JUVELLA

"Shamim?" Ella calls calmly.

"Yes." He rushes to her. "How are you doing? Do you feel pains in any part of your body?"

"I am fine, I heard you talking to someone, who is that?"

"You are right, she is my colleague at work." He turns to Juvenal. "Come and say hi to her."

She stands and walks to Ella as elegant as ever. "Hi."

Ella tries to sit up herself but her brother helps renders some help. "What is your name miss?"

"You can call me Juvenal." She introduces and stretches her hand for a shake.

Ella accepts the hand shake and asks again. "For how long have you known my brother?"

"Over eighteen months now."

Miss Smith nods. "That's good." She notices the plastic bag. "What is that?"

"It's nothing serious, just some fruits I got for you at the market." Juvenal replies shyly.

"Wow! That's so thoughtful of you. Thanks a lot, I really appreciate."

"By the way, I noticed you have no earrings on, aren't you a fan of it?" Juvenal asks.

Ella touches her ears and laughs gently. "I really don't like jewels, but I do have one necklace that I cherish a lot."

"Really? I also do have a bracelet I cherish a lot and I am not a fan of jewels too."

Feeling left out, Shamim clears his throat to get the attention of the ladies. "I am right here I hope you girls know that."

"Girls?!" Juvenal asks sounding offended as if Shamim hurled an insult on them, she faces Ella. "Did he just refer to us as girls?"

"I doubt it." Miss Smith replies giving her brother the killer look. "How dare you call grown up women like us girls?"

Something Shamim refuses to understand how the chemistry of the two 'girls' worked out that fast. They spoke as if they've known each other for years. "I think my sister likes you." He says out of the bus.

"Really?" Juvenal asks shyly with smiles written all over her face.

"Yes." Ella replies. "I really like you a lot. What about you? Do you like me?"

"Of course! You are so cool,!" She sneers at Shamim. "Very different from your brother who is the coldest person on earth."

Shamim bursts into heavy laughter. "Cool? Who? Ella?" He laughs again. "My sister here is far from cool, she knows that herself. You can ask anyone who knows her well."

"If you both are cold, then I believe it runs in your blood. Like brother, like sister." Juvenal says jokingly.

"Do not mind Shamim, he lies a lot, he only wants to destroy the friendship that we are just building." Miss Smith defends.

"Friendship?" He asks loudly and faces Juvenal. "I suspect you used something on my sister to like you this much. It takes a very great deal for my sister to consider you a friend."

"Stop making a deal out of this Shamim, I just like her."

A nurse walks in. "Miss Smith, it's time to redress your wound and observe you." She says.

All Ella wants to do is to say 'okay' to what the nurse said but instead a very loud fart blows out of her. "Ah!" She screams excitedly. "Does that mean I can eat now?" She asks the nurse.

"Yes ma'am." She replies with smiles. "But it's advisable to eat just fruits or something very light for now."

"You haven't eaten anything since yesterday?" Juvenal asks and Ella nods. "Poor thing, it must have been quite difficult."

"It was."

"Where can I get cutlery here?" Juvenal asks the nurse.

"Just go out and ask any of the cleaners."

"Okay." She picks up three big apples from the plastic bag. "I will be right back." She says to Ella and walks out.

"I am sorry sir, but can you excuse us for some minutes?" The nurse asks Shamim. "I promise it won't take long."

"Alright, I'd be outside." He says and walks out. Outside, Shamim sits on the waiting chair, he thanks God quietly in his mind for saving Ella. He wondered what would have happened if something bad had happened to Ella. "It's such a great relief that she is doing fine."

"Is the nurse still with her?" Juvenal asks holding a tray, in the tray, there is plate of fruit, she had washed and cut the apple into smaller parts and gently places a fork next to it.

He looks at her and nods. "You and my sister seem to get along well."

"I like her a lot, she is a very cool and nice person."

"I have told you not to refer to my sister as cool, she is very far from that." He shifts and hits the chair softly. "Have your seat."

"Thank you." She sits accepting the offer. "When are you resuming to work?"

"Very soon, I already sent a message to the director."

"That's good, at least he would know why you won't be available for the time being and stopped being worried."

"You stay alone right?" Shamim asks out of the bus again.

"Yes."

"Well, I still stay with my family but I plan on moving out very soon."

"Why do you want to move out." Juvenal asks with a confused look.

"I believe I am old enough to stay on my own, aren't I?"

She shrugs her shoulders and smiles. "You are very lucky type."

"Lucky you say? What made you say that?"

"You even have both parents and a very lovely family, they all love and care for you. Yet, you plan on moving out because you feel like you are old enough."

"You call me lucky because I have parents and family."

"Yes." She nods. "Only people like us without parents or family knows how it really feels like."

"You really do not have one person to call your family?" asks Shamim.

"I was raised in an orphanage." She whispers almost sounding sad.

"All through your life?"

"As long as I can remember."

"Was it tough?" Shamim asks again.

"If there was another word to qualify it, I will gladly use it. It was more than tough. We are just once a day, but on good days, we ate twice. They were a lot of bullies there too, sometimes they took my food away from me so I had to stay without food for days."

"How did you manage to cope?"

"Because I wanted to live a better life in the future." She says and cleans the tears in her cheeks with the back of her palm.