You Are My Sunshine (BxB)

16:Pain Behind The Smile

        "He is a thunderstorm wrapped in flesh,
Looking to be felt and understood in a world that loves sunny days."

🌻🌻🌻

Nikko and I casually lay on my bed watching a movie. Well maybe Nikko was watching the movie because I wasn't. I was looking at Nikko. His beautiful face. The permanent smile on his lips. His mesmerizing coffee brown eyes.

Nikko had his head on my shoulder and I was running my hand through his hair when his phone started ringing.

He groaned and picked up the phone but his eyes lit up when he saw the caller ID.

"Hey uncle" His voice filled with excitement.

"Yeah....umm....what....when.....okay.....I'll take two hours to reach there....okay" Nikko said into the phone, his voice lacking any emotion.This was scary because most of the time Nikko is either happy or nervous. Looks like I got a lot more to learn about him.

"Umm...Jullian?" He asked.

This was scaring me even more as Nikki almost never called me by my name, he always called me Jujubear or some cute name of that sort. Something is definitely wrong.

"Yes?"

"I need to get going." He said. I noticed his eyes had become glossy.

"Hey sunshine.What's the matter?" I asked him as I wrapped my arms around him.

"I need to go home.....my hometown." He spoke.

"And you don't want to?"

Nikki shook his head."I want to.....but.... my uncle.... he passed away."

"Oh." That was all I could say. Nikko must be pretty close to his uncle.

"Where's your house?"I asked

"New Jersey."

"Okay let's get going."

"You are coming with me?" Nikko asked.

I wiped of his tears and placed a kiss on his forehead.
"I want to be there for you baby."

Nikko kissed me.

Soon we were both in my car leaving for New Jersey.

Nikko just stared out of the window the whole time, his eyes void any emotion.

I put his favourite song hoping he would do something but Nikko just sat there, oblivious of his surroundings.

After a tiresome drive, we reached New Jersey. I asked Nikki the directions to his house but he just sat there completely unresponsive.

"Nikko." I shook his arm a bit.

This snapped him out of his thoughts.
Nikki looked at me. His eyes were glossy but he wasn't crying.
It looked as if he was still digesting the news of his uncle's demise.

"Nikko, what's the address?" I asked again.

"Huh?" He had a blank expression on his face.
He looked around and suddenly erupted into tears.

"I was hoping it to be a bad dream." He said, his voice breaking down.

I hated seeing Nikko like this. My heart ached seeing him so sad.

I wrapped my arms around him. Nikko pulled himself on my lap and cried for what felt like an eternity.

"He's dead." Nikko kept chanting those two words as if he was trying to convince himself.

"He's dead Jules. My Uncle's dead."

"Hey. It will be fine. You'll be fine." I said. Not the wisest choice of words.

"How will I be fine? Tell me! He was the only family I had. Now I have no one."

"You have me." I replied without hesitation.

Nikki kissed me and stayed like that for a few minutes before speaking. "Let's get going."

He gave me the directions to his house.

~~~

Nikko and I stood on the porch of his cottage-like house for a few seconds before he took a deep breadth and knocked on his door.

After a few minutes a very elderly looking woman on a wheelchair opened the door.

"Nona." Nikko hugged her, tears running down his cheecks.

She lead us to a bedroom where his uncle's body lay on the bed.

Nikko couldn't stop his tears.

"How did this happen?" He asked his grandma.

"We couldn't pay for his medicines any more."

He reached over to his uncle and started muttering sorry over and over again.

"It's not your fault." His grandma said hugging Nik.

"How is it not?!! I could just go to the community college or even better start working. But it was my stupid wish to go to NYU."

"You got a scholarship."

"But I still wasted a lot of money on extra classes and...."

"Stop blaming yourself Nik." His grandma told him sternly.

As Nikko turned back to his uncle, his grandma pulled me out of the room.

"And you might be Jullian." She said as soon as we were out of the room.

"Yes ma'am."

"Call me Eve." She said before leading me to the couch.

"Nikko chose the right person. When he told us he was dating a starkid, we told him to be cautious but he didn't listen. I'm glad he didn't. You seem like a perfect boyfriend for my sweetpea."
She said sqeezing my biceps.

"How do I make a good boyfriend?" I asked her, my voice almost choking. "I didn't even know a single thing about him. He is smiley amd joyful all the time and I just thought he would be living a perfect happy life. What kind of a boyfriend am I? I couldn't see the pain behind his smile."

"That's not true Jullian." His grandma said. "Nikko wasn't exactly happy before he left. It was his dream to study and settle in New York. But his uncle got cancer. Nikko got a scholarship. We somehow convinced him to go to NYU. But he wasn't exactly happy about it.... that was until he saw you Jullian. I remember him calling me that night and telling me how joining NYU was one on the best decisions he made."
"Nikko wants to be happy. But he hates being the lucky one. When his parent's died in a car crash, he started questioning himself. 'Why not me?' He would often ask me. When a fire broke down in our house and I lost my legs, he asked me the same question. When his uncle got cancer, he asked me the same. He would spend nights crying and begging God to take away our problems and give him pain instead. Nikko hates being the lucky one. He wants to be happy. He wants to be loved but he afraid of loving someone thinking that he will lose the person he loves.He thinks he is the carrier if pain. But you changed it. You give him love Jullian. You make him happy. Now when he smiles, I can see the happiness finally reaches his eyes."

We were both so lost in our conversation that we didn't realize Nikko had been standing a foot away from us. He had a small smile on his face but this time I didn't fail to realize the pain in his eyes.

"Let's go on the rooftop. I need to clear my head." He told me.

I followed him and soon we were lying on the roof cuddled together.

We lay there in a tight embrace. My arms around his waist, his head rested on my shoulders, our lips almost touching, our legs entangled.

Our bodies perfectly moulded together like we were the last two essential pieces of a puzzle. And together we completed the puzzle of a happy life.

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It was a long chapter. I know. Sorry if you found it boring. There is a little twist waiting for you in the next chapter.