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,'

"Merry Christmas, Ember" Rhea passed a little box to Ember.
"Thanks, Rhea" Ember smiled, "We say 'Happy holidays'," He took the box from her but couldn't hold it and the box slipped from his hand, falling on the floor. The cup inside it broke, "Oh no, I'm sorry,"
"It's alright," She picked up the box.
"Haha, I'm so clumsy, ain't I?"

She didn't know what happened to her but she knew that she couldn't let go of that person. It was not the butterflies in her stomach that told her it's love, it was the pain. Because she thought of him in colours that didn't exist.

Meanwhile, Elford sat in the office while looking at all the reports of a patient. Her parents sat across the table in front of him while the patient, who was a teenager, sat on the chair placed the nearest to Elford.
"Doctor, will my daughter live?" Her father asked.
"I don't like taking up hopeless cases,"
"Please, doctor. We came to you because we heard that you're the best,"

"I can't take up the case, you may take your leave,"
"Please doctor, I beg you. I'm ready to pay you any amount," Her father joined his hands.
Elford felt irritated by his persistence and decided to give in, "Show me her reports,"

He passed him a folder. Elford wore his gloves and took the folder from him. He opened her medical file and scanned through it.

'She has third stage stomach cancer?'
He looked at the girl and asked her to raise her shirt for he wanted to physically examine her first. Only then, he would continue any procedures. She was embarrassed to do so and her parents seemed against it too.

"Examine her over her clothes. How shameful-"
"If you've got a problem, go get another doctor"
They looked at each other. He was their only hope and they decided to give in. Elford asked them to leave the room and they did as told.

He turned towards the girl. She looked sky as she looked at him.
"Come on, remove your shirt,"
She seemed like she didn't want to. He sat before her with his writing pad and a pen "Oh, don't worry. I'm not interested in your body whatsoever. I'm a doctor, they are just mere organs for me," Elford said. She removed her shirt and he touched her stomach. He closed his eyes and felt the insides.

'The cancer cells are spread into the nearby organs-the pancreas and gastrointestinal junction, less liquid content, improper electron balance and indigestion,'

He thought as he felt her stomach. She looked at him.
"Do you feel like vomiting, diarrhoea or constipation with no cause?"
"Yes,"
"Ever get feeling of bloating?"
"Yes,"

He opened his eyes "You can put your shirt back on,"
Elford had realized what needed to be done. It was Gastroenterostomy. It was a cure to Ember's problem too. That afternoon, Loraine visited him and Elford explained to him the procedure he would be carrying out.

"It's a surgery in which we connect the small intestine to the opening made in the stomach," Elford said. He turned the computer screen towards Loraine "These are the MRI results of Ember's body,"

"What's in there?" Loraine asked.
"If you look at it according to Dubowitz's classification, MRI of the lower extremity of Ember's body shows severe atrophy of the entire muscle bundles of the thigh and the calf. That's why he can't run and as time passes, these get more severe damaging a person's ability to balance oneself while standing. I also noticed that there are certain cervical cord abnormalities, this could be genetic,"

"What does this mean? What is his disease?"
"Diseases"
"He has two?"
"Ember suffers from Superior mesenteric artery syndrome and spinal muscular atrophy,"

"What the hell is that?" Loraine asked.

"His stomach aches are due to the superior mesenteric artery syndrome, which has blocked the junction of his stomach and small intestine. Plus, lower extremity paralysis, depleted vision and breathing problems are due to spinal muscular atrophy. The neurogenic myopathy of spinal muscular atrophy is degeneration of anterior horn cells of the spinal cord and associated muscle weakness. The MRI was insufficient for the evaluation of cervical cord abnormalities but yeah, MRI of the lower extremity was a reliable complementary modality for the diagnosis," Elford explained.

