Lux's POV
Beep. Beep. Beep.
I groaned and buried my face deeper into the pillow. The alarm clock, however, showed no mercy.
6:00 A.M.
I quickly shut off the alarm before it can blow my head away.
I sat up, still half sleepy.
I stared at the wall for a while.
Soon, my gaze drifted towards my phone. I picked it up and unlocked it.
No calls from mom.
I sighed and dialed her number.
After a while, she picked it up.
"Hello..mom.."
"Hmm.."
"You and dad didn't come home last night?"
"Sorry baby... your dad got an emergency patient."
"Hmm... I know, what about today? Aren't we going to grandpa's place?"
"Uhh... let us see. If we can't, atleast you go. Your grandpa is urging to see you for a long time."
I paused. Still busy.
"Ok."
Then she cut the call.
They are always so busy. I wonder how they even had the time to have me.
I was about to throw my phone away when a chat caught my eye.
Angry bird.
Oh yes, last night she was scolding me for not knowing a chemistry question.
A evil smirk formed on my face.
I called her number.
Let us disrupt her sleep. So satisfying.
As soon as the call was picked up, a heavy female voice came.
"Hello."
"Oi, Angry bird, why do you sound like an elderly lady?"
"Elderly lady? Who is this?!! How can this guy call me elderly?"
The voice was so loud, I had to pull my phone away from my ear.
This doesn't sound like her.
"Mom...what are you doing on my phone?!!"
Another loud voice.
Yes, this is her kind of loud.
"Hello... Are you serious? Who calls someone someone so early in the morning?"
"I wanted to...disturb you!! But aunty scared me.."
"Hahahaahaaa.."
Ok, she laughs more dangerously than she argues.
"Bahhh"
I hung up.
At this point, my sleep was fully gone.
I quickly went into the bathroom to brush my teeth. I still have to go to grandpa.
Mom and Dad might not be able to come.
And Kaizer...he is just so busy making sister Iris my sister in law.
Maybe, I should go alone.
I turned on the tap.
The water flowed.
And suddenly I froze. A memory came rushing.
That day.
Rain.
The way, angry bird wasn't angry bird anymore.
Her scared face came in front of me.
I frowned and brushed that thought away.
After taking a bath, I picked up my phone again.
I opened her chat. Then closed. Again I opened. Then closed.
I took a long breath.
Again opened the chat.
And started typing.
> "Are you free today?"
The reply came quick.
> "WHY?!"
What kind of reply is that?
> "I am going to my grandpa's house today..."
I was about to send it when I heard a light rumble echo from the sky.
I paused.
Then deleted the message.
> "I am going to my grandpa's house tomorrow.."
She didn't reply for a moment.
> "So?"
> "I don't want to go alone. Can you come with me?"
> "What are we supposed to do there? I mean..what will I do in your family gathering?"
> "It's just my grandpa there... they have a huge garden too.."
> "Let me think."
I was just waiting for a reply when I suddenly got a call.
Kaizer.
He knows that I exist?!
I picked it up.
"What?"
"I am coming to your home."
"What kind of behaviour is that for asking a permission?"
"I am telling you, not asking."
And then he hung up.
I made a face at his no picture profile before going back to the chat with Anya.
> "What time?"
I quickly replied.
> "Maybe in the afternoon."
> "Let's see if the weather would be good, I will come. But if I got bored, I am gonna kill you for wasting my time!!!"
> "Bahhh"
I threw my phone away again and lay on my bed looking at the ceiling.
May there be no rain tomorrow.
I want to go....with her.
I snapped up.
No.
No.
I mean, I don't want to go alone.
Yes.
Iris's POV
I haven't come to the hospital for quite a while.
I entered the hospital building.
But instead of turning towards the patient's ward, I turned somewhere familiarly unfamiliar.
With every step, my heart was racing faster.
I soon reached the neuro- oncology department.
I knocked on the cabin door.
"Come in."
I went in.
The doctor was reading something near the window as his back faced me.
"Hello doctor."
He turned around.
