Chapter 3

Rajani knew that his future held treasures of love, happiness, and more importantly, money, and she was going to use that all to her advantage.

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Like a slug, Rajani finally rolled out of her bed when she felt less lazy and tired than she did before. She wiped her wet face with the sleeve of her linty, gray hoodie and walked over to her living room where Mr. Archarya was sitting, smoking a cigarette.

Rajani leaped over to her dad like she was at a long jump competition for the Olympics.

"Dad, what are you doing?!" she screamed as she snatched her father's cigarette from his trembling hand.

Now that she noticed it, Mr. Archarya's entire body was trembling, not just his hand. His skin looked pale and his eyes were bigger than usual. His bottom lip quivered as if he was about to cry, which was probably true. He looked like a Halloween decoration.

"Dad... What happened to you?" Rajani said, her voice shakier than Kinger.

The Halloween prop's eyebrows furrowed and his frown became more apparent. "No, what are you doing? What happened to you? How dare you take my cigarette from me; it's the only thing I have now!"

Rajani was taken aback by her father's rather harsh words. She didn't expect him to fight her for his cigarette because he usually listened and understood when she told him to put his cigarette down.

"Dad, you have me, you don't need this!" Rajani cried, squeezing the cigarette in her fist. 

"Rajani! Do you know how much money you've wasted?!" Mr. Archarya yelled. "I was going to enjoy that!"

"I assume you're also going to enjoy your death, too, huh? Right? 'Cause if you really enjoy this cigarette, you would love death, too!" 

Mr. Archarya's bottom lip started to quiver even more as his eyes became glassy. A tear rolled down his cheek and he hung his head low in embarrassment. He looked defeated.

Mr. Archarya sighed as his daughter put her hand on his back, trying her best to comfort him.

"Rajani...," he muttered. "I've been thinking about my life these past few weeks and I'm realizing... I really would enjoy death."

Rajani gasped with fear and started sobbing. "No, you wouldn't!"

She didn't know what to do about this situation. Every time she tried to run away from her problems, she could usually outrun them. This time, however, was different. It was like this set of problems took a track practice of some sort because they were just too fast. Rajani could not outrun them whatsoever.

"I'm going to die in a few months, anyway," Mr. Archarya replied. "Why don't I just enjoy a cigarette while I'm at it? We both know there's no way of me surviving this. I know you're telling me that you'll raise twenty thousand dollars for my treatment, and I appreciate that because you're trying to make me feel better-"

He stopped to cough up a few splatters of blood in a tissue before continuing. "But you know yourself that that's impossible. I'm sorry, Rajani, I'm not going to make it to see you as much as you'd like in the future."

Rajani swallowed a huge lump in her throat before wrapping her arms around her father. "Don't say that. I'm going to get this money, Dad."

She always tried to assure herself that she was somehow going to get twenty thousand dollars for her father but deep in her mind, past all the "fake it 'til you make it" bullshit, there was a space, an honest space, that knew that there was absolutely no way of a broke, under-educated girl to get twenty thousand dollars in a month.

Suddenly, there was a loud knock at the door. 

Both Rajani and her father whipped their heads around to look at the door when they heard the sharp knock. 

Mr. Archarya started to stand up to answer the door but stopped to sit back down when he heard Rajani say, "I'll get it."

She walked over to the door and didn't even bother to peer at the peephole. Rajani unlocked the door to get surprised by none other than that smart college student!

"Ravon? What are you doing here?"

Ravon flashed Rajani a smile of perfect pearly whites as soon as he caught sight of her beautiful face. She still looked so pretty even after she cried all her organs out.

"What do you mean 'what am I doing here?'" he replied. "You were sad, so I came to surprise you with ice cream from Bruster's!"

Rajani immediately changed her expression from disappointed to joyous. "Oh my gosh, Ravon, you're so thoughtful!"

She was fighting as many demons and emotions as she could to refrain from saying everyone's favorite three words: "I love you."

Even though she longed to tell her boyfriend that she loved him, she hated to display even the slightest bit of PDA - especially in front of her father, as every sane person does.

"Thanks, honeybun, you'll always be the first thing on my mind," he smiled as he stepped into the house.

Eugh, don't call me that, Rajani thought. You could've done all that lovey-dovey shit on the call, why're you doing it now? In front of my dad?

"Um, I'm right here," voiced Mr. Archarya in an uncomfortable voice.

Ravon turned to Mr. Archarya and smiled nervously. "Sorry about that. Oh, and also, I wanted to come here to express my concern and condolences for you, Mr. Archarya."

Rajani's eyebrows furrowed as she looked at her boyfriend. "Ravon, we're okay. Thank you for the ice cream. Is there anything else you want?" she snapped.

Ravon turned to his girlfriend with a streak of hurt in his eyes. "Why do you suddenly have an attitude? Did I say something wrong?"

"Um, no, you didn't," Rajani muttered. "I'm sorry about that. Can I have my ice cream now?"

"Sure."

Ravon handed Rajani an ice cream cone with a mix of rocky road, mint chocolate chip, cookies and cream, and chocolate raspberry scoops on it, all completed with some sprinkles, whipped cream, and a cherry on top. The very ice cream cone in her hand was probably one of her favorite things in the world.

"Thank you, Ravon, this all is so thoughtful," Rajani said as she smiled at her boyfriend.

"You're welcome," he replied. "Also, Mr. Archarya, I would give you some ice cream but you're... sick, so I didn't think it would be wise to do that."

Mr. Archarya shrank into his couch and frowned. "It's okay, Ravon."

"Oh, um, is it okay if we take a walk around the park, Mr. Archarya?" Ravon asked. He then turned to his girlfriend. "Is it okay, Rajani?"

"Sure!" Rajani smiled. She turned to her father. "Dad, please? It'll only be for, like, twenty minutes."

Mr. Archarya sighed. "Okay, then. You both can go but come back before six."

"Yay, thank you, Dad!"

"Thank you, Mr. Archarya." Ravon gave the man a bow before he took his girlfriend's free hand and walked her out of the house.