Maya and Elias Part 3

"You didn't hear? Didn't Elias call you?"

"No.."

"Well, from what I know, the girls have been in a fight and Aranya fell into coma."

"What?? How can you say it like it's something ordinary?! Why aren't you there with them?"

"There's nothing I can do Maya."

"You could support your family! You could support Elias."

"I cannot stand there imagining that maybe but only maybe my kid will survive! I can't be there. I've been there before. I can't go through that again."

"What about your son huh? Do you think he can go through that again??"

"He's a strong man. And he's got you to hold on to."

Unbelievable, Maya whispered and shook his head lightly.

"In what hospital are they?"

"Siriraj Hospital."

"Thanks", he said, grabbed the keys and ran out of the apartment straight to the Siriraj hospital.

"Excuse me, ma'am, is a Aranya Vu here?"

"Yes sir, Room 35 on the children's ward, just walk this hallway on the right, then you have to turn at the corner to your left and then you should be able to see it already", the friendly secretary said.

Maya nodded and thanked her. He jogged to the hallway and turned left as the woman told him to. What he saw broke his heart.

Elias sat on a chair his head in his hands, his fingers strangled in his hair.

He didn't even look up when Maya walked closer.

He didn't know what to say or do, how to act. His sisters meant everything to him. Of course he'd be heartbroken if something happened to them.

Maya laid his hand on Elias' shoulder and kneeled down in front of him.

"Hey."

Elias looked up. His eyes were swollen and watery, his cheeks red.

"Maya? What are you doing here?"

"I heard. Your dad told me when i came to your house."

"I'm sorry I didn't pick you up from work. I should've send a text at least."

Elias looked down.

"No, god no, don't think about that right now, okay? I understand. It's okay." Maya leaned forward and kissed the top of the others head.

That made Elias smile weakly.

"Where is Chariya?"

"Inside with Aranya."

"Can I..?", Maya pointed to the door, hinting that he wanted to go in there.

Elias nodded and Maya opened it carefully.

"Hey kiddo."

"Hey maya", Chariya said quietly.

"I'm sorry for what happened."

"It's okay", she looked up and Maya could see the bruises on her face.

"Whoa"

She smiled at his reaction.

"Who did that?"

"Just some girls from school."

"Why would they do that to you?"

"We're the freaks of the class and we're poor. They make fun of us all the time. When we wanted to walk home they started pushing us around and one girl suddenly threw a rock at Aranya when they noticed that she wasn't so bad at defending us. She fell on her head and passed out. The girls threatened me to not tell anyone and ran away. And since we don't have phones, I dragged her here. I really hope that's she's gonna be okay, you know?"

"I'm sure she will be. I could teach you some easy tricks on how to defend yourselves properly. If you'd like that."

"Sounds good."

"Did you tell Elias?"

"Yes."

"What did he say?"

"He got really sad and mad at himself that he couldn't protect us."

Maya sighed and went to Aranya.

"Hang in there hun, you can do this", he whispered and patted her arm before he left.

As he came walking out of the room he saw how Elias quickly wiped his tears of his cheeks.

Maya kneeled down in front of him again put his head in his hands and wiped the cheeks with his own fingers clean. He kissed the trail with his lips and Elias wrapped his arms around him and pulled him onto his lap. He buried his face in the pit of Mayas neck.

"She'll be okay."

Elias nodded.

"But I wasn't there to protect them", he said quietly, "look at Chariyas face, look at what these girls did to them. Just because we're poor. And we're poor because dad couldn't get himself together after mom died. And mom died because, because..", he sniffed and grabbed Maya tighter.

"Mom and I had a fight, shortly before.. before it happened."

He freed his face out of the pit of Mayas neck and took a deep breath. His eyes were forming tears.

"You don't have to tell me, if you don't want to, don't pressure yourself."

Elias cleared his throat.

"We had a big argument, she only wanted what was best for me but I was stubborn and wouldn't listen to her. I told her to not interact with me anymore. I was so angry. I didn't want her help. And that's when it was starting to get really bad. She stopped taking her medication for her bipolar disorder and everything came down to a total mess. She got really depressed and I- I didn't help her", Elias voice broke.

"I ignored it. I saw how bad she was doing. She started taking drugs and got the whole family into debts and one day when I came home, she just- she-", a single tear left his eye, his gaze was empty but heartbroken at the same time.

"She- she was just.. her soul was gone. She was gone, Maya. And her body-", Elias gulped, "I could have changed that, if I would have just been there for her. If I had just gotten over my own pride, she might still be alive."

Maya shook his head.

"If I would have taken care of her-"

"Stop! You're an amazing big brother to your sisters, you take really good care of them, you work your ass off to get them the education they deserve. It's not your fault that they got into a fight. And it's not your fault that your mom killed herself. You said she was bipolar right? She stopped taking her meds. That was her decision. She did that, it's on her! Not on you. She could've asked for your help instead of hoping you'd come to her. There was nothing you could've done for her."

