The Girl Who Carried the Sun

Twenty Three

Twenty Three
☢️☢️☢️

Two days later Daniel drove Lily back to Imphal to write the next paper of her exam. There, he took Asha and Che Dune too and dropped them at the district hospital at Senapati for Asha's health check-up, leaving Amir with Pavei and Veihriine at school. She hadn't improved in the last two days. While Daniel waited for Lily on the campus lawn, Che Dune called.

"Daniel," she said, "It seems her kidneys are in a rather bad shape. The doctor said she needs to stay here for a few days at least. What do we do?"

"If that's what the doctor said then she must need their care. She's been terribly weak."

"True. She won't live long in the village." Dune replied thoughtfully. "I'll stay here with her and I'll let you know if we need anything."

"Sure. We'll stop by on our way back."

Lily found Daniel right where she left him — on a bench under the shade of bottle brushes. He had his eyes trained on the laptop screen, reading intently and he didn't notice her at once coming from the distance. When she plopped down next to him on the bench and Daniel looked up at her, she had a long face on.

"Woah! What's with the face? Didn't it go well?" He felt himself smiling immediately.

She shook her head and stared at the grass gloomily. He shut his laptop and asked her more softly. "What happened? How bad was it?"

"Oh, I don't know!" sighed the lady so deeply. "I did write something but I'm sure they were all nonsense. It was tough."

"If you wrote something it couldn't be that bad."

Lily turned and looked him in the eye. "You don't understand. None of it made sense."

Looking at that sweet face, listening to her say she wrote nothing but the silliest of things on her answer paper and that adorable long face, Daniel couldn't help but break into another smile.

"No worries, beautiful. I'm sure the examiner would love reading your nonsense." He leaned in and gave her a peck on her cheek.

Lily suddenly laughed too finding his optimism was beyond her.

"He just might notice the creativity." She smiled at him.

"That's right. Now come on. Let's go grab a drink. You've earned it." He took her hand and ushered her up.

"Didn't you have anything at the canteen while I was inside?"

"No."

"You should've had something. You must be hungry and exhausted."

"I'm alright. I wanted to eat with you," he said, draping an arm around her shoulders. "Did the pill you took earlier trouble you during the exam?"

"No. I was so nervous there was no way it could."

Having learned from the first experience that Lily could no longer ride by the cliff after the accident, she took a pill just before they started and she slept through the entire ride in the backseat. Daniel reckoned she'd have to take another pill for the ride back.

"If it weren't for you I'd feel so miserable right now considering how I wrote my exam," she said, looking up at him like a child. "Thank you."

"You are doing all that you can. That's all that matters. And you're welcome." He gave her a gentle squeeze on her arm.

On the way back, Daniel stopped by the hospital as promised. Che Dune came out to see him. The sun had set but the sky was set ablaze with sharp strokes of hot pink and dashes of purple. Even the clouds were a brilliant orange and there was a gentle breeze in the open.