A heavy silence was dancing in the dark room. We could only hear each other's breath and sometimes the curtains of the window were trying to intervene in this silence. Sleep wasn't on its way since the spring of the sofa decided to torture my back.

'Brayden, are you asleep?'

He didn't say anything for quite a long time and then he shifted on his bed and looked at me. Only the moonlight was our source to see each other and maybe we needed this serene silence to understand each other.

'Why did you call me carrot when we met for the first time?'

He lightly chuckled but the sound was so clear in this darkness. 'It's because that day you were wearing a t-shirt that had nothing but carrots on it. We were surrounded by cops and that gave me panic and I got muted to everything around us, forgot everything even your name and called you carrot.'

He was still for a second when he asked, 'and why did you call me rabbit?'

'I actually have no idea why did I call you rabbit. At first, I called you because of your teeth...' He groaned. 'But they seem fine to me now. I think sometimes we do things which have no reason, we just do. If you want I can call you Brayden only?'

'I don't know but Brayden seems so...so...' he took an eternity to ponder and I thought he dozed off in the middle itself. 'Yeah, it seems so formal when you say it like that. I think I am fine with Rabbit.'

I even asked him whether the law that had bound us could it be taken seriously? And he simply answered, 'play with Tight Screw Ville's law and they will screw you for the rest of your life.'

The night seemed bearable now and I had endless questions to ask.

'Hey Rabbit!!' His response was a slight hum.

'Will you jerk off in the middle of the night?'

HEAVY DEAD SILENCE

'Yeah, Why not? After all, it's not like I am living with someone who has totally disrupted my peace of mind and definitely not as that every day feels like a terrible hell hole.' 

Sarcasm was dripping like honey from his poisonous tongue.

'I will take this as a compliment. It's not every day I meet with people whose peace I disrupt.'

'Sure, why not?'

And then his grumpy ass settled more comfortably on the bed where his head was getting all the comfort of soft pillow unlike mine that was settled on somewhat hard rock kind of a sofa.

'One more question, will you....'

'SCARLETT, shut up and sleep. Good night.' Idiot didn't even let me finish the question.

'Right away, sir. Good night.'

I tossed and turned and my "good night" was turning into a terrible night. Hours seemed to rush and sleep was miles away. I was getting agitated, frustrated and my bra buckle on top of it was killing me. I uncovered myself from the layers of the quilt and stretched my hands out and did the talent that every girl was a master of 'to take out your bra without removing your shirt.' I was doing it peacefully when suddenly I heard a scream that resonated in the empty walls of the dark room and I sat upright.

'What?? What happened? Why did you scream, Rabbit?' My heart was in my mouth.

'I don't know. I was trying to sleep and suddenly I see two hands up in the air and the moonlight and shadow played a trick...' He stopped to take a deep breath since he was running a marathon while saying it. 'And it looked so huge. Was that you?'

'Yeah, dimwit. I was trying to sleep unlike you who is peacefully sleeping.' I once again lay back on the sofa.

'Who says? Monster.'

The moment I heard it, I frantically got up. 'What? Even you are unable to sleep? Excellent. We will share the bed now.'

I was already on my way of the other side of the bed and settled the quilt on it. 'Look, it's a fair deal. You got the bed and I got the quilt. Let's share it and sleep peacefully.' 

He still looked unsure. 'Uff, don't worry, I won't pounce on you.'

I even settled extra pillows and made a Wall of China between us.

'See, we will be fine BUT if you try to do hanky panky with me, then I must remind you again, my pepper spray is right beside me.'

The moment my back rested on the soft mattress, a pleasurable moan escaped my lips.

He snorted and turned his back to me and muttered. 'I cast my protection in the hands of Lord, amen.'

'Brayden, shut up and sleep.'

The morning was a whole different scenario. I groggily woke up and sleep was still swaying in my eyes. My head and the upper back rested on Brayden's side and my legs were in an altered world. The Wall of China dissolved between us and pillows were everywhere but on the bed. Half of the quilt was on the floor. The bed was warm and Brayden was nowhere in sight. Then I heard light snoring and I looked down to find him sleeping on the floor.

How on earth did this happen?

