A Little Bit Of Joy | ✔

Chapter Sixty Four : The Girl Sick With Worry

God, I loved him and whenever I felt a jolt of pain taking hold of my body, I would shut my eyes and think about him. His kisses still tingled every part of me and his husky whispers made me forget about all the misery in this wonderful world. I was transported to this place of fluff and happiness and I found myself giggling and blushing like crazy. He made me feel insane- in a good, normal kind of way.

"JJ, I have a surprise for you!" dad exclaimed, snapping me out of my trance. "Look who's here!"

It took me a minute or two to recover from my reverie and be a part of this world again.

"Shaun!" I screeched and my brother rushed to me, engulfing me in a hug. "What are you doing here?"

"I got a few days off and thought of coming back home," he said blithely, his eyes sparkling and his blonde hair appearing a shade lighter. His skin was tanned too.

"You look different Shaun. Did you have fun there?"

"Oh it was mostly work." He pulled away, his eyes sweeping over my small frame. I had lost a lot of weight since he had left and my body was simply a bag of bones with sagging skin. But Shaun didn't show any sign of revulsion, his expression was indifferent towards my appearance. Even if he did feel sympathy, he hid it pretty well. "I went to the beach whenever I had the time. It reminded me of home."

"I'll leave you two here to catch up . . . Mum will send lunch upstairs," dad informed us and exited, leaving us alone in my quiet room.

"Ah I missed you," Shaun confessed and he ruffled my hair, but I swatted his hands away.

I yelled, "Hey! I have told you over and over again to not touch my hair!"

"Don't be such a devil," he said playfully, but took his hands back. "I bought you this nice perfume from a local store there. Wait, let me get it."

"No, stay here. I'm sure it smells amazing as long as it doesn't make mum sneeze. You know how much she hates these body sprays," I joked and he laughed, settling back on my bed. "Tell me all about France. Did you charm some pretty French girl into liking you?"

"No, but the women I know were all so sophisticated and stylish. I guess they aren't for me." He flashed me a rueful smile and my heart sank. It was clear that he was still hung up on Marilyn. I could see that her name was right at the edge of his tongue.

I broached this topic, "Did you get any word from Marilyn?"

His eyes widened a little as if he didn't expect me to read him like an open book.

"Yes actually, some days back. She uh . . . She has left the town. That's what she said, nothing else important." He swallowed hard and then shrugged casually. "It's good for her you know. She never really liked this town. In fact, she hated it."

We both chuckled softly for we loved our town. "She went back to her home maybe. She told me once that she wanted to see her mum."

"Yeah," he mumbled and then let out shaky breath. "Well, enough about me and my failing love life. How is everyone else? How's everyone at home? And that friend of yours,  Logan? How's he?"

"Everyone's fine. You know, dad just cried a while before."

His eyebrows furrowed. "Why?"

"I don't know, they all keep crying." We again laughed mischievously. "But seriously, it's only maa who hasn't cried once. She's doing fantastic, taking care of me all day, making meals and keeping up with her job. I'm sure she's stressed, but she never shows it. I'm kind of worried about her."

"She's a tough cow, we all know that. You needn't worry---"

"You called our mother a cow!" I interrupted, bursting into a fit of silent giggles. "That's the nicest thing to say about the woman who kept you alive all these years."

He snorted. "Don't be overdramatic now and don't you dare tell her. She'll make sure to kick me all the way back to France, I won't need a flight ticket."

"Now I sure will tell her . . . Anyway, Logan's good too. He's been going to college regularly and takes care of our flower shop whenever he gets the time. And news! Grandpa hired another employee, our aunty Cara. She's been a housewife all her life and now when her daughter went to college, she's free most of the time. Grandpa quite likes her you know." I grinned suggestively and Shaun gave me an incredulous look.

"That old man is getting more action than me!"

"Nothing's happened yet, I'm only teasing. It's all platonic unfortunately," I feigned an exaggerated look of grief and Shaun mirrored my expression. We both snickered and I clutched my stomach. "I can't laugh anymore, it hurts."

Shaun's eyes softened. "How are you JJ?"

"Finally you remember your sister!" I was only kidding, but he seemed hurt by my remark. "Come on, I don't mean that. I'm not as healthy as I used to be, but it's all fine. Nothing that I can't manage."

He didn't say anything and mum entered with lunch, Gemma trailing behind her. Dad joined us too and all five of us had lunch in my room. Food was served, comments were passed, things were dropped and everything was alright like old times.

* * *

I watched the evening turn into night in it's full glory, people returning home after a long day of work. Logan hadn't come yet, I had texted and called him numerous time, but his phone was switched off. I was sick with apprehension because he always called me even if he was a minute late. Maybe he had just forgotten or something . . . I wished that was the reason.

I heard the bell ring downstairs and the door open, but there was no cheerful greeting. I felt a sense of foreboding as I strained my ears to hear who it was and what the hell was going on. Footsteps approached my room and I frantically tried to stand up, to run and see who it was. The door of my room flew open and there stood my entire family lingering behind Jamal.

My mum started, "Joy, there's something you should know---"

"It's our boy, Logan!" Jamal cut her off, his breathing heavy and ragged. "H-He has done it!"