Carefully, Nera tip-toed into the blue-painted room Aditya was sleeping, trying her best not to wake him up. She walked in and, without a word, sat on the edge of his bed. Nera watched the young, curly-haired boy, carefully, as she thought about all they had been through together in the past few days.
Meeting in Karvatan, running away from the Malotas Mansion, spending time in the orphanage, sleeping together on the streets of Wasa, eating in Jersa, comforting each other at Ben's home, arguing in the inn, and, now, here in Karvatan, their final destination...not having an idea what to do next or where to go. They were clueless.
Slowly, Nera began to move her hand to his head, and began to play with his hair, admiring all his features as her likeness of him grew. Then, all of a sudden, Aditya's eyes opened and he stared up at Nera's bright golden eyes with his own caramel-brown eyes.
"Good morning, Nera..." Aditya whispered.
"Good morning," Nera responded as she inched closer to him, which began to make Aditya feel nervous. Nera moved her face closer to Aditya's and stared at him, ultimately making him pull away. He moved away from Nera, while also staying on the bed, and looked at her, surprise written all over his face.
"You-I-You..." Aditya stammered as he stared at Nera, trying to figure out how, all of a sudden the anger and resentment she had against him had transformed into affection and kindness in the span of a couple hours.
Nera licked her lips and quietly asked, "Yes?"
Aditya stared at her for a moment, trying to understand what was happening and how her emotions had changed so quickly by studying her face. Finally, he asked, "Are you not angry at me anymore, Nera?"
Quickly, and abruptly, Nera moved away from Aditya and looked down at her lap, nervously playing around with her fingers. She didn't say anything for a while, and then, finally, said, "I was never angry at you, Aditya."
"But...yesterday. You were so-"
"-I wasn't angry. I'd never be angry at you, Aditya," Nera responded, interrupting him as she continued to stare at her fingers.
"But-"
"Listen, Aditya. I would never and and will never be angry at you. Not after how nicely and kindly you treated the night I had that nightmare," Nera responded, quietly as Aditya's face softened slightly.
Neither of them said anything for quite a while as Nera continued to play with her fingers and Aditya watched her, hoping she would say something while also wishing she wouldn't so the two of them could sit in this comforting silence for just a while longer.
Finally, Nera spoke up.
"Nobody has ever treated me as kindly as you did that night. Nobody. Ever," Nera whispered quietly, her back still facing Aditya.
"Oh, Nera," he quietly whispered as Aditya shifted closer to the young girl, his face soft and his eyes filled with sorrow and sympathy for her.
Nera swallowed, as if trying to contain herself from bursting out in tears, and whispered, "I appreciate what you did for me and how you treated me, Aditya. I really, really do. Even though it might not seem like it sometimes, but I do."
For a moment, he didn't say anything and watched her carefully. But, finally, as he placed his bandaged hand on her back, Aditya responded by saying, "I had to do that."
Quickly, Nera turned around and furrowed her eyebrows, clearly confused.
"What-What do you mean by that?," she stammered, studying him with her golden eyes.
Aditya flashed her a wide grin and moved his face closer and closer to Nera's. When, finally, his face was only about a centimetre away from hers, he whispered, "I said, "I had to do that.'"
"But...why?"
Aditya's grin softened to a small smile and he moved his hand so he was holding Nera's tightly. Finally, Aditya responded.
"Because you were in pain. And I hate seeing you in pain. It pains me, Nera, to see you like that. So, the only thing I could do to fix that was being kind and treating you as I did. Cause I didn't want to see you hurt."
Nera didn't respond and, instead, squeezed Aditya's hand tightly, as if she were thanking him by doing that. Finally, she moved her hand out of Aditya's and wrapped her arms around him in a warm, tight hug. Aditya accepted it and the two of them held each other like that for quite a while.
Every few seconds, Nera would whisper, "Thank you," into Aditya's chest as he welcomed it, without saying a word. They stayed like that, Nera's face smushed against Aditya's chest as Aditya rested his chin on Nera's head, hoping she would never let go of him. But, he still did have a question that he was hoping she would answer. Finally, he asked it.
"Listen, Nera, I get it that you wouldn't ever get angry at me, but I'm still a little bit confused."
