70 Days; Chapter 6

The way his eyes gazed at me as he was on his way to the ground...

The way I held his arms and felt the strong biceps of his...

I'm worried...

It's anxiety that's sprinkled over my bare bones.

I watched him lay there, on the restaurant extended cushion-like, red chair, surrounded by our group, along with the staff.

They were panicking just as much as I was.

Before his fall, his black eyes were wandering about.

I stared into them wondering why ours weren't meeting.

Sadness fulfilled the atmospheric intensity.

Confusion, sitting in the pitch of darkness, at the far end of the room.

No one had a clue about what was going on.

Considering his silence, our minds were occupied with irrationality.

Moments later, while staring at the situation, the area below my left eye felt wet.

A tear was shed...

A tear has fallen...

A tear was misplaced, for no apparent reason...

The drop of a tear from the left eye is pain, or so they say...

Pain.

Yes, pain, it is.

Agony, my heart's witnessing.

But why?

I thought this was all pretend...

-

"Rashed?"

"He's up!"

"Finally!"

"Get him some juice!"

10 PM.

It's been over 2 hours, standing obediently watching the now-awakened guy.

He should have been in the hospital ages ago, odd, isn't it?

As his eyes widened, they straightened his back, and insisted him to drink a glass of mango juice, since they believed his collapse was due to lack of sugar.

He caught a glimpse of my hazel eyes through the dense crowd.

And at last, they met.

"Jade! Get over here!" Deena shouted.

I walked towards her, she was sitting beside Rashed.

Later on, the noise decreased, the staff continued on with their work, and the rest of the group wandered within the place, and all remained were Rashed, and Deena and I.

"I'll leave you two alone," Deena spoke in a low tone.

Peculiar, it was indeed, the way my heart began to rush.

In silence, I broke, still worried with a pinch of sorrow, "What happened to you?"

Scratching his neck due to the heat, he responded, "I just forgot to take my pi-"

No words exited his mouth after that.

Confused, I questioned, "Forgot to take your... what?"

"Nothing," he whispered quietly.

I replayed the conversation over again.

Forgot to take my pi-

Forgot to take my pi-

Forgot to take my pi-

I experimented roughly in my head assuming what his incomplete word was.

"Rashed, just talk to me, maybe I can help!" I said.

"No," he mumbled. "No, you can't."

"I'm helping you right now, with this whole 'make-belief' relationship," I whispered.

He looked at me, rearranging his words that will soon be spoken.

Additionally, I spoke again, I spoke false statements, "If you don't want me to help you, then I guess the deal is off."

"Jade, this is different."

"How is it different? Just a simple clarification, please!" I insisted.

I decided to give him some space, I sat in the seat facing him.

We both remained calmly paced for a little while.

"Pills?" I assumed, spilling out one of my thoughts, accidentally on purpose.

He stayed quiet.

The code is unlocked.

"What pills, Rashed?!" I spoke shouting whispery.

"Don't worry, just something to increase my immune system,"

I glared at him for approximately 3 seconds, clueless of my beliefs.

"Okay.."

"Come on," he said as he stood up, "Are we still on?" he added, extending his hand, expecting me to take it, our plan still in progress.

I nodded, took it, combed my hair back with my  other fingers reassuring its neatness, stood beside him, and walked away, carrying along all the worries.