Melody of Love

8. Missing You

When the chilly wind began to dance with vibrant autumn leaves, the sky blanketed with gray clouds. Kevin always loved the soft melody of fall than the lively music of summer. In the drizzling autumn rain, he could spend hours with his guitar creating serene music.

But strangely, this time in misty mornings when golden leaves were falling, he felt gloomy. Lazily, his fingers roamed on the strings, not forming a soothing melody like they kept making for years.

His friends puzzled by Kevin's passive behavior in everyday tasks. The daily training for the performance, he was extremely focused on neglected for days. Alex and Ryan had to urge him to go to room twenty-two. They could nearly assume the exact reason by reading Kevin's changing expressions.        

"Where's Amaya?" Alex asked the question being echoed in Kevin's mind for several days.

It was more than a week Amaya was absent after she hurt her arm. Even though Alex asked the question, Kevin was very keen to hear the answer. Lanya took her time to reply, making him even more impatient.

"She's at home." Lanya said, briefly glancing at Kevin.

"How's her arm?" At last, she heard Kevin's eager voice. But he was looking busy tunning the guitar showing no interest in the answer.

"It's almost healed now, all thanks to the first aid." Lanya's response made Alex and Ryan laughed out loudly.

"Then why she's not here?" Ryan wanted to know further.

"Her mother is not well, so she wanted to be with her."

"What's wrong with her?" Alex was curious.

"She is awaiting the bone marrow transplantation in two weeks, but she got a fever for a few days. Amaya's concern is, it may be a cause to postpone the procedure."

"Why won't she go to her doctor?"

"She will, today." Lanya answered to Theo and turned to get her violin before joining in the practices.

That conversation left a lot for Kevin to think. Part of his heart sensed loneliness to it's maximum, and the other part started to worry about the recent disclosure about Amaya's mother. Above all, he was perplexed by the way his mind was acting, which never worried to this extent about someone else. He wanted to conclude playing music for the day as he was unable to focus properly.

While Kevin was striding to the parking lot, he happened to meet the person he least expected to come across. But he couldn't avoid facing her as Krystal came running towards him with a bright smile at the moment she saw he is heading home.

"Hi there, are you leaving already? May I come with you. I want to say hi to aunty Mishil."

"I'm not going home yet. If you want to meet mom, go alone."

"Kevin, are you still mad with me? Forget about everything, please.." As Kevin didn't say anything, Krystal continued to talk.

"I have to clarify some difficult musical theory notes, can you help me in the weekend?" Kevin didn't bother to answer again. It provoked Krystal's hateful mind, and she was unable to hold her tongue back or maintain her sweet image anymore. 

"Did you meet that pathetic girl always wandering in darkness? I heard she wasn't here for weeks now. I'm glad at last I showed her the actual level she needs to be in this society. How can she even imagine to be my rival? I don't want to see her in this college ever again!" Krystal kept on mumbling. As soon as Kevin's sharp ears identified those words, he struck back immediately.

"Shame on you for what you've done to Amaya. Your jealousy towards her is disgusting. It's pathetic that you didn't realize what you've done wrong even after that terrible incident. What a pity to be your friend at least for one day."

"You are blinded, blindfolded by that cruel girl. Otherwise, you won't always try to find my faults. I'm going to tell everything to aunty Mishil so you'll come to your senses again."

"I'm in my right mind without fail. Please stop worrying about my life. If you want to babble about everything happening in the college to my mom, do so. I don't care! I'm not doing anything wrong, and no one can control my lifestyle and my decisions, not even mom. It's better to keep that in your mind, or you'll regret your actions later." Kevin snapped. As didn't want to continue arguing any further, he left, leaving Krystal behind.

While watching the back of her dream boy who is stepping away, Krystal gritted her teeth. Her cheeks were crimson, and boiling drops of tears hanged in the corner of the eyes. She clenched her fists, struggling to control her mind, which wanted to chase and slap Kevin.

'I do not intend to sit and watch everything. Aunty Mishil would be able to change his mind. I have to talk to her. Kevin, you just wait.. I'm going to teach a lesson that you'll never forget!"  She determined while tears of fury and frustration damping her steaming cheeks.

"Alex, I'm going to the hospital. Do you want to join too?" Lanya asked after the music practices.

"Why? is Amaya's mother in the hospital?"

"She is in the intensive care unit, and Amaya's also waiting in the hospital even though she couldn't be with her mom." Lanya sighed.

"Then we all come with you." offered Ryan dragging Kevin along with him.

When four boys with Lanya approached the entrance hallway of the hospital, the light of the day was draining away.  They tried to find Amaya among the busy people who were briskly moving in and out of place.

Finally, they managed to notice the miserable figure in a dark corner of the waiting area.

"Amaya, what are you doing here? How's your mom?" everybody gathered around her, but Kevin stood frozen, unable to take a foot further. His heart ached like it was never done before.

"She's still asleep." He heard Amaya's feeble voice and other voices trying to convince her to go home for the night. He slowly stepped forward.

"Amaya, we'll go home now and come back tomorrow." Without thinking further Kevin wrapped the peach coloured woolly scarf around her neck and held her hand. Amaya stood up letting go of her stubbornness. While others following Kevin took her home with a heavy heart.