Can't I Touch Your Heart?

Chapter 69 Let Me Not Lose You

Rhea introduced Ember to Neel and Alicia. They had quite opposite reactions. Neel felt creeped out after looking at Ember's hair while Alicia was thrilled to befriend him because he looked like a Barbie doll-With blue eyes and blonde hair.

Around that time, things were going downhill in the relationship between Hindus and Muslims in Kerala. As time passed, things became worse and the tensions increased until finally, riots broke out. The government was on its toes. Alicia's family decided to run away, leaving Alicia with Rhea's family for some time. Later, they were caught by the Hindus and killed. People suspected that Rhea's family had hidden the Muslim girl and that they were traitors to Hindus. Her grandmother thought of hiding her elsewhere-To a non-Hindu household, so they asked for Ember's help.

His father was a powerful and influential person. There was no better place for her to hide. Ember agreed and took her with him to his house. They thought that she was safe but he brought her back with him. The Hindus saw her and split her head from her body with a sword-In front of Rhea's eyes. She struggled and ran towards her best friend but they held her back.

Alicia died right before all of them.

After that, Rhea turned quiet and slowly sunk into depression. Ember could have helped her but when he saw that things had run out of his hands, he ran away. He went back to America. Rhea wasn't getting any better so her parents decided to bring her back to Delhi to make her forget about that traumatic event, just as her psychologist suggested. And two years later, Neel's mother got transferred to Delhi and he moved here. But he never met her, until they were fifteen.

"And you know the rest," Neel was done explaining. But Rhea wasn't done yet.
"Ember left not because he wanted to, you know," Rhea said.

"What do you mean?"
"His mother died soon after that and that's why he had to leave to visit her grave. Then, his father never brought him back to India. They took Maple in and flew to Los Angeles. It was not his choice and I'm sure leaving Alicia was not his choice either. We can't burden a tiny toddler with things he can't control,"

"I...Never knew it," Neel said.
"You should try to understand him..."
'Understand him'

A few days later, Rhea had her Christmas vacation. She slowly walked towards Ember's room with her head hanging down. How should she face him, she wondered. After that incident, it would be so awkward to look into his eyes now. But it was Christmas, she just had to come. She had tried to avoid this for many days already. The door to his room was open, she peeped inside.

Ember was sitting on the bed, reading a book. It was his mother's diary. Rhea recognised that dirty cover immediately. His blonde hair gently swindled on his forehead by the cold breeze. The room was warm, even though the window was open. The blank, white walls were as dull as they were before. Seemed like time had come to a standstill. A huge, Golden Retriever sat beside him.

"Ember," Rhea called him out softly.
"Oh Rhea," Ember smiled and kept the diary under his pillow.
"Wow, we got a guest here," She looked at the dog.
"It's a service dog,"

"What is that?"
"He just assists me in providing mobility, he's trained for that,"
"It's so cute. So, how are you now?"
"Very good,"

'Lies. You wouldn't be here if you were good,'
She realised how painful it was to watch him forcing those smiles so that she wouldn't be worried. But, it wasn't awkward. Ember acted as if nothing had happened.

It was winter.  Dried leaves were falling off from trees, Christmas was here. The days felt so short.

'For you and me, the time has never been so cruel,'