TOUCH

Chapter 40

I gasped loudly and it gets caught in my throat. Shaking my head hard I tried getting rid of the images, the moments spent with Melanie.

No. No.

This cannot be happening.

I felt dizzy as I took steps to get out of house. My body trembled and my teeths  chattering as I hope to find some courage in me to make it to Zayn's house.

Somehow I manage to make it to the Bridgewood's house. I see a few unknown people, mostly hospital staff.

My eyes firstly lock with Richard who averts his gaze and then I spot Anne with Jean. The minute I see them I loose it.

Tears flow unwarranted in my cheeks as I stand in the garden of the house that was so welcoming just a day ago. Now it feels so empty- of the warmth that a single person was capable of bringing in.

As I compose myself in silence I see Titan come outside and sit on the porch, covering his face in his hand. My heart breaks for him and Zayn.

Zayn.

I wipe my tears away and move further. But it doesn't take me much to move because Zayn is sitting on a patio chair, the one in which you can lie down. His eyes are closed and he doesn't look a fraction of the man I have come to know in the past.

Grief clouds his features and his brows are knit together as if he is in some kind of physical pain

In spite of my heart thundering I reach  out and smooth the creases on his forehead.

He opens his eyes and the act jolts me away an inch.

But then he pulls me closer by holding me from my waist. The touch is so unexpectedly gentle that I feel the ghost of it lingering after he drops his arms to his side and places his head on my stomach. He closes his eyes again without a word.

We stay in that position for sometime and then braving my own reservations I place both my hands on his back rubbing him gently in a soothing motion.

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It was a challenge to get Zayn ready for the funeral next morning. His entire frame was disoriented.

"You look beautiful in black," Zayn says when I walk into his room after hours of pestering him to get ready.

He is now wearing a dress shirt and slacks. While on other days it may have made him look like the college Heartthrob he is, today there are purple under his eyes, his skin paler than usual and hair all over the place.

"Let's go, Zayn."

"I don't want to Aura," he says, tilting his head in front of him as he speaks.

I contemplate dragging him by his hand downstairs and I then think about Melanie.

Stepping closer to him, I take his hand and intertwine our fingers. "Let's go Zayn," I say again.

He stares at me like he is studying me in an entirely new way. Then he dips his head again, this time closer to my neck. "I hate everyone today. Please leave me the fuck alone."

I freeze.

He is every bit of the cold hearted person that I met in my first class.

It feel like I'm ten year older by the time Zayn finally decide to push past me and walk out of his room.

He is awfully silent even with Titan and his movements are mechanical.

The funeral service gets done peacefully sans Brie fainting amidst Richard's speech. I try talking to Zayn twice but he shoves me away every time. By the time I gather the courage to talk to Titan, my voice is shaking so much that I had to open and close my mouth several times before words rush out. "Do you need anything?"