'Hey, wake up and why are you sleeping on the floor?'

After calling twice or thrice, that dead breathing man slurred and spoke. 'Because you kicked and punched the hell out of me last night.'

Say what?

'I was sleeping peacefully and then a giant arm on my face, a good kick to my back and then literally your head was on my chest. For once, I felt like I couldn't breathe and for goodness sake, tie your hair next time. I was getting the taste of your strawberry shampoo.' He shuddered hard as if the memory plagued his adulthood.

'You are exaggerating. I sleep like a decent human being. Still and quiet.'

'I am certainly not. Why you have to be so wild even in your sleep? And move your ass now, I will sleep on the bed.' He yawned.

'Because I am a wild..' yawning is contagious. 'Wiiioold girl.'

We settled for our next journey to Golden Beak city. We took a heavily crowded bus and were sandwiched between the commuters and travelled straight for five to six hours.

I was particularly excited about this city. Though its name was Golden Beak but the city was contradicting to its name. For me, the gold was its slum people who were in majority and the heart of the city lived in them.

It was just that someone had to listen to their beating hearts.

Brayden again left me and at this point, I didn't even bother to put on my Sherlock glasses and I just made peace with my mind by finally making one last guess of him being a 'Sperm Donor'.

That's it. No more.

The lanes were crowded of this Pipe Dream slum and I was pretty sure, the sun couldn't even dare to lighten up these lanes but what brightened the whole atmosphere was the cackling sound of children playing soccer on one extreme side. Torn clothes, bare feet but hunger for this game wasn't making them stop to make the world bow down for their skills.

Women were sitting in a circle and their hands were non-stop working to make best out of waste and the moment I passed by them, they will happily wave and would offer me their creative items. They had nothing to give yet they gave everything to me.

I was wandering around when I saw three cute little kids playing among themselves. The eldest boy could be of 7 or 8 years old and the girl looked like 5 years old and both of them were carrying the little one of maybe 2 or 3-year-old in a supermarket trolley. They were feeding him milk and were trying different ways to make him laugh.

What piqued my curiosity was when the little one asked them in his baby words whether they had eaten or not and very gracefully they lied by nodding their head.

Hungry eyes never lie but they mastered themselves into it.

I quickly looked around and found one local bakery shop nearby. I bought a packet of bread, butter, two mixed fruit juice cartons and chocolate muffins. I quickly kept all of this in their trolley when little munchkins were not there. I hid behind a large tree and waited for them and everything that later unfolded would always be my sweetest reminiscences.

The moment children came and found out a packet of goodies, their joy had no bound. They were dancing and my heart was overwhelmed by seeing all of this. I strained little closer to hear what these cherubs were talking.

'Brother, is this for us?' The baby asked in his most adorable voice.

The big brother gave an enthusiastic nod.

'But, you said long back that Santa is no more that's why no gifts for us. Is Santa alive?'

Awww, my little babies.

My heart just got ripped apart in a million pieces.

It got so fragile while listening to it that I  didn't even notice someone was standing behind me.

'Are you snooping on someone?'

I yelped and quickly turned around to see Brayden and gave him my death glare.

'You just gave me a heart attack.' And I punched his shoulder but the solid brick didn't even budge.

'Wait a minute, for how long have you been standing here and what did you see?'

I didn't want anyone to know what I did. Some things were meant to be kept secretly inside the depth of our heart so, that only we could have the power to savour those emotions.

'Nothing, I just now came and found you here through your live location. End of story.'

His mood seemed off and though he had a poker face but something didn't feel right.

'What happened, Brayden? Are you alright?' I got really worried because it felt to me that he would break at any moment.

'I lost everything, Scarlett.'

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Hola people,

Is your mind also running into endless scenarios of what Brayden could have lost? What are your theories of what he could have lost?🤔🤔

It's not necessary that brave hearts always wear capes. Have you ever encountered any such moments?😍

*Secret Information*

Yawning is so contagious that looking at the word "yawning" made me yawn so many times and then I practised several times in it to know how the word "wild" would sound like🥱😂

Please don't forget to vote and comment. I would love to hear from you all.

Happy Reading and stay safe.

Love you all❤❤