"You...aren't you.."
"Iris."
"Yes..Iris. Elias's daughter, right?"
I nodded. Thank god he recognised me.
"What made you come here child?"
I quietly took out an old report from my bag and slowly kept it in front of him.
"Uncle...isn't my treatment already done before?"
He took the file and nodded.
"Yes... infact I was the attending doctor."
"But I still get headaches..."
He looked at me for a moment.
"See child... headaches are quite normal for you...unless they become–"
I cut him in between.
"They are sometimes really unbearable and I also have bleeding nose many times."
He paused.
"The headaches may have a simple explanation, but given your history, I don't want to make assumptions. I'd like to schedule an MRI. It's the best way to make sure everything looks the way it should."
The doctor closed the report and adjusted his glasses.
"I'll schedule the MRI this week."
I nodded slowly.
The room became quiet.
For some reason, I couldn't stop staring at the file resting between us.
The edges were slightly worn.
Old.
As if it belonged to somebody else's life.
Not mine.
I remembered nothing from it.
Not the hospital room.
Not the surgery.
Not even the fear I was supposedly supposed to feel.
Just empty space.
My fingers unconsciously tightened around the strap of my bag.
"Uncle..."
The doctor looked up.
"Hmm?"
I hesitated.
Then finally asked,
"Was I scared?"
He seemed surprised.
"Scared of what?"
"The surgery."
For a few moments, he didn't answer.
Then a small smile appeared on his face.
"You were braver than most adults."
I blinked.
Me?
Brave?
That sounded highly suspicious.
"I still get scared when they take blood samples."
The doctor laughed.
"You cried then too."
A smile escaped me before I could stop it.
The tension in my shoulders eased slightly.
For the first time since entering the room, I felt a little lighter.
Then the doctor spoke again.
"Your father never left your side."
The smile disappeared from my face.
So did his.
The words had slipped out naturally.
Almost accidentally.
The room fell silent.
I lowered my gaze.
My father.
The strange thing was...
I barely remembered him.
Sometimes I felt guilty about that.
A daughter should remember her father.
Shouldn't she?
Yet whenever I tried, only fragments appeared.
A warm hand.
A faint laugh.
A blurry silhouette standing near a doorway.
Nothing more.
The doctor seemed to realize what he had done.
He quickly cleared his throat.
"Anyway."
His voice became professional again.
"We'll arrange the MRI."
I nodded.
"And don't ignore the headaches anymore."
"I'll try."
"No."
He pointed a finger towards me.
"You will."
I smiled faintly.
"Okay."
A few minutes later, I left the cabin.
The hospital corridors felt colder than before.
Doctors passed by.
Nurses hurried from one room to another.
The usual hospital atmosphere.
Life and worry moving together.
I walked down the stairs and eventually stepped outside.
The air was chilly.
Late November had already begun announcing the arrival of winter.
Clouds stretched across the sky.
A soft wind brushed against my face.
I adjusted my scarf and began walking.
Not towards home.
Just walking.
For a while.
People moved around me.
Some carrying grocery bags.
Some returning from work.
Some simply existing.
Then my steps slowed.
A little girl stood near a roadside stall.
Her tiny hand was firmly wrapped around her father's finger while she pointed excitedly at something.
The man bent down and listened patiently.
The little girl laughed.
The sound reached me despite the traffic.
I stared for a moment.
Then another.
A strange heaviness settled inside my chest.
The same feeling from the café.
The same sadness.
The same ache.
Why?
I didn't know them.
I had never seen them before.
Then why did it hurt?
My hand unconsciously moved towards my chest.
The little girl tugged at her father's sleeve.
He smiled and lifted her into his arms.
For some reason, my eyes stung.
I quickly looked away.
What was wrong with me lately?
The headaches.
The strange emotions.
The dreams.
Everything felt...
Off.
I continued walking.
The wind grew colder.
And a question quietly surfaced inside my mind.
Why do I keep feeling like I've forgotten something important?
Something that should have never been forgotten.
But no matter how hard I searched,
the answer never came.