Pancakes

It took an entire night, and a couple hours in the morning for Manya to gather the courage to face her fears and put herself in the right frame of mind, convincing herself that she was ready to visit the doctor and go for the whole check-up procedure. Now she just had to wait for Arjun to wake up, and she would be ready to tell him everything and see the smile on his face.

She smiled after imagining his incredulous reaction and the smile on his face, as she stood in the kitchen, making pancakes for them.

*They really did share an entire history with each other, full of everything- friendship, drama, thrill and love. Yes, love was the main character of their story- it had always been there. She might have ignored it for a little, but it was there and it would always be there, making her do whatever he liked, just as he would always do the things he never imagined doing, just for her.*

She smiled again, looking at the pancakes and thinking how different both of them were- she hated eating sweets, and he was probably born in a sugar factory. She needed to confirm this fact, how could someone normally eat this much sugar, even after being health conscious! 

She let out a heavy sigh without the smile on her face budging at all, someone who knew her from Milan might have assumed that Manya Rahal was having a stroke! The thought made her chuckle as she stretched over the counter to grab the maple syrup, and heard the sound of dragged-out footsteps. 

*She knew that he had woken up, and poof! All of a sudden, all her courage and patience, everything she had built up to speak to him and show him her medical reports had vanished within seconds. 

She was so mad at herself, why was she like this, couldn't she be like a normal human who could stick to her decisions and not panic after encountering a little inconvenience?!*

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Arjun woke up to find himself cocooned in a velvety thin duvet, and there was no sign of Manya. His heart stopped beating for a moment with the thought that she might have run away again, and now, he couldn't really deal with her running away. He would be heartbroken this time, knowing that she was running away not only from him, but from herself as well. He knew that she never wanted to run away, but she had inherited many things from Maenu,  and this was one of them. He smiled at how the girl who always used to be worried in childhood about whether she would turn out to be anything like her mother, now totally denied the fact that she was like her mother. A smile formed on his face, making him realise how stupid he could be to smile at this unsure moment. Love had certainly made him wasted, now his mind was definitely of no use.

Before he could scold himself further, he quickly stood up with the panic of being reminded again, that the person he was smiling at the thought of, was missing. He rushed to the washroom, splashed water on his face, and rushed downstairs.

He was running like it was the last day of his life, but came to a halt when his nose encountered a very pleasant and sweet smell, drifting towards him from the kitchen. Now the chances of his fear coming true instantly soared up to infinity. He was sure that she had left, and had ordered the servants to make pancakes as she didn't like eating sweets, or even the smell of it. She sure did have pancakes, but they were mostly without sugar syrup. There was no chance of pancakes getting made in her house, and that too, in her presence.

He was almost out of strength, but he still managed to walk somehow, as he wanted to examine each and everything before getting to some conclusion. But at the same time, he was also worried about the fact that he might lose his last hope as soon as he crossed the corridor.

This is why he paused for a moment before entering the kitchen, but then he decided to enter anyway, as he couldn't bear the guilt of not having checked for her everywhere.

But as soon as he entered the threshold of the kitchen, his legs froze of their own accord.

He didn't know if Manya was critically ill or not, but there sure sure was something wrong with him. He was hallucinating, as he was not only seeing Manya in the kitchen, but he was also seeing her making pancakes; and as if that was not shocking enough, he also saw Manya reach out to grab maple syrup for the pancakes.

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After she managed to calm herself down, she noticed that Arjun was still standing at the entrance of the kitchen, frozen like a snowman. 

She stacked the pancakes on a plate, and stepped forward slowly and elegantly.

"Arjun, come on, I have made your breakfast." She spoke in a low tone, after getting closer to him.

"You-you...are you really real?" 

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, am I hallucinating!?" 

A slap hit against Arjun's head, along with a thundering voice, "Now you know that you are not hallucinating, I hope!"

Arjun nodded and followed her, still in a daze, unable to process what had just happened. He had just encountered his Manya from the school days, who loved to knock sense into him by hitting him on the head, and the grown-up Manya, who was completely new for him, wrapped up in one. He never knew that she knew how to cook, even though it had been almost a year since she had returned into his life, and many things had turned upside down. He really didn't know how this year had just felt like a blink of an eye, and at the same time, giving the feel of what could be called eternity.

Manya looked at him as he was not eating anything, and was lost in his thoughts. She spoke up slowly, "Juno, you can eat this. I am not really a bad cook; I might not be good, but I can cook for a person to-"

"Minnie, that's not why I am not eating, and trust me, it can never bother me whether or not you know how to cook, or if the food you cook is not the best! I think my love will be enough for the next ten to twenty years, for me to not only scarf down your bad food, but also lie about it and praise it." He chuckled saying this interrupting Manya.

Manya gave him a death glare, and stood up to snatch the plate from his hands, when he held the plate higher with one hand, and pulled her into his lap with another.

She already knew if she lost in this tug of war, this was the next thing which was predestined; and here she was, proven completely correct.

He looked into her eyes and asked with authority, "Now speak whatever is bothering you! I know you are struggling to tell me something. I have lived with you enough to know when you are doing something because you wanted to do it, and when you are doing something as a distraction, because you wanted to hide something else."

