The Player

Chapter 34: I ran away

everybody has gone through something that has changed them in a way they could never go back to the person they once were.
                              - Leonardo DiCaprio

I was sleeping on clouds. Warm soft clouds and the morning sunshine were on me.
I opened my eyes and it took me a few seconds to get my bearings. Morning sunlight filtered through a foggy window. I was completely cocooned in blankets.
I woke up with a start and looked around. Peeping over the sofa, I looked at the guy in the kitchen. His back was turned to me while he was busy doing something in the kitchen. He was all gleaming tanned skin and rippling muscles. I watched max for a while and then stood up.
My eyes widened when nothing happened. There was no morning headache or disorientation. I smiled to myself and stretched like a lazy cat before making my way to the kitchen where tasty aromas were beckoning me.
However, I collided with the arm of the sofa and toppled over it. I fell on the sofa cushions with a soft 'oomph!'
On second thoughts, the sofa was a great place to lie down for a while. Therefore, I curled on it and started dozing off.
"Crystal?" max asked while approaching me.
I responded with an "hmhmmhm."
"What are you doing on the sofa?" max asked in amusement.
I turned my face away from the cushion and looked up at max. His hair was making a dark brown halo around his face and his bright blue eyes were glittering with happiness.
I smiled lazily at him and explained, "I woke up. I walked. I tripped on the sofa arm. I fell on the sofa."
An amused smile took over his face, "so you decided to sleep here?"
"It looked like a good place to sleep." I murmured softly and closed my eyes.
A minute passed and then I felt max brushing his finger against my bottom lip. He spread something sweet and sticky across my lips. Involuntarily my tongue licked it off. Maple syrup.
I woke up with a start and yelled, "maple syrup!"
Max was halfway towards the kitchen but turned to me with slow faux dread, "don't make me regret giving you sugar early in the morning."
I looked up at him bright eyed and bushy tailed. He sighed and continued his way to the kitchen. I stood up from the sofa and stretched again.
The sweatpants fell down around my ankles. Max's sweatshirt came up to my mid thighs so I shrugged and discarded the pants.
There was enough breakfast in the kitchen to feed a hungry soccer team. There were dishes whose name I did not know. Max was frying something on a pan. I rose on my tiptoes behind him and peeped over his shoulder. He was making ...something. I rested my chin on his naked shoulder and my arms came around his waist. He stiffened at my touch.
I smirked and trailed my hands to his abs. They were tight and rock hard. I brushed my fingers against his abs in a feather like touch.
"Crystal, what are you doing?" max asked in a strained husky voice.
I shrugged and hugged his back tightly before pressing my face on his shoulder blade. Max was breathing deeply.
"Crystal..." he trailed off. I pressed my forehead against his back.
"Nothing. I am doing nothing." I softly murmured against his skin. My lips brushed against his back and i heard him sigh in relief.
He turned the stove off and clasped my hands in front of his abdomen. He pried them away and turned in my arms to face me. His hands rested on my waist and my hands crept up to rest over his biceps. He smiled down at me, "did you sleep good?"
I nodded my head and beamed at him. His answering grin astounded me.
"In my bathroom there's an extra violet brush. Use it." he said and slid his arm off me.
"Was this you subtly telling me that I have morning breath?" I asked him with narrowed eyes.
He chuckled, "you know it's true."
"There's a word for people like you. But I don't want to swear."  I told him with crossed arms.
He mimicked my stance and raised an eyebrow, "what word is that?'
"It sounds a lot like anisole." I told him and grinned at him, "Figure it out yourself."
Then I pranced to his room while he chuckled behind me. When I came back, there was a feast on the kitchen table. I pulled my hair up into a messy bun and approached max.
"Is someone coming over?" I asked him.
"no." he grinned at me and then pushed five different plates at me.
He placed a fork in my hand, leaned his elbow on the table and stared at me. I looked at the fork then at the food and then at max.
"Eat." Max ordered.
"All of this?" I asked in bewilderment.
I had problem stuffing porridge into my mouth nowadays due to the meds and max was telling me to eat food fit for a giantess.
Max nodded and waited for me.
"I ...cant." I told him hesitatingly while gauging his expression.
He raised a cool brow, "why not?"
"I don't eat this much food in the morning." I told him while looking down at the food.
It smelled delicious. But my stomach was roiling. I did not want to eat food and then vomit.
"You didn't eat dinner last night." Max said.
"I did!" I protested.
"You just ate some pasta." Max rolled his eyes.
