❝what if you decide that you
don't wanna wake up, too?
i don't know what i'd do
'cause i've built my life
around you.❞
MAY 18,
eighteen days after the funeral.
IMPATIENT,
jude stood on the stoop of the toone's house, unable to contain the excitement he felt at the thought of seeing the woman he had missed so much. once the doorbell rang, the footballer accompanied by his little brother and his two parents waited for the door to be opened. rebecca did so seconds later with a tired look but a big smile on her face, seeing her best friend again would only do her good. in the meantime, it is arun who welcomed them in euphoria. ecstatic, he ran towards jude's legs to encircle them as best he could with his two little arms.
"hey lil' man!" the young man exclaimed with a smile — it was always a pleasure to see the little boy. "are you doing good?" he asked as he picked him up. the latter nodded vigorously up and down and jude felt his smile stretch even wider.
"very good, but nisha don't feel good like me you know," the little boy added softly into the footballer's ear as if it were a secret.
"doesn't arun, doesn't," the englishman corrected him to avoid the subject of his words. jude knew very well that nisha wasn't feeling great, but hearing it from her little brother who lived with the girl seven days a week made it more real and his heart seemed to ache at the thought.
fortunately, the little boy did not comment again on his sister's condition and decided to reach out this time to jobe, who was standing behind his big brother. jude let him slide against the younger belligham's chest as the latter took him gladly.
"oof, you're getting big," laughed jobe, pretending he couldn't carry the child in his arms because of his weight.
"i'm not heavy, i'm only five," arun laughed out loud, a laugh so pure that it was almost heartbreaking for the others watching. he still hadn't understood.
jude finally looked away from the scene to rebecca who had never seemed so happy to have someone back. with a sad smile on her face, she invited him into her arms by opening them wide, eager to hug him. a small sigh of relief escaped her lips as her head rested against her son from another mother's shoulder, releasing the pressure she had been under for over two weeks. it hadn't been easy dealing with nisha and arun alone, especially when her first daughter wouldn't talk to her either. now that all the bellinghams were present, hope had returned to her a little. rebecca kept her fingers crossed that jude would be able to reason with his lifelong best friend.
"i hope she listens to you because i don't know what to do anymore," she said, placing her hand gently on the boy's cheek in a motherly gesture.
he simply nodded with a small smile as if to assure her that he would do his best but that he wasn't promising anything. even though jude was supposedly nisha's number one confidant, it seemed that lately, he was nothing to her at all. he also hoped that nisha would listen to him, although he still didn't know what he would say. finding the words after the death of a loved one was always a difficult task.
not standing still, he danced on his feet waiting for the long reunion between his mother and rebecca to finally end so that he could ask to go upstairs to see nisha. the ailing woman's mother surely noticed him because with a small nod and a smirk she told him to go. jude nodded back before trotting to the staircase where he climbed the stairs four at a time, almost tripping over one of them in his hurry. when he saw the rainbow-painted door at the end of the hallway —the one he and nisha had painted when they were eight years old— he blew out a breath before he reached it. then, with a quick tap, he knocked three times on the door, waiting for confirmation that he could get in, but the answer never came. frowning, he tried again. one. two. three. four times. still no answer. finally, he decided to lower the handle by himself.
