Chapter 2

Mr. Archarya sighed. "No, it's not me, Rajani. I'm worried about you."

☃︎⋆꙳•̩̩͙❅.ೃ*̩̩͙❆ ͙͛.ೃ࿔‧͙ ‧͙❆ ͙͛ ˚₊⋆.ೃ࿔‧͙❆ ͙͛⋆꙳•̩̩͙☃︎ 𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓣𝔀𝓸 ☃︎⋆꙳•̩̩͙❅.ೃ*̩̩͙❆ ͙͛.ೃ࿔‧͙ ‧͙❆ ͙͛ ˚₊⋆.ೃ࿔‧͙❆ ͙͛⋆꙳•̩̩͙☃︎

Rajani and her father walked into their tiny house without speaking to each other. Their usually happy home was filled with sadness as soon as they walked inside it, and Rajani could feel their colorful house turning gray by the second.

The beautiful roses on their living room table seemed to wilt, even though they were fake. When the father and daughter sat on their normally comfortable couches, they felt like they were sitting on rocks that cavemen used to sit on. Rajani felt that it was hard to breathe, even though there was a vanilla-scented tin candle still burning on the kitchen table, and Mr. Archarya found it hard to breathe also because, well, he had lung cancer.

Rajani sighed and placed a caring hand on her father's knee. "Dad, I'll be at my room, um, I'll see you later," she said, trying not to loudly wail in front of him.

Rajani wanted to break down and cry but knew that if she started to cry heavily, her father would cry even more, and she hated to see him that way. She wanted to be strong for her father. 

Rajani slowly walked to her room and flopped onto her bed so hard, she thought it might break. She sighed and reflected on her reality.

Rajani was a broke girl with no type of education outside of a high school diploma. Her father who had been smoking cigarettes for as long as she could remember had been coughing up blood, having serious chest pains, and randomly passing out for the past five months, and it was so concerning to Rajani that she practically dragged him to the hospital even though he hadn't gone in a few decades. 

The hospital was the color of a sinister, blinding white that Mr. Archarya despised. When he was brought to a room to be examined, it was revealed that Mr. Archarya, a loved and loving father, indeed had stage II lung cancer.

When this news was revealed, the clean scent of the hospital suddenly felt overpowering and toxic, and Mr. Archarya passed out for the fifth time that week. 

Not even the happy, kiddish pictures of colorful, smiling monkeys and cats could stop Rajani from madly screaming and jumping around the room like she'd just smoked 20 grams of pot. Her father really had cancer, truly, figuratively, positively (perhaps negatively in this case) had cancer.

The cost of the treatment, unfortunately, was even madder than Rajani. Twenty thousand dollars was the cost of the treatment. Five of Mr. Archarya's cars were the cost of the treatment. Two years of Mr. Archarya's rent was the cost of the treatment. Hell, Mr. Archarya thought that he was the cost of the treatment.

But where in the world would a broke young woman and her cigarette-smoking father get five of Mr. Archarya's cars? When would Rajani raise twenty thousand dollars to pay for the outrageous price of life? 

Long after she would pay the outrageous price of death, that's when.

Rajani's rancid reality hit, and she started to cry fast, small rivers on her red cheeks. Her situation was as hopeful as that of a cockroach that was about to get stepped on. Suddenly, she burst into tears. She was miserable. She felt stepped on.

What have I done to deserve this? Rajani thought to herself. I thought that I was the luckiest girl in the world with the perfect boyfriend, amazing friends and even better best friends, and a great dad. Even though we didn't have all the money in the world, I felt like I was on top of it. I didn't understand why people would curse this world calling it hurtful and cruel, and now I understand. I hate this hurtful, cruel world! I didn't do anything to deserve this treatment! My frown is going to stay this way forever. Who is praying for my downfall? Hugh, I better go attend to Dad, he might be feeling lonely right now. 

However, she didn't attend to her lonely dad. Instead, she kept dissolving in her tears like cotton candy in water until her phone started to vibrate wildly. 

It seems like I have a call, Rajani thought as she picked the vibrating phone up from her nightstand. 

The caller was "Ravon 💖💒," and Rajani's small fast rivers suddenly stopped flowing. Her "permanent" frown immediately turned upside-down as she took the call. 

"Hello?" 

"Hey, babe," a loud, booming voice replied from the other end of the call. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I am," Rajani responded confidentially. She lied straight through her perfect teeth to not worry her boyfriend in the slightest.

"No, you're not. I just checked your location, and your location history said that you were at the hospital, that's why I called."

"Oh, um...," Rajani sighed and her smile dropped. "Well, you're right. I haven't been okay for a while now. My dad's sick."

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry," gasped a shocked Ravon from the phone. "I hope he's feeling okay right now. What is he sick with?"

"Um, malaria. He's fine, though, he's already had his medication and stuff."

"I'm so sorry you don't feel okay. Do you want me to take you to Bruster's?"

Rajani smiled ever so slightly. Bruster's, her favorite ice cream parlor, did sound good, especially right now. They also sold the best-tasting suckers one could ever suck, and it is always great to suck on something when you're feeling sucky.

However, the well-being of Rajani's father was also something to think about, so she decided to decline her boyfriend's offer.

"I'm really sorry, Ravon, but I want to be there for Dad, I just can't leave him at home."

"That's perfectly fine, you should definitely attend to him. Is it okay if I can talk to him, too?"

"NO!"

"That was... abrupt. Why not?"

"Um..., he's sleeping," Rajani replied. "Yea, he's sleeping."

"Well, I hope you both feel better."

Rajani's smile got even bigger. "Thank you, babe, I love you so much."

"I love you, too, Rajani."

"Well, um, what about you?" Rajani said, not wanting to end the conversation with Ravon. "How was your day?"

"It was great, I got a 25 out of 25 on my essay," Ravon replied. "It was about the effects of cigarettes on the human body, and my professor said that it was the best essay he had read in a long time. Did you know that people who smoke cigarettes have a higher chance of contracting lung cancer later in their lives? Crazy right?"

Rajani's tears started to fight their way through her eyeballs and once again, she was crying terribly. 

"Yeah, crazy," she managed to squeak after swallowing the huge lump in her throat.

"Are you okay? You sound... pinched."

Something of Rajani's was pinched, not only her voice, but her happiness, and her arm, when she tried to wake up from her horrifying nightmare.

"I'm alright, it's just that I just woke up, so my voice may sound different."

"No, you sound like you've been crying, a lot."

"I haven't, but I'm going to attend to Dad now. Bye, have a good day!"

"Oh... okay. You have a better one."

Rajani ended the call and placed her phone close to her beating chest. She felt extremely lucky to have such a caring boyfriend because even when her heart was beating from fear and sadness, it was also beating with lovely limerence.

Ravon was a smart, important student who went to a prestigious college. His parents were too rich for their good and his future looked bright and promising. 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.