The gesture was ridiculously cute. I suppressed my smile.
"That is dinner, max," I told him.
"No it is not! I don't want you to end up in a hospital just because you did not eat properly! It was bad, okay?" max raised his voice.
I raised both my eyebrows, "why was it bad?"
"Because...because I did not know how you were. I didn't see you for 3 days!" max hissed at me.
I gulped down the rush of emotions coursing through my body and blurted, "technically it was just one day...besides is it some sort of rule that you have to see me every day?"
"It wasn't before. But now it is, okay?" max answered through gritted teeth. I gulped once and my face felt hot.
"Whatever. I am not eating all of it." I told max firmly.
Before I could comprehend anything else, max grabbed my arm and pulled me to him. Somehow, he managed to make me end up in his lap. I blushed furiously. His hand grabbed my waist tightly and he scooped a huge spoonful of scrambled eggs and shoved it in to my mouth.
I elbowed him in the gut, "what the hell!"
Max groaned once before reaffirming his grip on my waist, "just eat it crystal or I will feed you."
I took a moment and then replied with a smirk, "naughty max."
"What? I...I meant...crystal!" max sputtered.
I started laughing loudly. Max sighed in defeat behind me. I leaned my head back on his shoulder and gazed up at him with a huge smile.
He turned his head to me and smiled, "I think you are the only piece made by god. There could be no one like you."
"I know. I am amazing." I told him with a grin.
He continued looking at me and I realized there wasn't much space between us. His lips were inches away from mine. And he was gazing down at me with a soft expression. Last night flashed into my mind and I felt my blood rushing to my face.
Max had held me close to him all through the night. However cheesy and unreal it might sound, I did not suffer from any headaches this morning.
Max leaned closer to me and I felt his hot breath on my lips. My eyelids drooped and my lips parted. Max fisted my shirt.
Then Havana song blared at full volume. Max jerked away from me and a deep frown settled over his features. I scrambled away from him as if I was burned and reached to my bag sitting on the sofa.
Mom was calling me. I picked the call up.
"Crystal! Where are you!" mom screamed. I pulled the mobile away from my ear before bringing it back to my ear.
"At max's. Why? What happened?"
"Your medical team called. We are supposed to reach there for a meeting in half an hour!" mom bellowed.
"Calm down, mom. I will be there in half an hour." I told her with a sigh.
"Be quick! And don't eat anything. They have to run some tests on you." Mom instructed.
"Isn't it too early?" I asked mom trying to find an excuse to stay.
"It's 8:30 crystal. No, it's not early." Mom stated.
My eyes widened at that and I looked at max before looking at the fancy wall clock. How the hell did I sleep for so long?
"Do you think max can drop you home?" mom asked.
"Yeah, I guess." I told her and turned to max. He was leaning on the kitchen counter looking at me with a scowl.
"Be quick. I want you here in 10 minutes at the most." Mom commanded.
I frowned, "it takes 15 minutes to reach home from here."
"Well then you better hurry, sweetie. I am panicking. And I am not beautiful when I panic." Mom warned and cut the call.
I picked my bag up and checked if I removed anything out.
"Max? Can you drop me home? I have to reach home urgently."
"Okay... what happened?" max asked hesitatingly.
"Uhm...Why did you let me sleep till 8?" I turned my hesitation into an accusation.
Max scratched the nape of his neck, "I thought you needed sleep."
"Till 8? I think I fell asleep at eight yesterday. That's 12 hours of sleep!" I shrieked aghast.
Max tugged on his earlobe once and then rubbed his neck, "uhm...it's just that...You looked pretty with the sunlight on your face."
I blinked at him once, "so, you let me sleep because you wanted to stare at me uninterrupted?"
"NO!" Max protested quickly and his ears turned red. Damn it! He was so cute.
"What are you smiling for?" he asked me with a frown.
I closed my mouth and stared at the ground for some seconds trying to control my emotions.
"I need to reach home very quickly. So, can you drop me?" I asked him shyly.
"sure." He replied easily, "your clothes are in the dryer. Let me grab a shirt and we can go."
I turned 360 degree on my spot. Max watched me with an amused smile, "the laundry room is the second door on your right."
"See, I knew that. I was just testing you." I said in a haughty manner.
Max scoffed and jogged up the stairs. I retrieved my clothes and stuffed them into my bag. Max stormed down the stairs and got into the elevator.
