Deeper - A story of love [BL]

Light & Dark

                                                                                    Light & Dark

'Dark days and bright days'.

Well! One cannot categorically draw a line between the different flavors of moments in life. Life, as beautiful as it sounds, is equally mysterious, even to the soul that had completed its race. But some moments come into our life shaded with a strange grey dullness – sometimes unexpected; at times, even anticipated. It was one such moment for them both. Dullness peeped into the walls of his 'feel-good' moments as Max looked out of the window. As the plane went higher, things got smaller, and all that was close once, felt distant. He had a new hope, a new path waiting for him in another land. It made him feel happy, but only remotely. Altogether, it was strange to be happy within that dull boundary, and to feel dull despite a remotely hidden happiness – a strange grey dullness it was.

Max reached his destination late in the night. He had the next day, the full day for himself, to explore and settle in the city. As soon as he reached the dormitory reserved for him, he called all the people he had to call. The first call, with his dad, went on for about ten minutes. Though his dad wasn't very supportive of his love, he did support Max in all other possible aspects. The call was a message of care and love. That call was followed by the one with his beloved, which lasted for a couple of hours. This call, too, was a message of care and love. What drew a difference of opinion in Max's father? It was just the thoughts. Thoughts which were just a thought process away from change.

Max laid on the bed, lonely and exhausted, as he whispered to Son, at length, about things he saw, things he heard and feelings he felt on his way to the new, strange land. It was well past mid-night when Max cut the call. The next day he had to meet his second cousin, also a student, who was living some 6 kilometers away from the place of his stay. Max put the bags in a roughly arranged manner, refreshed himself, and went to bed. It was a loneliest kind of loneliness that night as he dozed off. A sudden feeling of living among strangers shook him awake twice early morning when the noise from the next door knocked his senses.

Son had a personal side that he kept hidden from Max. An intertwined wave of happiness and sadness surged within him – happiness blooming on the thought of Max's progress, sadness drawn on the thought of Max's departure. It wasn't just this thought that occupied his thoughts as he walked out of the airport after bidding farewell to Max. The thought of his mother's illness kept pre-occupying him, often drawing dark images of his family's finances. In his memory, he could recollect only a few days when their family felt rich and full. The days he spent growing up with his mom and sister, were happy, but with a tinge of added financial constraint. When Son entered the third year of his Engineering degree program, his mother's health descended. She was suffering from diabetes and kidney ailment, and as the only son, he supported her with all his heart and soul. The day before Max's departure, she was admitted for a test. The fact that she was still in the hospital meant that the bills were mounting. With his sister taking care of their mother in the hospital, Son had to find a way to pay the bills and support his mother financially. The last time Son shared the details of his financial liabilities with Max, Max did the exact opposite of what Son decided, which was Max paying all the debts as opposed to Son's firm stance that he would earn the money and pay it himself. Therefore, this time Son decided to keep his financial struggles to himself, which made him hide the case of his mother's illness from Max.

The day following Max's departure, Son was able to bring his mom home as her health improved. He had no other option than to borrow money from his uncle, his mom's second cousin, to pay the bills. Quickly obtaining the funds wasn't a big deal, as Son had good rapport with most of his family and friends, but settling the amount was. Though Son felt good as he took his mother home after four full days in the hospital, the bills shaded his smile.