CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

REALITY'S P. O. V.

Erica takes me home just after the doctor just gave me a breathing therapy. My face is red from crying and I'm still kind of a mess. Erica offers me water and I take it. erica asks me if I finally told him that I love him since I explained everything to her and I tell her the truth that I didn't.

"Why didn't you tell him, you've never told him that before."

"I just thought it would make the situation worse." I say and suddenly I feel nauseated again, so I put my hand to my mouth to ensure I don't mess up.

"I'll be right back."

 I say getting up as I rush to the bathroom and the edge to throw up becomes more intense. I throw up and wash my mouth and face and as I splash water onto my face, I look at myself on the mirror; a wet haired reflection of myself. I feel a palm on my shoulder.

"Real, you okay?"

I hear Milan's voice and as I turn, there's no one. It's just me. I never knew a heartbreak would get me this sick. I feel so weak right now, all I need is a nap to get partially freed from the stress.

"Real! Come quickly, they're playing your song!" Erica excitedly shouts from the living room. I quickly grab the towel and wipe my face and put it back. I rush to the living room; my song's playing and I'm so excited.

MILAN'S P. O. V.

I wake up with a heavy headache and slightly cover my eyes from the burning light from the window and mom smiles at me telling the nurse to close the curtains. Mom has been waiting for me for all this time and she quickly walks out to call Khushi. I stretch my hand which doesn't feel like mine anymore and reach out for my phone on the table. I turn it on and check the time; it's around 4pm. I've been asleep for more than ten hours, I stretch out both my hands as I yawn and see empty drips, I just disconnect them. I see mom and Khushi walking in.

"It's good you're awake now." Khushi says smiling.

"You almost killed me."

"I'll all your dad." Mom says holding my cheek with a warm smile as she takes out her phone.

Meanwhile, Khushi starts running some tests on me and writing in a file.

"Can I ask about Real?"

Mom quickly turns to look at me with the phone to her ear and Khushi looks at me with a death glace, man I just wanna know how she is.

"Well, she's gone." Khushi says as she writes on the file without even giving me a second glance.

"Fuck!"

"Come on, Milan. If you don't forget her, how will you heal?" Mom says holding my hand and looking at me with compassion.

"I'll never forget her."

"Of course, you'll never, at least."

Mom hands me the phone to speak with dad who couldn't be here due to his job, he apologizes for leaving early and asks how I am and I tell him I'm much better now. He tells me how he'll meet me soon after his work and afterwards, I hand mom her phone.

I start scrolling on my phone and mom asks how I'm feeling and I tell her much better. She tells of how worried she was and that if anything had happened to me, she wouldn't have survived. She tells me to promise her that I'll never do it again, which I can't.

"Please don't make me promise you that; you know I don't go by that."

Before mom can respond, there's a knock on the door and Khushi gets it. I look at Khushi and she's literary smiling at me and she looks back to the door and tells whoever's on the door to get in. I look up to a splash of bright colors and I'm surprised to see my classmates coming in with a lot of bouquets, gifts, cards and teddy bears.

"Hello Milan." Chloe says and everyone focuses on me and they come to me.

"How are you feeling now?" Zoey asks taking my hand.

"Much better."

I didn't know you and-"

"Sasha." Zoey says shaking her head as she looks at Sasha making her leave her sentence midway. I'm just glad for that because I have a feeling, she was gonna say something I wouldn't like. We continue talking and there's a lot of noise and chatter, but the thing is; their presence makes no difference because the person I want isn't even here right now. After the students leave, the teachers and some junior visit as well, my basketball team and Armando.

REALITY'S P. O. V.

I seat on my bed with a pile of clothes next to me and I get each other and gently fold it. I grab a soft jersey; purple, black and gold with the words Valencia at the back. Milan's jersey from the night we first kissed. I look at it and hold it close to my chest to hug it. something hits my heart so hard; I suddenly feel tears welling up in my eyes. Every passing minute feels like an hour without him. The time is too damn slow. I've never gotten my heart broken like this before. In fact, I've just had my first heart break.

I have a lot to talk about. Firstly, it's about my song; well, our song. It's everyone's favorite and it has about a hundred million streams as of now and I've been saving up all my money. I hear my phone buzzing on the dresser and I pick it up. It's a call from an unknown number. I think twice before picking it up and just decide to accept it and put it on loud speaker.

