The Sweet Nothings || ✓

'YOUR DISEASE DOESN'T DEFINE YOU'

Lana's P. O. V

I felt myself break as I moved out of the car, leaving behind Damien to absorb the words that's I had just thrown at him so harshly. But I knew what I looked like to him.

Unaffected. Emotionless. Dead even.

Anything but the true me.

I knew I was being too hard on Damien. I was not treating him right. But I had to do this. Not for me. But for him. I was doing this to save myself from breaking him. Though this process required some initial destruction.

I have been keeping this inside me. Not telling anyone. Because I don't want them to stop. I don't want them to divert their mind from the task at hand. From Maia's case. And I want them to hurry it up. Hurry up and find Maia, so that I could look at her. At least once before-

Recently, I had been to the hospital because my coughs were becoming more frequent and I had been feeling light headed and had this strong uneasiness in breathing. I had started to take my medicines properly but they seemed to have stopped working nearly.

And after my check up, I had known why.

I had sat there silently as the doctors told me what was wrong.

"Your condition is highly sensitive, Lana. Most of your right lung is dead, but not enough to kill you just yet. I am sorry to inform you about this but you have less than three months."  She had paused and looked at me wearily.

"If only you agreed on radiotherapy then-" I had cut her off.

"No. Thank you doctor."

And I had walked out and done my usual. Head high. Shoulders back. Blank eyes.

But inside had been a turmoil of emotions.

It had been only a day after I had talked to Xavier. And I had also realised that Damien was changing, for good. He had been trying to approach me alot. Talk to me. And I had decided that I would talk to him after the appointment with the doctor. But then I had let it slide.

I had planned that very second, that it was better to remain as closed off as possible. Away from people who love me but mostly away from Damien. Because I knew, that if we started to go back to our old selves, he would want more. He would crave me more. Love me more. And my end, which was soon now, would break him. And I didn't want that to happen.

So that night, I had slipped off the silver ring from my finger. The ring that Damien had given me. And told myself to save him. Save him from me.

The only person who knew about all of this was Daria. Daria Lynn. Who I had grown a personal liking to after my visit to her house. And after I had told her everything, she had simply smiled at me and deviated from the topic.

I had been very pleased at her reaction. And I knew it was selfish of me to do this to her. To hold on to her and tell her everything, expecting her to be strong for me. But I needed her. And I just couldn't let go.

Even minutes after, when she had addressed the topic, she had whispered.

"Your disease doesn't define you. Nothing changes who you are. Nothing."

And then she had opened up about herself and told me everything. About her dead sister, Ara Lynn, who had died in Chicago years back. About her passion to become an astronaut when she grows up. About her obsession with the colour green. About her mother who she admired and loved with all of her heart. And lastly, and surprisingly, about her crush on Levi.

"Hopeless made me Hopeful." She had confessed, referring to Levi's habit of being hopeless all the time, her cheeks tinging to the brightest red.

It had been nice to have someone to talk to and not think that you are harming them. But that feeling had to be restricted to Daria alone. I knew she would never walk away.

I shook my head, clearing my head from the dark thoughts. I didn't have to think about that now.

So I reached the front door of the mansion of Mr. Stanley and rang the bell. Damien came up beside me as the door opened. Mr. Stanley stood on the other side of the threshold in his night suit. But I wasn't surprised.

He had told me that the meeting would be highly informal.

"It's Sunday and I am attending to you, so be grateful." He had said. And I hadn't argued.

He turned around now, gesturing for us to move in and walked further inside the house. "Shut the door behind you please."

Damien shuts the door and we followed him to the sofa in the lobby. Both Damien and I sat down and Mr. Stanley moved into the kitchen.

"Tea or coffee?" He asked from inside.

"Coffee." Both of us replied back and for a moment, I wanted to look at him. Damien Montez didn't like coffee. He hated it. Then what exactly was he trying to do.

My eyes glided over the lobby, taking in the appearance. And suddenly I caught sight of something very surprising.

Mr. Stanley came out of with two cups of coffee and sat down across us with his mug in his hands. Three of us sipped from our mugs. But my concentration was still zoomed in on the photoframe on the wall. Mr. Stanley eyed me.

"What are you looking at?" He asked.

"That girl. In the picture. Looks very much like a girl I know." I said.

He looked back at the frame and smiled. "Who? Rachel? Yeah, she told me she met you." He said, looking at me again. I frowned, not understanding what that meant exactly. He chuckled.

"Rachel's my daughter Andrea. I thought you already guessed that when she introduced herself to you." He clarified. And I realised it too.

'Rachel Ford Stanley.' I remembered.

Thinking past it, I cleared my throat and got down to business.

"We want weapons. It's important. And we have already talked about the deal. You provide us weapons and in exchange, our gang takes your family under our protection." I completed, waiting for him to produce the files for me to sign.

Mr. Stanley puts down his coffee cup and shifted back in his chair, looking relaxed. He eyed both Damien and I now, his eyes flickering between both of us. Then he spoke.

"Okay. I will bring the files, but first," he paused, eyes still moving between us, "Can one of you tell me, why is there so much of sexual tension between the two of you?"

And Damien spewed out his coffee, all over Mr. Stanley's unicorn nightsuit.

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Loads coming up Readers.

Loads of love,
Mia.