Don't Forget | ✔

Twenty One

Christmas was close. The city brightened up with lights. Everybody buried themselves in jackets.

Arya missed her mother more than anything. The last time she spent Christmas with her mother was two years ago. She couldn't wait to do it again.

Arya looked out at the morning weather as she sat by the window in warm clothes.

"I made you hot chocolate." Jimin carried two mugs and handed one to her. Arya offered him a gratifying smile.

"You take care of me more than I do myself." She said sipping on the drink.

"Well, someone has to. Even though you are a grown ass adult, you are sometimes worse than a toddler." Jimin complained, taking a sip, when Arya's phone buzzed beside her. An unknown number displayed on the screen, and she picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Am I speaking to Miss Arya?" Asked a feminine tone.

"Yes."

"I'm calling from St. Patrick's hospital. It's about your mother. She has been in an accident." Her fingers lost the grip on the mug and it crashed, spilling the hot chocolate all over the floor.

Jimin watched her with worry, asking what was wrong, but Arya only saw his lips move. Her senses were numb towards everything else except the words on the phone. They kept reiterating in her mind until it began to sunk in and her heart dropped.

__________

The smell of the hospital repelled her. As she sat on the chairs outside the ICU, she envied the people recovering and getting discharged.

When Arya lost her father, she was young but old enough to know what death meant. Her dad took a part of her when he left.

Seeing her mother's almost lifeless body hooked up to wires, she worried it would be the last time she would get to see her. It put her on the edge. Her mother had been her only family. If she too had left, Arya would be an orphan.

She was back in that place again. Jimin was there too. As soon as she received the call, he booked flight tickets for the both of them because he knew he couldn't trust her on her own.

"Arya, the doctor wants to talk to you." Jimin's voice made her glance up. She rose from her seat up, nervously. Jimin sought to comfort her whenever she was down, but he did no such thing in that moment. Nothing could ever take away her agony.

With her heart in her hand, Arya walked towards the doctor's cabin. She braced herself for the worst news. Even then, it didn't hurt less to hear those words.

"I'm sorry, Miss Arya. There's not much we can do. Your mother has a very short time to live."

Why was this happening to her? Why did it feel like every saddest thing dawned on her? Maybe she needed to start questioning fate for being unjust, or maybe it had always been her fate.

Somebody once told her that love was all about holding on through the toughest times. If they let go, then they hadn't loved enough.

"You were wrong, mom." Arya whispered, holding her mother's hand.

"That's not love. If it was, you wouldn't be leaving me here all alone." A whimper broke out of her lips as tears clouded her eyes.

Through her blurred vision, Arya saw her mother's eyes open slightly. She squinted for a second before her face softened at the sight of her daughter.

Her body bore bruises, dotted with white bandages. An oxygen mask was placed over her mouth, restraining her from uttering a word, but her eyes were enough to talk to her daughter .

The pleasant look on her face, it was more evident than ever. Even on her deathbed, she pursued to smile.

"I love you, mom." Arya whispered, squeezing her mother's palm. "Don't leave me."

The heart monitor that was beeping consistently till then started to waver. Arya's eyes widened, realising how limited time she had with her mother.

"Mom, no! Don't leave me, please! Stay with me!"

Her cries went in vain. An arm kept her in place as her eyes watched the line go flat. The sound of long, chilling beep filled the air. A minute was all it took for a life to end.

Her mother's eyes were still open, her lips held a smile. It felt like a bucket of cold water dropped on her as realisation hit like a ton of bricks.

Her mother was no more. The last of her family perished. Arya's knees weakened as she collapsed to the floor.

Arya had a faint a vision of people in white coats rushing towards her mother's unmoving body. She witness their failed efforts to get back her heart beat.

Her mother was gone. It was her time to go. It was so brutal, but death was inevitable.