iincendiia

As both of them stood leaning against the cold railing of the balcony, silence reigned upon them. It held different meanings for either. 

She usually preferred the silence. It brought calmness to her mind, a sense of sanity. But this one? It was maddening. It let a storm of thoughts enter her mind. Images of what could've happened; of what could still happen flashed across her inner eye. It terrorised her. Haunted her, letting a sole drop of tear run down her cheek. She wiped it away immediately. 

Even though he looked straight ahead in the distance at the night sky hovering over the city lights, with a side glance he noticed it. She was trying to hide her tears. On other occasions, he would do anything for her to shut up but right then, he wanted her to say anything. Anything at all. A word, at least. The silence stretched infinitely, tension in the air becoming thicker and thicker with each passing second.

He opened his mouth to speak, but was pushed away when her fists collided against his hard chest. "Don't. Don't say a single word. There's nothing you can say to make me feel better!" She sobbed loudly. "Did you hear what the doctors said? Didn't you?!" Her fists pounded against his chest but it didn't even make him flinch. 

He caught her arms in mid-air and shook her, hoping that would send some sense into her, "Calm down!" He said, "We're in a hospital! And you cannot blame me for what happened." He added but somewhere deep down he knew, he was to be blamed for what catastrophe had happened that night. 

"Get out! I don't want to see your face and I don't want you to be anywhere near him!" She announced, tearing her gaze away from him while gritting her teeth in anger. 

She expected an apology from him but only received a rude reply. "I don't want to see your face either!" He confessed and stormed out of the room.

Tangled Hearts

Despite the collective efforts put in by Shrey and Tania, Mayra wouldn't reveal anything. She had stuck to her chant of 'Nothing happened' even though Tania could see her red-rimmed eyes and puffed cheeks. Aanchal tried her best to not be a part of their talk but she seemed clearly uncomfortable so the three of them shifted back to their usual spots.

Shrey and Tania exchanged a long, helpless look between them while Mayra scribbled away in her notepad whatever she could remember from the explanation.

"I said nothing happened. It's just a mosquito bite." She muttered under her breath when their burning gazes lingered on her for more time than it was comfortable.

"On both eyes?" Tania enquired while Shrey tried to stifle a snort.

"Yes!" The volume of her voice was increased by a margin, striking almost painfully against their ears. "Start acting normally now, both of you!"

Tania pointed it out, "You're the one not acting normally, good girl."

Chapter Twenty-two