SILVER LINING.

Ashton was holding on to his pink pillow as he woke up to the cawing of distant morning birds in the early lit sky. That pretty little thing was one among the few pink spots on his so called perfect manliness. He had his count of hidden girlish charms.

Ashton moved further inside his cocoon of blankets as a cold gust of wind squeezed its way through the hardly opened windows. As he was about to drift back to sleep he heard a feeble knock on the door.

'Is she already up?' He thought.

Lyza stood on the other side of the door thinking whether she should barge in or just wait.

Ashton opened the door rubbing his eyes as he yawned. He saw Lyza in her old clothes and immediately knew that she was about to leave.

He felt as if he was being dragged to eternal darkness.

'I love her.'

He realized right away.

He looked at her for a while. An unusual silence lingered around them.

"Thank you for everything you have done for me Ashton. I know it is not right to burden someone with my issues. And I will be forever indebted to you" Lyza spoke with a weak smile.

Ashton came out of his room closing the door behind him.

'I don't want her to leave.' He thought. He started brainstorming ideas to prevent her from leaving.

"I think it's riskier for you to leave today. They will definitely search the perimeter."

"So let's just wait up for a couple of days till everything cools down"

Ashton hoped that he filled in all the loop holes and suddenly walked away towards the fridge without waiting for Lyza's reply. Even though, he was seen rummaging inside the fridge, his ears were focused on the tiniest sounds coming from behind .

Not hearing a response from Lyza a sense of achievement swooped over him.

"Ahh... A perfect day for an extra perfect omelette.." He told loudly as he smiled in relief.

"Okay let's see I have got eggs...cheese...tomatoes...Haa…more eggs …onions…" he spoke to himself as he chased his eyes inside the fridge.

[9.00am]

Ashton set the table for breakfast and sat on the chair as he waited for her.

The small glass table in the dining room was in its full glory. It had a basket of green apples at the center besides a bowl of clear water in which the small wilted red flowers from yesterday lay afloat. A glass of freshly squeezed oranges and a small set of silverware were kept by the side of each plate.

Lyza sat opposite to Ashton as she noticed the flowers in the bowl.

"Did you sleep alright? Did the mosquitoes keep you up?"

Lyza nodded 'yes' while she squeezed her eyes shut taking a sip of the sour juice.

She was a little reluctant to eat the eggs. It was as if one of her nightmares had come true.

"Finish up fast and let's find a room for you."

He got up as he told this and walked over to the telephone. He called up the salon and called in sick.

[ROOM]

The stairs creaked as Ashton and Lyza climbed them up with whatever they had at home for cleaning . He pushed a door open and noticed that the room was messier than he presumed.

"Better late than never!" He said to himself and started dusting from a corner. Behind him Lyza gave a series of cough amid the rising clouds of dust. "Sorry" Ashton apologized and stopped dusting as he concerned about her.

"I will go the other corner" She said still coughing feebly and turned around. She tripped on something and fell to the ground all caught up in cobwebs.

Seeing this Ashton ran to her and they both started laughing as they tried to get her out of those sticky webs.

'What is that?' Lyza asked in between laughing pointing at a massive item kept under once white sheets.

"Oh. That is my mom's piano"

He walked towards it and took of the sheets.

He raised the fall board as he sat on the piano bench.

"She always used to play for me. I lost her to cancer" Ashton spoke not letting his emotions take over and stared down to his feet.

Lyza felt her heart sinking as she saw Ashton in this state. She felt an invisible bond between them which grew stronger by every passing minute.

Lyza was quick to act. She without thinking too much paced towards him and pulled him close by his collar, leaned on him and kissed him.

'Her lips are on mine'. Ashton totally lost his balance in the startle and fell backwards. He grabbed her with both hands, cuddling her as they both fell together on the cold ground. As she laid there, on his chest, with her ears over his heart, she heard his heart racing.

He rolled her over carefully with his hand holding on to the back of her head and told "You are my silver lining" as he put his lips on her soft ones.