The ride back home was silent but not uncomfortable. When we reached my home, mom was standing outside the door. The moment the car-stopped mom pulled me out and bid a hasty farewell to max. Max looked at me with worried eyes and I smiled to reassure him.
In 5 minutes, I took a shower and got into my clothes and we were on our way to the hospital.
"Where's brad?" I asked mom when the driver parked in the driveway. Mom was squirming on her seat.
"Why do you care!?" mom snapped.
I opened my mouth then closed it again before lowering my head and walking out of the car. Mom followed close behind.
"I am sorry crystal. Brad had some work to take care of, so he left early. But he is waiting for us in the hospital." Mom explained with apologetic eyes.
I managed a small smile. We hurried into the elevator and reached the cancer wing. When we strode into the conference room, I knew at once that everything was wrong.
Dr Black, my neurologist looked at me with sad eyes. I grinned cheerfully at my medical team and settled on a seat next to Ashley, my therapist. Mom sat between brad and me.
Everybody settled down.
There was silence for a minute or two before Dr Black cleared his throat, "we called you urgently here."
Helena gave him a blank stare before turning to me with a soft smile, "we went through your scans. And we didn't like what we saw."
Ashley took my hand in hers and squeezed once. She was trying to give me support. Why?
I turned to Helena and my heart was freezing over. Hot and cold sensations crept over my spine. I took a shaky breath and exhaled. The air that left my nostrils felt ice cold as compared to the warmth of the room.
"She is a strong girl, Helena. Go on." Ashley encouraged and squeezed my hand again.
I nodded and smiled in reassurance. My chest was caving in and I felt beads of perspiration near my hairline.
"You know how your tumour was growing. In recent scans, we observed that the chemo that you are going through is not helping." Helena said. She took a deep breath and looked at each and everyone around the table before turning to me.
"It's too fast and if we don't stop it...it may spread to other parts of your brain." Helena dragged.
I nodded numbly. The one spoon of eggs that I ate was threatening to come out of my stomach.
"We have to do a surgery and remove it. For good this time." Helena asserted.
Involuntarily my hand flew up to trace the faint scar on the back of my head. I licked my dry lips and nodded again. I was incapable of reacting in any other way.
"When will be this surgery?" mom asked in a high-pitched voice.
 I turned towards her sharply. Her complexion had turned ashen and she had a vice like grip on brad's hand. Brad was looking at her worriedly and running a soothing hand on her back.
"The surgery might be in two months, hopefully. Before that, we will try to shrink the tumour to a very small size so that it can be removed without majorly affecting Ms Winget. She will have to undergo a new chemo treatment and radiation therapy as well." Dr Wong said.
I breathed in sharply. Radiation might give me side effects.
"So after the surgery everything will be alright?" mom asked in a hopeful voice.
The room fell too silent. The noise of the ac vents became sharp and I could hear the individual breathing of every person in the room. I looked at Dr Black and he looked at me.
He kept his eyes on me and said, "Jade, crystal's tumour is growing. If it shrinks down, then that is good. We will be able to perform the surgery without much complication...."
Another moment of silence. Ashley squeezed my hand. My face felt too hot.
"There is a 70 percent chance of success." Dr Wong said with a small smile.
"There is also a 3 percent chance of being the same as you are now." Helena said.
It took me a moment to make sense of their words. A 70 percent chance of success and a 3 percent chance that I will be normal. This means most probably...
"You may lose some sense of yours or may get disabled. There might be memory problems or behavioural issues. But you won't have cancer." Dr Smithson said with a forced smile.
"oh." I breathed.
I looked at the gleaming golden surface of the table. Its color matched max's complexion. I heard mom breathing too fast. However, everyone's eyes were set on me. They were waiting for my reaction. Goosebumps skittered along my skin and then sweat broke across my body.
"So 30% I am going to die and 97% I am going to be abnormal." I stated the negative statistics.
I took a deep breath and shrugged, "I already live my life to the fullest and I was never normal."
I smiled ruefully at all of them, "it's okay. I am fine"
Mom started hyperventilating. Ashley and Helena snapped their attention to mom. There were four people surrounding her and telling her to breathe through it.
My medical team was tending to my mom after announcing I was going to die. Figures.
It took 15 minutes to calm mom down. They started discussing schedules and diet plans. Ashley called me for therapy saying that I was going numb and not reacting how I was supposed to at the news.
Either I was going to die or completely change in 2 months. There was no chance I could ever be normal.
And there was no way I was going to tell anyone that I was dying.
Not even, max.
Especially not, max.