When You LOVED Me...

68.

*Unedited*

When life had become such a lie.

Six months had passed after Aaron's accident. And Mia's life has stood still since then. It was like watching a movie from afar and the story play out and you can't decide it real or not.

Every day in this six months has been pain, betrayal, loneliness. Yet her heart dared to hope that there will be a truth in the end of it all.

She had been in denial. As the events unfolded bit by bit and turned her life upside down, she had started wishing that it would actually be better if she was the one lying in a deep sleep, unaware of the wreck that their lives had become.

But she was not the one who was in the coma for six months. Aaron hadn't woken up. And she didn't know for how long she would be able to keep herself together without him, especially when she feel so broken.

Her mother was as broken as she was upon hearing this news. She and her brother had come to see Aaron, but that was not the only thing they saw.
Mia didn't wanted his brother, Krish, to stay in this depressing environment. So, she sent them away as soon as investigation was finished.

She never thought she could be played like this. That someone would actually try to kill her someday. Moreover, it would be her family, her uncle, her sister who would betray her. And for what? Some fortune she was unaware of.

Her father had died when she was six. She never knew him and she didn't remember him. But she was aware that whatever left of her father's property was now in control of her uncle and her mother just let it be. She was willing to work hard to raise us, so we never thought of that money again.
And we thought, we had left it behind.

If only.

She misses her father, even if she never knew him. Her father had died in an accident too. And No one could ever heal from the sudden death of your parent. It was a part of her, she and her brother was raised without a father. It makes a difference. Even in childhood she used to think, with her father in picture things would have gone differently. But she can't know now, how different.

And now, when she was part of a new family. She had broken it too. Aaron suffered for her and Arnav took the blame of the accident while her mother-in-law was sure that it was her husband behind the accident and not Arnav.

The one person who was suffering more than her was Arav. His cheerful personality had disappeared. He didn't smile anymore. The burden of his fathers deed and the absence of his brothers lay heavily on his shoulders. He was awake and he was going through this pain and heartbreak, to never be the same person again.

Mia's heart ache for him. While, Manvi and his mother were here to support him and Mia was trying to help him in any way she could, it's not enough. He questions himself everyday that how he didn't know how evil his father really was and how his little brother was suffering from a mental disorder. He blamed himself for the circumstances and guilt was plaguing him. Mia was worried that he too would break under the pressure. Mia didn't want to see him gone too. His smile was joy to the whole family and Mia had hope that he was the only one that could now enjoin this broken mess of relationships.

The man responsible for all of this and more was caught a month ago. How can someone be so insane and cruel? Keshav Rathore was caught trying to harm Arnav in the rehabilitation facility. He was there with a gun, blaming Arnav for the losses their company has suffered due to media trials and investigation. Calling him an abomination and trying to kill his own son.

He had broken into the rehabilitation facility in the middle of the night. It was only by chance that a doctor at duty had spotted him and vigilantly called the police. Everyone knew that police was after him and no one was aware about his location. And police was also struggling to find him thinking that he had left the city.

But he had not. Police arrived in time before he could do any physical harm. He was caught. But not before causing more emotional trauma to Arnav. Arnav was panic ridden, he was out of control and he had been since. No one was allowed to see him. Not even Arav could get close to him, without him reacting violently.

Newspapers had covered the headlines, the reputation of Rathore Food chains had crumbled.
Media was coming with their own theories of what happened. Social Media websites were running their trials trying to dig up what they can on every member of the Rathore family and blow it away on their faces. Like their lives was an entertainment and nothing else.

Everything has collapsed.

If Aaron had to wake up now. How he would react to how everything had gone down?

But to react, he had to wake up. Everyday Mia would hope that today was the day he would open his eyes and every night her hope was crushed brutally from past six months.

No pain would compare in her life to the pain of seeing him unmoving, unresponsive. She ache for his comfort, his warmth, his laughter.

When will it come back?

God! Please listen to my prayers and return him to me.

He will wake up soon. Mia chanted in her heart.

But to her, that was beginning to appear, the biggest lie of all.

*****