A Yellow Rose

Chapter 20.

Zeehan's POV-

I patiently waited for the last hour to get over. Honestly, I didn't pay attention at all today, not like I regularly do, but still.

It was during finance class that I told Reyhan and Armaan about Ayushi.

Initially, they were shocked and were at a loss of words. They were also upset that Ayushi and Aisha hid it from us, but we understood their point of view too.

Ayushi didn't want sympathy. She wanted to live the last few days being a normal person, not gaining sympathy from people because she was going to die.

Well, that is what Aisha told us.

The bell rang and the three of us rushed out of the class. Aisha walked out of her class and met us in the hallway. She drove with Reyhan, whereas Armaan and I sat in our respective cars and drove to her house.

While driving to Aisha's house, I spotted a flower boutique and stopped infront of it.

*

I reached Aisha's house, where the three of them were waiting for me near Reyhan's car.

Aunty opened the door and we walked in. The minute she saw me, she hugged me tightly.

"I'm sorry." She whispered. I broke the hug and smiled at her.

"Where's Choco?" Armaan asked aunty.

"She's in her room, come." She answered, taking us to her room.

"Is Divit still there?" I heard Aisha ask aunty.

"Yeah. He didn't leave her side for one bit." She smiled.

We entered the room and saw Ayushi sleeping beside Divit, with his arm around her waist. A pang of jealousy shot right through my body.

The minute his eyes landed on me, he got off the bed, carefully, not waking up Ayushi.

He greeted all of us before turning to look at me.

"Can I speak to you for a minute?" He asked me. I nodded at him, and he led me to Ayushi's balcony.

"First thing first, it's not what it looked like. She didn't sleep the entire night. She kept on crying and saying, what she did to you wasn't fair. She slept like two hours ago, and I stayed right there, beside her." He told me.

I nodded at him and motioned for him to continue.

"Zeehan, she really likes you. We've been bestfriends since first grade, and honestly, I've never seen Ayu feel so strong for someone before, ever."

"Divit, I respect you for taking some time and talking to me about this, but can you not beat around the bush and come straight to the point?" I sighed.

"Yeah, I'm sorry, it's just that Ayu feels it's her fault that you started liking her. I'll just come to the point. You know she's going to die-"

"Can you not say that, please?"

"I know it's not easy, but that is the truth, Zeehan. Neither can I nor can you stop her from leaving us. She doesn't want you to get more attached to her."

"What?" I looked at him as those words left his mouth.

"She feels if you get more attached to her, it'll be really difficult for you when she goes away." He said, looking ahead at the view.

"So, she wants me to stay away from her?" I

"Don't get her wrong, Zeehan. She's doing it for-"

"Divit, please don't give me that bullshit. Doing it for my good and stuff like that." I said, and was about to exit the balcony, but his next sentence stopped me.

"That's what I told her."

"I told her that you're old enough to know what's good for you and what's not. And, if she really wants to do something good for you then instead of staying away from you, she should spend the time she has left with you." He added, giving me a sad smile.

"Thank you."

"No, thank you. You don't know it, but you make Ayu really happy. Like, you know, when was she speaking about you last night, the girl was crying, but she had a constant smile on her face."

That made me smile, genuinely.

"Please, it's a request from my side, stay with her. I know for a fact that she's going to push you away, but she'll stop." He told me.

"I will, Divit."

He smiled and nodded at me, as if saying a thank you, before continuing.

"You know, I'm sure about one thing." He stated.

"That is?"

"I don't really know how many days Ayu has, but if you're with her, I know she'll die happy."