Broken crystal ✔️

Chapter 24

It wasn't until the third week of the second semester when Nick saw Leila for the first time. It felt like someone had ripped his heart out. He had not expected to see her ever again, let alone wandering through the school halls. Their gazes locked and she surprised him by looking at him as if he was nothing but a stranger. Then she walked past him, carrying on with her day like she hadn't just run into the guy who once destroyed her life. He was left standing in the middle of the hallway, unable to move. He felt like laughing though there was nothing funny about this situation. He felt like God was playing some kind of sick joke on him. He prayed that this wouldn't turn into a big disaster but he somehow knew that a dark cloud was already hovering over their heads, waiting to sprawl chaos all over them.

Josh was growing more anxious after each passing day. It didn't help when he got a call that his grandmother had been sent to the ER. She had experienced a terrible fall. It completely destroyed him. He had to immediately leave the country. He came back once she became stable and she was released from the hospital a few days later. While he was gone Mia got the chance to meet his little sister, who stayed with Leila's family because Josh's parents were out of the country as well. Josh's mother stayed back to take care of her mother and since his father had to work until late, Josh had to take care of his sister. Mia didn't want to leave him alone during this difficult period of time so she spent most of her time after school at his house. While Melody was taking a nap, Josh and Mia retreated to his bedroom. They were lying in his bed; her head was on top of his chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart.

"Are you okay?" she asked him.

"Not really," he sighed. "I was so scared when I got the call, Mia. You have no idea."

Mia tightened her grip on him. "I know. But she's better now. She's okay."

"I'm afraid something bad will happen to her again. I hate how she refuses to come live with us. I understand her reasons but damn it, I can't live with the constant fear of losing her."

By now he wasn't only talking about his grandmother. That sentence held so much more meaning behind it.

Mia didn't know what to say to him, because the possibility of losing your loved ones is always there. Accidents happen every day. People die every day. We know this but we seem to forget about it as we get consumed by our everyday lives. And then things like this happen, things that remind us of the said possibility, of the risk. But it shouldn't come as much of a shock to us. It only takes a second for people to leave this world, regardless of their age, but it's our intuition that makes us believe that the possibility of losing people grows greater as they get older. We expect the older generations to die before the younger ones. But to Mia, it seemed like Josh was expecting his grandmother to stick around forever. She understood how he felt, because she loved her grandmother too and couldn't stand the thought of her being gone, but she didn't understand why Josh had to put himself through all that turmoil. Since she couldn't find the words to comfort him, she just held him, hoping that her presence will make him feel better. And it did. He kissed the top of her head, reveling in the moment. For the first time in weeks he felt at peace.

Later that day, as Mia was getting ready to leave his house, a thick blue notebook fell from her backpack.

"What's this?" Josh asked, picking it up.

"It's nothing," she said as she tried to snatch it from his grip.

Josh smirked. "I'd say it isn't nothing since you want it back so badly."

Mia blushed. "Can you please just give it back?"

"Just tell me what it is," he said in a soft tone.