"Hello, I'm I speaking to Reality Heatherway?" the calm female voice from the phone says.

"Yes, I am." I reply, confused.

"Well, congratulations, Real, this is Camila SaintJohn from MTV, I've called you because your song "Being Real has gone certified Gold on Sportify and has become the most trending song on Tik Tok and many other platforms and would like you to attend the MTV awards and receive an award as the best upcoming artist."

"Reall?!" I ask excitedly.

Camilla goes on to tell me of how she's been trying so hard to reach out to me and before she can continue further, I scream in excitement. I mean, who knew my song would go viral. Well, our song; coz it's a duet with Milan and I'm filled with so much happiness right now. Camilla goes on to tell me more about the MTV awards and asks for facetime so we can discuss it properly and sends the rest of the information to my email and asks me to perform my other song on the stage which just went gold and I'm really excited.

"Erica! Erica! Erica! Listen up!" I scream as I rush down the stairs.

"Yo sis, slow down. What is it?" Erica says as she holds me.

I breathlessly explain to her about Camilla and the entire story and when I show her the proof, she's just as excited. We call Joey and he immediately comes to congratulate me and he spends the night here.

* * * * *

"And then I was like for real for real." I look at Lan and he's literary asleep. I shake his hand.

"Lan, hey, Milan."

I try to shake him again to try and wake him up, but he doesn't respond and I'm kind of pissed because he should've told me the story's boring, not actually sleep. I'm on the verge of leaving until I feel an arm on my hand. As I'm about to turn, he pulls me by the waist making me fall right on his chest.

"Lan!"

"Where you off to, so fast?" Milan looks me straight in the eyes.

"I was explaining a story to you and you fuckin' slept."

"Well, I didn't. I just wanted to make a more interesting story." Milan pushes a strand of hair from my face.

"Really?"

"I'll show you." Milan puts his lips against mine and we kiss.

* * * * *

I wake up and check the time and it's 02:30 am. I run my fingers across my face and sigh. Milan's memories are haunting me like a nightmare. I miss him like hell. My throat is dry, so I check the bottle next to my bed and it's empty. I wear my clogs and walk out of the room with the bottle to get some water. Lately I've been feeling thirsty a lot. Anyways, I have a lot to do, the awards are in two days' time; Joey spoke with her earlier.

"I can help you with anything." Milan's voice plays in my head again.

I hit myself on the head and tell myself to focus. I get my water and go back into my room. I drink some and start thinking of what I wanna do. I've earned a lot through music and social media in the past months and I would like to buy a house because I can't live with Erica forever and I just ordered a car, thanks to my hard work. As I start feeling hungry; I go downstairs for some food and afterwards go back to bed.

I wake up and go straight to the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth. I walk down the stairs and I'm welcomed by the warm smell of waffles. I spot Erica on the breakfast table.

"Morning sis."

"Morning."

I hear the sound of the spatula from the kitchen and the sizzling sound of food. I ask Erica that if she's her then who's cooking and Joey shows up carrying a tray of drinks and wearing an apron and a chef's hat; what a gentleman, right? He tells us that break fast will be ready in about five minutes.

Erica asks me if I've decided on what to wear to the award ceremony and I tell her I have. Well last night I went through all the sites and chose the best outfits to wear. Joey tells us that breakfast is ready and sets the table. It's pancakes with Nutella nuts and strawberry syrup; my favorite. I serve myself and end up just looking at the food and just feeling like I don't have the appetite anymore. I look at both Joey and Erica and they're both eating.

Joey asks me if anything is wrong with the food and I say no. Erica tells me how Joey made the food with love making me feel guilty. I grab my folk and cut a piece of the pancake with syrup and close my eyes as I put it in my mouth like I'm having something I shouldn't. I feel the edge to puke and just quickly get up and throw up at the bathroom and wash my mouth. I wash my hands and grab the chocolate flavored milkshake.

Real asks if I'm okay and I tell her I am and that my stomach's just trying to be picky and Erica tells me how I've been acting strangely and I tell her it's non to be worried about and Joey and Erica give this awkward look.

"No offence Joey." I say.

"Non taken." He says.

Joey has always been cool. I'm now starting to think what Erica was trying to say and I think I really might be sick. Whatever it is, it has to wait for the awards.