*Manya cast her gaze downwards, she knew she was a little selfish and always used to take things for granted in her childhood. She had actually wanted to do this that day, but due to the character she had upheld in her past, she would be judged according to the same. Just the thought of this was enough to shatter her heart into thousands of pieces, as if she was not in enough guilt already, of being with Arjun and constantly thinking that she really didn't deserve him.*

Arjun noticed the silence and sensed that might have hurt her, he spoke, "Hey! What happened? Why are you upset- don't tell me these pancakes contain poison, and now you are being sad about poisoning me, and losing your one and only best friend and would-be finance!"

He knew that he was definitely going to be burned in the scalding oil of his very own Hell, made in the Manya's kitchen. She was already panicked about the engagement and her illness- he didn't even want to think about it, so he had pushed the thought in the dark Valley of his own mind and brought up humour as his coping mechanism.

But he had never imagined the reaction Manya gave then- she quickly slapped him on the head again, for talking gibberish, and then she tilted her head a little to rest it on his shoulder. 

She spoke up in a soft voice, "Juno, let's go to the doctor. I am ready, but I have one request. Just please don't leave me alone there."

"Never, Minnie, I will never leave you alone in this lifetime."

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Arjun was sitting outside the doctor's cabin. The final results were supposed to come out that day, which his entire life depended on.He knew this from very early on, that her fear was his fear, her pain was his pain, then how come nobody else had noticed that she was going through such a high intensity of pain? Even when the treatment was going on, he had noticed that her hair had started falling out, and how scared she had been about going bald- crying silent tears because the only feature in her entire body which she loved the most was her hair, and now they were falling out as well.

He remembered how she was trying to be brave for everyone else, while getting weaker from inside, everyday. But the bravest thing she had done this time, was not running away or not pushing him out of the frame.

A tear rolled down his cheek when he remembered her asking him to make the arrangements for shaving her entire head in one go, as she was not able to bear the pain of watching them fall day-by-day. He remembered how she had asked him to marry a girl who deserved him, after getting paler by the day, her mind struggling with the guilt of keeping him tied down. He remembered everything they had gone through together- the pain, the darkness, the fear. But now, the light at the end of the tunnel was within reach, for the first time, it seemed more than a tiny distant speck, but the possibility of that light being extinguished and his entire world being plunged into darkness was just as huge and daunting at the moment. Nevertheless, he could proudly admit that love gives you the strength to overcome everything. Every situation can be passed, if the person you love is standing by your side. He knew he didn't want anything more if only he had her standing by his side; but if she was not there, then he was not capable of doing anything. He felt like a lovesick teenager, who was good at only one job, and that was to think about his first crush, infatuation and love. He wanted to smile at the absurd accuracy of this thought, but the amount of tension he was dealing with was not allowing him to breathe properly, so the act of smiling really needed to traverse a distance of miles to reach his face.

The moment he thought that it was getting too much for him to handle, he felt a hand on his shoulder. A voice echoed in his ears, "Don't worry, she will be fine. We all know that the course of the medication is completed, and all the complications are over. Be hopeful, who knows- after this, she might be able to recognise you by your face as well."

He looked at the boy standing in front of him and asked slowly, "Why are you here? Do you still hate her? If you do, then I beg you to forgive her as she was-"

Arjun was just saying everything, joining his palms in a gesture of supplication. Shambhav quickly grabbed his hands to lower them and interrupted him hastily.

"What are you saying, sir, I never hated her. Although my father was my first ideal until I came to know about his reality; she was...she was the person who really had a great role in making me the man I am today. She was the one to help my mother recover from the trauma she had undergone, after knowing about my father's reality. She might sound blunt sometimes, but she always says the correct things. I have always seen her taking the side of the truth, and most importantly, she had allowed me to meet Sia. She trusted me even after being the son of a monster, when my own mother had stopped talking to me for the time being. How can I hate her, I have never hated her and can never do so!"

Arjun just nodded silently as Shambhav blurted out everything he thought he needed to clarify in front of Arjun. He really did want her to be healthy again, as he felt somewhat guilty for her condition, on behalf of his father. 

He looked down the corridor, it was weird that no one apart from Arjun was here, not even Sia. His curiosity piqued within his mind, and he asked, "Why is it just you here? Did nobody-" 

"Because everyone is too scared to face reality. They all know that she might forget everyone again, and the thought of this is sufficient to make everyone frightened enough to hide in their shells, thinking that everything will be alright if they don't see it. But I can't leave her alone, how can I? I don't know what I will do I'd their fears come true, but I can't take a back seat and watch everything without doing-"

Arjun hadn't even completed his sentence, when the doctor stepped out of his cabin.

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A/N - Hello my lovely readers, how are you all? I am sorry for not writing big chapters when the book is already going to end, but guess what- I will surely give you all at least two bonus chapters. I can't say when exactly, but surely within this month!

 ｡◕‿◕｡. Sending my love and best wishes to all of you.❤️❤️ Please do comment! Your comments really makes me very happy, in the sadness of online classes (っ˘̩╭╮˘̩)っ(っ˘̩╭╮˘̩)っ, Lots of love ❤️❤️

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