"Thank you", Elias mumbled and buried his face in Mayas chest again.

"Listen, I know you'll hate it, but maybe you should take a break for a few days."

"What do you mean?", Elias mumbled into the olders chest.

"You could stop working for a few days and in the meantime we could make these bitches pay for what they did to your sisters. We could get a lawyer-"

"A lawyer? Maya, I can't pay for that! And I really appreciate your help and all but neither can you."

Maya sighed. He was right. But he knew someone who could pay for all of that.

After the whole day in the hospital, Elias called in sick for work and spent lots and lots of hours with Chariya at home or at the hospital, hoping to find some kind of improvement.

Maya was working on something else. Someone else.

"I know you don't like my decisions in life but I'm doing good and isn't that what you should be happy about?"

"You lost your scholarship. Everything I prepared for you. It was all worthless to you. My entire work."

"You can't force me to live a life YOU built for me and then enjoy it."

His dad put his head in his hands.

"And honestly: you only noticed a couple days later that I left. Wasn't the best thing a dad could've done, you know", Maya added silently.

"I'm sorry."

Maya looked up. Did he hear that right? His dad just apologized?

"I'm sorry. I should've respected you. You're right. And I'm wrong. I shouldn't have forced you to live a life, you didn't want."

"Yes.."

"I miss having you around."

"Dad-"

"But why did you come back?"

"I need your help, dad. If you miss me, would you help me with something that is really important to me whether i have your approval on this or not?"

He nodded.

"What's going on?"

"So, I met this guy..", Maya started talking about what had happened and apologized for that being the only reason for him asking his father for help. He explained how Elias' sisters got into a fight and wouldn't be able to pay a lawyer to get the justice they deserved.

His dad just sat there and listened. Maya never got to experience that before. As he let the words roll of his tongue he realized how he didn't want to go back to a life without him in it. He might have made some mistakes but, he wasn't so bad after all. He cared for Maya. And for what happened in Mayas life. He genuinely cared.

As Maya was done talking he waited for his dad's reaction.

Mr Nguyen inhaled deeply. "Wow."

"Yes."

"I'll get you guys a good lawyer. And you won't have to pay a cent."

"Really? That would be so-"

"But, I want you to come back."

"What do you mean?"

"I want you to get a proper job and a good education-"

"Dad, we've talked about this before."

"I know. But do you have any idea what you want to do with your life?"

Maya stayed silent.

"So what? You can study anything you want, that will be in your hands, but I want you to have something to rely on. And I want you to come home."

"Am I allowed to spend nights at Elias' tho?"

"That's your first question?"

"That is THE question, dad."

"Of course."

"Will you cook us dinner? Will you pay attention to me?"

"Yes."

"Will you watch movies with me? Will we be father and son? Or will you be Carlton Nguyen and I'll be.. Maya."

"No, we'll be father and son."

"Then I'll happily accept. Thank you, dad. You might not know this, but I really appreciate it."

"By the way", Mr Nguyen said just as Maya wanted to walk out the door,

"I want to meet Elias."

Maya opened the all to familiar door with the all to familiar knob. The door wasn't on lock. It never was actually. Thats how Damon got into the house that one time, too. Maya suggested multiple times to lock it, at least over night, but Elias always denied.

He said it gave him the feeling of being prisoned.

Maya found the lights dimmed in the kitchen and hallway and decided he should be quiet. He didn't know whether his family- um- whether the family was sleeping or not. And he thought they could use every extra hour they could get. Chariya has always been a good sleeper but Elias? Whenever something was on his mind, printed inside his brain, he barely goes to sleep. His body wanted to shut off and his brain always went on strike. Maya found out about that quality a few days ago, just the day after the accident. They stayed up for a few hours the night and talked and cuddled and drank tea. Maya eventually fell asleep on Elias' chest, which he apologized for many times.

The apartment was silent but he was able to make out the sound of pages turning, coming from Elias' room.

The older took off his shoes and jacket and sneaked closer to where the smell of paper and 'book' was coming from.

"Hey", he whispered.

Elias looked up and smiled. "Hi."

"Guess where I went today", Maya said with a happy grin on his face and laid down on the mattress to put his head in the youngers lap

Elias shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know, why don't you tell me?"

He dog-eared his page before he laid the book aside so he could concentrate on Mayas words.

"I visited my dad."

"What? Why would you do that?"

"I asked him for help. I know you can need the money. You'll get a good lawyer, someone with experience and my dad promised he'll pay for everything."

"You- you did this for me?"

Maya nodded and sat up.

"Listen, I know you don't like the thought of it but my dad was actually nice and all he wants for me to do in exchange is to study whatever I want and to move back home. I can do that."

"You didn't have to do that you know?"

"Yes I did. Don't hate me, but you can really use the money. I'm sorry if I overstepped some boundaries but I really wanted to help-"

Maya got interrupted by a pair of lips that landed on his.

He was so surprised that he didn't know what else to do but to let it happen.

As Elias leaned backwards and saw the olders surprised face, he regretted what he had done.