The life of a withering flower [COMPLETED ✔️]

Chapter 13

"Ahh, finally!", she let out a breathe of relief as she placed her bags near her doorstep.

It feels kind of odd, walking with a dying cow, laden with heaps of bags.

As soon as the corner of her house neared, she waved a quick bye and went in. I walked ahead to my house.

"Mom?", I called out when I saw a pair of shoes at the doorstep. The noise of the TV covered all other noises coming in.

I walked towards the living room...to see my brother!

"Darsh... It has been a long time, hasn't it?", he said turning back to me.

The bags dropped down my hands and he looked down.

"Were.. You out?", he asked.

I didn't know what to do. Seeing him after nearly two years, I didn't know what to do.

"Why...are you here?", I managed to ask him without choking.

"Darsh...", he opened his mouth to say something... And as if having an Internal battle, he shut it close. He rubbed the back of his neck and said, "I am here to meet mom...and you"

I turned around and walked slowly towards my room.

"Mom will be available only on Sunday. If you want to meet her, be sure to be here till that time", I yelled over my shoulders to him.

There are a lot of people around me, hiding a lot of things from me...or maybe...even if the things were crystal clear in front of me, I didn't even try to take a glance at it.

Before situation turned tables, I would love Bhai's company...but now, I don't care anymore. That's the kind of impact she left upon each one of us.

Crush the rose petals, hold on to thorns. That's the kind of life it was back then, that I didn't realize.

Now though, I stopped taking interest.

"Darsh", bhai's low voice echoed in my ears and I turned around to see him near the stair case.

I wiggled my brows at him.

He opened his mouth to say something, and then searching for words, he finally said, "I know that you and Kaavya's sister are dating"

Hang on. Wait. Three. Two. One.

Whaaaaaaattttttt!!!

"Not again! There is a mistake, I suppose", I said pinching the bridge of my nose.

"I know it must be a mistake, for I know you would never take risks of getting into girls' matter. However, I got a call from Kaavya two days ago... And she, well... Asked me to say you to stay away from her sister", bhai said.

So...that was why he was here...all the way from NYC. He still cared for his ex. Even if it has been three years since the accident, the break up and everything.

"That girl is the one clinging to me. Ask her to stay away", I sighed out, audibly and turned away to go to my room.

"That girl?", he raised his eyebrows.

"I don't remember her name", I said without looking at him as I climbed the stairs, one by one.

"Strange that you don't remember her even if you couldn't stay a minute away from her back when you were a kid", he said.

I swiftly snapped my head at me. Oww, my neck.

I wouldn't be surprised if 'confused' was smudged all over my face.

"Wait...you actually don't remember her? Can't blame you. You got separated when you were just four. She was a neighbor, remember? You always went to play to their house. Once I went to pick you up from their house, and...that was how I met Kaavya", he dragged a sharp breath in.

It must be painful to regain memories of someone whose hand you chose to let go of.

"I remember you cried for three whole days and would check upon the house every now and then as if they would magically appear.", he chuckled and looked up at me. Well, this explains how that black mole looked familiar, how she felt home.

"In a way...we are childhood friends, aren't we?"

She said so. I ignored.

"Well...that was the age to believe in magic", I said in defiance and ran up.

Did she actually remember me?

"Nothing is a co-incidence, nothing happens by chance... We keep ignoring our small choices and decisions and they keep piling up and make up a big change, co-incidence", she had said once.

But the thing is, there was now co-incidence. Forgetting about her was no co-incidence. Meeting her again was no co-incidence. Her confession about her dying was no co-incidence. Our planning and executing a plan was no co-incidence. All of this happened as luck. I don't even regard them as a part of my life.

"Co-incidences make the best memories", darn it! Why was my mind filled with her words?

The world thinks we are lovers. In reality, we aren't even friends. Someday, I will raise a question on 'what are we' to her. I want to know what she saw us as. Because, for a person as shallow as me, it was difficult to get into depths for answers.

If I shift my focus back at Bhai, he chose to be a path to a better life for mom and dad, while I...chose to be a boulder by the side.

I did keep up everyone's expectations; I did try to keep everyone happy... It was just, no matter how hard I tried, I failed.

"Darsh", bhai's subtle voice pierced my thoughts. I got up from my bed and looked at him as he leaned to the door frame, lazily. His white translucent shirt hung loosely and his baggy jeans had a thing in it. If anything, a girl would fall for his hair that was softly messed up around his eyes.

"What?", I asked briefly, it came out more as a rude statement.

"I will be leaving", he said licking his lower lip, grazing down on the marble floor.

"Won't you wait for mom?", I asked.

"I don't know if I can even see her, now", he said, a shadow crossing his features as he said so. His eyes, full of sorrow and pain. Everyone in the Raval family, planned to run away, but to what distance and for how much time wasn't said to us. We just kept running, unaware of what lied ahead.

"Meet mom soon", was all I could say.

"I will...when I muster up enough courage", he said.

"Well...let that courage come before her demise", I said, shaking my head to the sides, forcing stray strands of hair fall onto my face. Although they weren't that graceful and curled at the ends like bhai's, they had their own charm, as I believed.

"How can you say such horrible thing?", he said, his jaw dropping a meter down the ground.

"You need to make sure, you look at her, pushing away the former regret before a new regret heaves down on you", I said.

He nodded, amused a bit.

"I didn't know you would say something like this...but, thank you", he said slipping out of my bed room. Slowly, his figure disappeared into the darkness and I fidgeted my phone.

Should I let mom know? It will just pain her, knowing that her son didn't meet her even once before returning back.

I sulked down on the bed and put my phone near the night stand. I wish, I could swap my life with her. I had a tiring life...prolonged to 50 more years, probably. She had a happy life...ending too soon. Maybe, she made her life happy because it was ending soon. However, her smile was a symbol of how happy she actually is!

// Hi hi! This part was written at nearly 1.15 AM, so I am not sure if it was okay enough. I couldn't sleep so I thought I would just write one.. However, editing is yet to be done. Sleep well and stay well, lovelies!! //