Good night
Manya sat on the beach chair that she had kept on the terrace, even after Arjun had teased her about it several times.
They were on the terrace once again, gazing at the stars after dinner; and she was purposefully ignoring the question about her health, knowing it would lead him to panic and they would end up spending the night in a hospital.
*She didn't want that, she didn't want to be the patient whom everyone took pity on. She didn't want to be a person who spent their remaining life on a hospital bed, fading away bit by bit. She was already tired of everyone fussing over her because of her health, couldn't she be a normal person for a bit, free from diseases, someone who could lead her life, only for a few years, without any pain or any sympathy or attention from others?!*
She felt Arjun rest his head on her lap and she looked down, withdrawing from her thoughts.
Shifting her weight to the other hand, she freed one of her hands and started stroking his hairs lightly. She asked softly, "Juno, what happened? Are you tired, should we go back downstairs? Do you want to sleep?"
"Uh-huh!" Arjun replied, shaking his head.
"Let me stay like this for a while..." Saying this, he wrapped his hands around her waist.
"Okay!" She replied with a smile and drifted back to the land of her imagination, while looking at the stars and calculating the probability of life existing in all those galaxies, which could be seen by her eyes in the form of little twinkling fireflies!
Her attention shifted back when she heard Arjun mumbling again, "Minnie, you know what... I love you."
"I love you too, Juno."
She replied very casually, as she knew that he was familiar with the emotions she had for him. After all this time, she knew that if she was sure of one thing in her life, then it was Arjun's love for her and her love for him. After all the efforts of hiding it, it had overflowed somehow and it wasn't something she could undo either.
"Then can't you trust me once, and go to the doctor with me? I am assuring you that I won't let anything happen to you, I promise. Please Minnie, listen to me for once,we should visit to the doctor-"
"Juno! Can't we leave the discussion here? I really don't want to discuss anything about it."
"But Minnie, why can't you simply listen to someone, just this one time? What's more important- your unseen pride and the thoughts which only you have in your mind, or us? Will you really go that far to maintain the so-called boss lady image that you will never take orders from anyone? How can you be so selfish-"
"I-" Manya had opened her mouth to interrupt, but was unable to say anything after that.
"That was...that was not what I-"
"It's okay, Juno, all that you have said is correct. The points you have made are entirely fair, and enough to judge my personality and describe me in words.
Now let's go back to sleep, as I am really tired." Saying this, she got up and turned away.
Arjun sat up as quick as lightning and grabbed her waist before she could step away. "Minnie no- this was not what I wanted to say." Tears dribbled down his face as he held on to her waist tightly, so that she was not even able to move for an inch from his grip. It was the first time she had seen him cry after they had both grown up. This hurt bitterly, her heart ached in response.
She patted his head and said, "Juno, be quiet, I am not going anywhere. Please loosen your grip a little, as you are hurting me."
Arjun quickly removed his hands, but still didn't lift his head, and continued sobbing. For a second, they just stayed like that, Manya standing up and running her fingers through his hair as he broke down in bitter sobs, resting his head against her torso.
She spoke again, "Juno, can we talk? Tell me, why are you so disturbed today? I know you hadn't raised your point to hurt me, but rather to tell me truth-"
"No, Minnie, I haven't raised those points to prove anything- the points were there to showcase the extent of my dumbness only! But I am scared Minnie, I am scared of losing you. I can't live without you, nor can I imagine my life without you. Why I am this unlucky, first you were away from me for so long, and now when I have finally found you...you- "
He dropped the sentence in the middle, for want of appropriate words. He was scouring his vocabulary for the least hurtful way to bring up her condition, when Manya spoke up and relieved him of the responsibility.
"Juno, do you think I am happy about this? I also want to spend my entire life with the people I love most, with you...I also want to have you by my side every minute and every second, but we don't always get what we want. Do we? I really don't want to get pitied by everyone after they see me in the hospital, I don't want to live without my hair, I don't want to spend my life fearing what my next day would be like, whether or not I will ever be able to make it!?"
She paused to wipe her tears, when she noticed that he was looking up at her face. He stood up abruptly and cupped her face. Wiping her remaining tears off with his thumb, he held her hand. "Minnie, let's go, it is pretty late. I think we should sleep now, let's talk about everything tomorrow- it has been a really long day today."
Manya nodded at his statement and let him lead her down the terrace.
He stopped in front of her room and placed a peck on her forehead. He spun her around to face the door and spoke, "Sleep well, and don't think too much. Anyway, I know that no matter how much I would forbid you, you would always end up dwelling on whatever scenarios come to your mind, even if the chances for them to come true are in the negatives."
Saying this, he pushed her slightly towards her room and she giggled in reply. He turned around to go to his room, when he found that she was tugging at his shirt. He whirled around with a questioning glance, when she spoke up herself.
"Can you read me a story, like you used to do in our childhood when I was not able to sleep?"
Arjun smiled as the sweet memories of their childhood appeared in front of him and he nodded."Of course! Come on."
He entered the room and tucked Manya into the bed, as if she was a five year old kid who needed the protection from falling down. He then sat down, pulling a chair to the side of the bed.
By the time the story was completed, he noticed that she had gone into a deep slumber. She was sleeping, like an innocent angel. He wanted to stand up quietly and leave the room, so that her sleep wouldn't be disturbed. But when he was trying to execute his plan, he felt a grip on his hand as she pulled his hand and put it by her side while sleeping. He sat back down and bent forward to put his head on the bed, as he drifted off to dreamland as well.
Manya opened her eyes, panting, as she had seen a bad dream that she couldn't remember. As soon as she turned around, she saw the handsome face of Arjun sleeping in front of her. Her heart melted at his cuteness, and she decided that even if it is one of her worst fears, she would go to the doctor and she put head back on the pillow and closed her eyes to sleep.
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A/N- Hello my dear readers!(◍•ᴗ•◍)❤ How are you all? I apologise for the short chapter, I had a lot of Uni work to do today, including presentations, assignments, and so on. I'll try to upload a bonus chapter soon, so please hope that I don't fall asleep, hehe. Love you all! ✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