Thousand miles apart

Breakdown

Eshana's POV :

As we continued to have our breakfast, I caught Ridha staring at me. I glanced at her to find her eyes wandering around before they rested on someone. I followed her gaze to find her staring at Disha.
She seems to have sensed our gaze on her, which caused her to raise her head as she looked around us before her eyes landed on us. She looked confused as she tried not to shift uncomfortably in her seat as she blinked twice before glancing down and continuing to have her breakfast. I tried not to laugh out loud at her antics. Truth be told, I've never seen Disha uncomfortable, ever, and this is surely a pleasant surprise.

The dining room was awfully quiet yet peaceful, apart from the metallic sound of forks and spoons striking the plates, which was suddenly interrupted by a familiar ringtone. We all paused as we glanced up to find Amar looking at us apologetically before answering the call and before I could process anything,

"What?" exclaimed Amar as he got off the seat. His face portrayed pure horror as his body stiffened making us wonder what happened as we waited for him to say something, anything.

'I have a bad feeling about this'

"O-okay. We'll be right there" He stammered before he finished the call. For the first time, he looked so lost as he ran his fingers through his hair before glancing at us.

"Eshu, we need to get back..." He swallowed as his eyes met my own.

"Back? What do you mean? What happened?" I narrowed my eyes at him.

"India. We can't del-" He was about to dodge the topic as he avoided meeting my gaze before I cut him off,

"Stop avoiding the subject and get to the point, Amar!" I stated, sternly. I could feel everyone's gaze on us but that didn't matter. I could see the tears pricking at the corner of his eyes as he choked out words that had me taken aback.

"D-Dad... met with an accident and he's in a critical state" His voice broke and so did my heart.

"What?" I whispered to myself as I ran my fingers through my hair.

I felt the world around me pause and before I know it, I was in my room packing my backpack as I tried to be strong. All I had in mind was to reach my hometown as early as possible. For the first time, I regret being here while my dad is fighting between life and death.

Ignoring the tears that rolled down my cheeks, I closed the zipper of my bag before turning around to find Zach who is looking at me with his bloodshot eyes that reflected my own. He slowly walked up to me until we were less than 2-3 inches apart.

I looked down, trying to avoid his gaze but failed as I felt a finger under my chin, making me face him. We didn't break eye contact as I felt his fingers brush over my cheeks. No matter how strong I try to be, I always break down in front of him.

"I'm sorry..." I whispered, looking into his eyes as the fresh tears rolled down my cheek.

"Hey, you've nothing to be sorry about. I should be the one saying it, coz I can't even be with you at this point in your life. Imagining you face everything by yourself breaks me at the mere thought that I'm not able to help you" His voice broke as he continued to caress my cheeks and without a thought, I wrapped my arms around him wanting to forget everything. All I wanted is to stay in his arms forever and feel the warmth, and comfort that no one can provide me, except for him. Every day, every moment while I was with him, I felt like all these moments were a dream come true. A dream that's so near yet too far.

"I love you, Zach..." I whispered as I pulled away from him.

"Why do I sense a 'but' there?" He chuckled nervously, narrowing his eyes at my hesitation.

I swallowed before letting my thoughts out.

"I know I love you and you love me too but this..." I waved my finger between us, "can't continue. You know we are miles away and I can't leave my family there and nor can you. At first, it seemed easy but now, I don't think it's gonna work out well, for any of us" I swallowed, fighting tears forming. My heart sank at the thought of not spending my life with him and I could not imagine anyone else in my life, but him, and yet, I've no choice.

They always said, 'expectations kills' and it did. Falling in love is easy but forgetting and moving on? You need a lifetime to cope.

I felt his hand stiffen before it dropped down to his side. I glanced up and my heart broke at the sight of his bloodshot eyes as a lone tear drop rolled down his cheeks and this time, it is because of me. I had promised myself to not let a single tear form in his eyes and this time, I broke my own promise.

Before I could say something, he stormed out. My lips quivered, wanting to run after him and say that we could get through this, together. But I'd be lying if I said so. Instead, I closed my eyes for a while before opening them but this time, with determination. I picked up my backpack and hung it over my shoulder before getting out of my room. I descended downstairs to find everyone waiting. I hugged the members of the knight family before following my brother towards the door.

I was about to step out when I felt a pair of arms around my waist taking me by surprise, stopping me in my tracks. This time I couldn't stop myself and I turned around and hugged the life out of him as I broke down, whispering sorry countless times - for my dad, my family, myself, him and.....us.

We pulled away and I peeked at his lips for one last time before moving out, back to the place where it all began.