"You do know that I'm a musician, not a doctor,"
"I have good news and bad news.
The good news is, superior mesenteric artery syndrome has a cure-surgery and medication. But spinal muscular atrophy, that a tiny bit difficult to cure, and needs lifelong therapy to stay stable. Once he stops walking, his health will deplete at a tremendous rate. We can artificially supply oxygen to his muscles and-"

"So basically he can't survive on his own after that," Loraine interrupted him.
"Nope, the rest of the life will be on a bed in the hospital,"
"At least he will be alive," He looked sad, he didn't want to listen to Elford anymore. But at the same time, he did.

"Firstly, I'll have to perform surgery to make him be able to eat and go to the bathroom. I will remove his intestines and insert an ileostomy bag where all the waste can be collected," Elford got up and kept few test tubes on a tray, "I'll go collect the blood sample,"

"You can just ask a nurse to do that,"
"She will contaminate the results,"

Rhea was sitting beside Ember as he peacefully slept on the bed. She looked at his blonde eyelashes and frail fingers. Suddenly, the door opened and Elford entered the room with a tray in his hand, "Sleeping?" He looked at him.
"Yes," Rhea got up.

Elford walked towards him, inserted the injection needle into his flesh and took out some blood. He kept it back on the tray and went back. Rhea looked at the mark it had left on Ember's wrist, so many marks, these needles were creating cracks all over the skin, but perhaps,

That is where the light enters from.
Cracks.

Time passed slowly. Rhea visited Ember every day. Sometimes with Jessica, other times with AJ and Meenu. Ember was always welcoming and talkative. It was New year already and she hadn't planned anything for the second round which was coming closer. Rhea sat inside the crash course centre, beside her sat AJ, at the place where Ember used to sit. She couldn't feel any stares anymore, no more distractions, no more flashy clothes, no more headphones. No one to hit on her. No one with whom she'd experiment with various types of spicy food. No one she'd drop near those old buildings on her bicycle.

Everything was empty but it was strange because that emptiness felt heavy. Ember hadn't left the hospital for a month. It was so monotonous not having him around. Everything seemed black and white. But luckily, she knew her way with colours.

Loraine walked inside Ember's room with a small tub filled with warm water and a towel.
"Ember, bath time,"
Ember removed his shirt "Can't I bath like normal people? I mean this is such a chore!"
"But you have to do it. I'll just wipe your body,"
"That's kind of unhygienic and gross,"

"Who are you-Elford Strathclyde?" Loraine dipped the towel into the water and wiped it on Ember's frail body. Ember removed his pyjamas and sat on the bed. Loraine dipped the towel in the antiseptic water again and pressed it on Ember's leg. Suddenly, the door opened. It was Rhea. Ember panicked as he grabbed his pyjamas and covered his crotch. Rhea stared at him- not knowing what to do or say,"

"Pervert," Loraine was as calm as ever.

"I'm sorry-"
"Just get out already," Loraine threw the water on Rhea. She closed the door, drenched in water.
"What the hell did I see?" Rhea covered his face. Maple stood beside her "Your husband's di-"
"No!"
Neel stood at the other side "How big was it?"
"Shut up, you pervert!"

Ember wore his pyjamas and got up, "You threw that water on her!" Ember grabbed his hair, ready to pull them out of his head.
"So?"
"That had my sweat in it!"

Loraine looked into Ember's eyes for a while "Shit, I fucked up huge time there,"
"You even swore!"
"Hallelujah," Loraine joined his hands, "My sins are hence washed,"

Ember suddenly felt the pain in his stomach again. But this was completely different this time. He felt as if his bowels were shrinking by twisting themselves. He fell on the bed and began shouting while crying and holding his eyes.

"Ember!" Loraine yelled and Maple opened the door upon hearing it. The white sheets were covered with bloodstains.
"Get Elford!" Loraine ordered and Maple ran into the halls. 

Rhea peeped through the open door. Ember was crying and screaming for help. So much blood. He was in pain. And she was useless.

'I've never felt so powerless before,'

-To be continued

Can't I Touch Your Heart?
Teach Me The Art of Living