When you have a few weeks left to live, the only other tragic thing that can happen to you besides dying is to fall in love.
For Ariha, love means helping her best friend, Aarya, get the boy she has had a crush on since sixth grade. When life is so...
Ups! Tento obrázek porušuje naše pokyny k obsahu. Před publikováním ho, prosím, buď odstraň, nebo nahraď jiným.
I still feel her sometimes. Mostly in my dreams or when I'm getting one of those painful flashbacks. She's beautiful, a girl who doesn't have to hold on to the weight of her illness.
Yes, she fell utterly sick last summer. It was as sudden as a lightning flash, with no chance to escape. A painful reality served on her plate like a fine Sunday meal and all she could do was stare at her plate. She has a brain tumor and she is about to die soon.
She is me.
The boy looking at me through his wet lashes doesn't know that yet. His black hair falls in sexy strands across his brow. A black hoodie clings to his lean, athletic frame, the fabric wet and dripping beneath the spitting rain. I'd never seen him this close, never got bothered by his presence before this very moment when I knew about his secret. The one I shouldn't have known. Not when I have so little time left to feel affected by it.
Am I affected by it?
It feels like it at this moment. Standing just out of arm's reach, he holds his shoulders back and pockets his hands. "I hope you girls don't mind if we step inside the gazebo. I'm not quite enjoying the drip that much."
I stay rooted to my place as he takes slow strides toward us. Without breaking eye contact with me he crosses my side, heading into the shed right behind us. Rehan knows what he is doing, but I have zero ideas why my chest hitches when Aarya drags me behind her to hurry after him.
A few silent minutes pass between the three of us, each one fidgeting with the right words to stir up the conversation, standing at the three open entrances of the brick façade in the middle of the children's park. I pull the knitted cap closer to my scalp trying to distract myself from the blinding pain coursing through my nerves. The cap has a purple violet handcrafted exclusively by my mother, something I find both endearing and sad. My headache is still bearable so I keep it aside while I focus on the two people I'm trying to play cupid for. This is my chance to set them for real.
I find my best friend all jittery with nervousness and excitement. I don't blame her. She had a crush on Rehan for a long time now, and this is the only time the boy has made an effort to socialize with her after school or should I say he has been called on. The thing is, if he wanted, he could've simply ignored the invitation and stayed like the detached stranger he is with most of the class. Hell, I didn't even give him enough attention before to know he has ear piercings and his eyes resemble the color of midnight.
"I didn't expect you to come here," says Aarya, taking the brick seating area inside the gazebo. She hesitates, looking at Rehan's back who is leaning against the wall, facing away.
His head turns towards us, a silent scowl sitting on his lips and a lazy shrug of shoulders follows after. "You needed my help with the painting assignment."
Nothing comes out of her mouth and the way she stares at his face dumbfounded, I'm sure she will out us, if she speaks. So, I speak on her behalf even though it's the last thing I want to do. In fact, I don't even want to here. I should have escaped when I had the opportunity. Now that we're here and I know exactly why he came, I don't have a choice but to play along.
