, Arorhea Laghari, he discovers that she has compl...
Among the dense forests of Kerala, a tiny girl climbed up on the thick trunk of a huge Banyan tree. A small boy of about her age stood beside the tree and watched her climb up. He wore a sailor uniform while she wore plain khaki pants with an orange T-shirt. He had blonde hair with deep blue eyes.
"You know, Rhea will fall if she climbs that high on mister tree" Ember said. His voice was very shrill and he was thin, with long arms and legs. "Shut up! I help the birdie" Arorhea said. She had shingled hair and looked more like a boy than Ember himself. She was a bit healthier and had chubby cheeks.
"Miss said that shut up is a bad word" Ember explained Rhea but she just cut him off with another 'shut up' As she slowly climbed up, Ember got restless and began shouting.
"I am hungry! I wanna go home!" He jumped at the spot as if kicking the ground beneath him. It was getting dark after all. For a four-year-old, a dark forest was their biggest nightmare.
"Sabar! (Tn// Patience)" Arorhea said. She kept the wounded bird back inside its nest and jumped down on the ground "Ugh!" Arorhea groaned in pain as she grabbed her leg. "What happened?!" Ember asked. Her leg was a bit swollen. It looked like a small cherry beneath her skin.
"You wounded your leg! What we do now?!" Ember panicked as he looked at her leg. He grabbed his hair "What if you are never able to run again?" He began crying. Rhea slapped his head and looked into his eyes "Ember such a crybaby! If Rhea no run again, Ember give me a piggy bag ride forever," She smiled. He wiped his tears,
"Yes, you are right," Ember said and turned back "Hop on. We'll go back home" She wrapped her arms around his neck and he grabbed her thighs into his arms. He took a while to get up and balance himself. Then, he started walking, with Rhea on his back.
"Am I heavy?" Rhea whispered into his ear "No, you're not heavy. It's just me who is...incompetent," Ember said as he continued walking, "What does that mean?" "I don't know. That's what dad always calls me," He said. She laughed and gently pressed her head on his back "I'm sleepy, wake me up when we reach where we need to be,"
Ember continued walking in the woods. He could hear her breath and the crushing of leaves and branches under his feet and the bushes brushed against his legs. They finally reached the road and saw a bright light. It was Rhea's grandmother with a paper lamp in her hands "Oh my!" She exclaimed as she looked at them "Here you are, I was so worried!"
"Grandma, Rhea broke her leg. Could you please treat her quickly?" Ember said. Her grandmother looked at her foot and smiled, "Oh, she's just twisted it. She'll be alright. And what about you? Look at your legs, they're covered with scratches and thorns"
"I'm fine" Ember reassured her "These are a few scratches which I got protecting Rhea. I doesn't see them as a bad thing" The grandmother smiled and picked Rhea up from Ember's back. Without her there, it felt colder. Even if it was heavy, he preferred the warmth over the cold, "Come Ember, I'll drop you home," Rhea's grandmother took him away with her.
That night, Ember sat on a chair as the maid dipped one of his legs inside soap water while she picked out thorns from the other leg. They had blemishes and bruises on them. The thorns had dug in so deep that blood oozed out as the maid removed them. But Ember didn't cry.
"Ember, how did this happen?" She asked. "I'm not used to walking this much," Ember replied vaguely. She told him that some marks were too deep and would scar the skin on his feet. "It's fine," He smiled, "They remind me of Rhea,"
. . .
Ember scratched his right leg with his left while looking into his phone. "Mosquitoes," Loraine scratched his legs with his fingers, "Ugh, I hate it here," They both stood in a golf course as their father, Mr Helberg played golf with a client. They both wore a pair of sport shorts under a white T-shirt and a black cap overhead.
"Can you stop looking into your phone for a moment?" Loraine turned towards Ember. "What?" Ember looked at him, "I have no interest in golf," "Then, let's go hiking. There's a little forest nearby," "Forest?" Ember kept his phone in his pocket, "Alright, let's go,"
They both walked into the forest. Ember looked around at all the vegetation and small birds. There were stone stairs leading through the forest, the smell of wet grass and voices of birds and insects, "I've only seen forests like these in India," Ember smiled, "We don't have these in LA," Loraine looked around and saw a peacock dancing under the sun, drying its feathers after a light shower of rain, surrounded by flower bushes.
"Wow," Loraine slowly walked towards it and it flew away. "What are you doing?" Ember asked. Loraine turned towards him, "I saw a peacock, I wanted to touch it," "You're such an idiot," Ember felt something creeping on his neck, "OH MY GOD, A SNAKE! I HATE SNAKES" He yelled.
"It's just a caterpillar," Loraine took a leaf, grabbed the caterpillar with it and threw it away, "Jesus," "It felt weird," Ember pressed his hand over his neck and suddenly he panicked, "My necklace!" He looked around, "Where's my necklace! LORAINE, I LOST MY-" He leaned forward to see if he dropped it somewhere but suddenly saw it fall over from under his shirt, "Oh," Ember pressed his necklace gently.
"Thanks for that mini heart attack, mate," Loraine crossed his arms, "It's just a necklace," Ember didn't say a word, "EMBER! LORAINE!" He heard his father. "Dad's calling, let's go," Loraine said. Ember walked behind him, "We have got the lecture at thirty minutes past twelve. Try not to be late like usual," "I've got work to do, Loraine, unlike your fat ass resting in front of the piano all day," "Work?" Loraine smirked, "Work, of course,"
Ember just rolled his eyes and walked away. Their father was done playing so they got back into their limo and the driver drove them back home. Ember and Loraine took their lecture and when Ember was finished with it, he rushed to his car. It was time for Rhea's class already! He threw his coat aside on and sat into the car "Chuck quick! To the usual place!" Ember said as he brushed his hair with his fingers while looking into the rear mirror.
They reached the mall's Crash Course Center. Ember jumped out of the car and rushed to footpath while everyone else on the footpath just stared at his car and then at him. Ember saw Rhea coming on the bicycle and rushed towards her. He suddenly jumped in front of her bicycle.
She saw him and suddenly applied the brakes. "Why don't you listen?! What if I fall?" Rhea shouted.
"You may fall from your bike You may fall from the tree But the best way to fall is in love with me~" Ember said. Rhea was about to give some reaction to this when his body betrayed him. His stomach growled louder than a hungry lion.
Now he blushed while Rhea looked at the sky, "The clouds are rumbling, I think it's gonna rain today" She was obviously teasing him. Because, why not? We all have our sadistic sides.
"It's my stomach" His face turned pink. And as she looked at him blush, her face turned red. "Anyways," He said, "We got class. Let's go!" She held his hand, "First, we're eating. Everything else can wait," She smiled. He looked at her.
"Hehe, alright,"
-To be continued
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