chapter 7. And beneath every sadness

Miraki took wobbly steps towards her apartment. Her mind felt unclear. "Am I dreaming?" her heart was hardly processing everything. It felt very wrong. 'Does he even mean it?' She couldn't comprehend it.

Her thought process was scrambled.

Miraki gently unlocked the doors and tiptoed her way in. Lucy was fast asleep. "She must have spent her day off well." Miraki smiled internally.

She changed into her sleepwear and buried her head inside her thin blankets. Her thought process was like an endless sphere. Imagining countless scenarios inside her head.

In a few hours, her mind was at ease and she had slept.

The midnight had passed and yet the night was still young. It was around 3 am when Miraki's phone rang. It rang multiple times.

"Hello," she spoke in a sleepy raspy voice.

"SHOULDN'T YOU HAVE PICKED THE CALLUP SOONER?" the anger in Miraki's mother poured into the phone call "Anyways, your grandma. She….. well she has been hospitalized"

The instant irritation inside her was swallowed by the sad news.

"WHA-, what do you mean by hospitalized? Weren't you on a vacation," Her eyes widened in surprise but it was instantly suppressed by her drowning fear?

"We were but she got caught up in an accident."

"Wai- then I shall be there. I am gonna take the morning's train." She cut off the phone call.

She was on her messy bed, on her knees. Her stern face with knitted eyebrows combusts as her eyes begin to tear up. Her head was tilted down and her hair covered the sides of her face. The tears had started to stain her face as she silently sobbed.

After a long cry, Miraki got dressed. It was a very simple attire of cropped top with outer and wide jeans. She knocked on Lucy's door.

"Um… what got you to wake up so early?" Lucy opens the doors. Her eyes were swollen.

"Well… I am going to city A. My grandma, she-. She has been hospitalized," the news caught Lucy off guard. Her eyes widened in surprise but the sorrowful look on Miraki's face clarified everything.

"I, I am so sorry to hear about it." she pulled Miraki into a warm hug. Since Lucy was much taller than Miraki, she caressed Miraki's head. "It's going to be ok. Keep calm and stay strong" she whispered.

Meraki reported to the reception about her emergency leave. They permitted her and she took the first train in the morning.

~

Luke was at his home. He was drinking. The night was somewhat colourless. He had been reported in the evening that his sister's company was hacked. It was a good thing that within the next few minutes it was recovered but the arrival of the biggest investors made his day more hectic.

"Don't drink copiously" Esther entered the balcony near the living room. She glared at her younger brother who paid no heed towards his health.

'It's not a lot, ' he said and continued to drink. Esther took away the bottle of whisky on the table and took it to the kitchen. "Don't be the way mother was Luke."

"Um," he hummed and continued to sip. He turned his back to her as he faced the moon and the stars.

' I did something stupid.' he thought. He should have not taken her to the pond. He should not have asked.

"What did you do?" Esther chirped in.

"Nothing. Focus on getting hold of the culprit rather than on me." he ruffled her hair and went inside.

"Sure," she said with a smile. Her almond eyes stared at the sky with a cup of tea.