Slowly, the young girl moved away from him, making Aditya's heartache a little bit, but he didn't say a word, and she questioned, "Okay?"
Aditya swallowed in and thought for a moment on how to properly ask her. But, after a moment, he asked, "I understand that you wouldn't get angry at me or anything, but, all through yesterday, you didn't talk to me or even look at me. So, was that not anger?"
"It was...something else, Aditya. I was just frustrated at you. You know, especially after what you said at the inn about Ben," Nera responded, watching Aditya's reaction to what she said, carefully.
"Well I said that for you, Nera. I said it because I didn't want you to get hurt because of me. Like I said, I hate it when you're hurt and I was and still am scared that Ben could hurt you," Aditya argued back to her, hoping she wouldn't explode or storm off like she did last time.
For a moment, Nera thought about it. Thought about what Aditya had said. Thought about what to do next. Even thought about storming off again. But, she didn't. Instead, Nera did something completely unexpected. She hugged him tightly. Again. This time, unlike the last hug, Aditya was completely thrown off by her arms around him, but accepted it nonetheless.
Quietly, she moved her lips close to Aditya's ear and whispered, "I understand where you're coming from, but Ben is a nice guy. Trust me, he is."
At that very moment, before Aditya could say or do anything, the door swung wide open and in walked, Ben himself. The first thing he saw, as he opened the door to Aditya's room, was Aditya's arms around Nera and Nera's lips close, too close, to Aditya, as well as their bodies right against each other on Aditya's bed.
"Hello..." Ben said as he took in what he had just seen.
"Hey," Nera responded back, nervously as she realised what it seemed like was happening between her and Aditya. Quickly, as Aditya realised this as well, the two of them moved away from each other and sat on either side of the bed, as Nera quickly said, "It's not what it looks like, Benny."
"Right, yeah, sure," Ben responded, as he glared daggers into Aditya, making the fourteen year old boy feel extremely nervous and anxious.
The three of them didn't say anything for a little while, as Ben glared at Aditya, Aditya tried not to break under his glare and Nera tried to think of some sort of way to explain everything to Ben without revealing too much about themselves and their mission.
Finally, Ben quietly whispered, "Can I please privately talk to you, Nera?" as he continued to glare at Aditya.
Nera swallowed and got off the bed, as she said, "Yes, of course."
Ben turned around and began to make his way out of the room as Nera followed, when, before she could leave, Aditya grabbed ahold of her hand and whispered loud enough so only Nera could hear the following words: "I don't want you to get hurt, Nera. So, please don't."
And he let go, allowing Nera to walk out of the room and follow Ben down the creaky, antique stairs of his mother's house and into the kitchen which was completely empty, nothing in sight.
The moment the both of them had entered into the kitchen, Ben grabbed Nera by her shoulders and held her tightly as he questioned her, fiercely.
"What were you and Aditya doing together upstairs?" Ben asked, his eyes filled with rage.
"Nothing, Benny. Nothing I swear," Nera responded, as she tried to calm him down, using the nicest voice she could muster.
"Don't lie to me, Nera. I saw the two of you. Why were you so close to one another?" Ben demanded.
"Benny, listen it was misunder-" Nera stopped as Ben tightened his grip on her shoulders, making a piercing pain run through her body.
"Don't you dare try to lie to me," Ben ordered, his voice dangerous and hard.
Nera tried and tried to say something, to respond, to deny everything Ben was saying, but she couldn't. The piercing pain Ben had caused stopped her. It hurt too much. Too goddamn much.
"Why aren't you saying anything? How come you're silent all of a sudden?" Ben demanded, his grip tightening even more, when, finally, Nera had enough.
She pushed him away from her with such a force he had to take a couple steps back to regain his balance, as she exclaimed, "Because you're hurting me, Ben!"
Ben watched her, as he stood a couple feet away from Nera, and finally, said, "He's changed you. Aditya has changed you. This isn't what you were like yesterday."
"What?" Nera questioned, as if Ben had gone mad(technically speaking he had).
"I'm saying Aditya has changed you. I don't trust him. He's bad for you. He's gonna hurt you," Ben responded as he moved closer and closer to Nera.
"The only person who's been hurting me lately is YOU!" Nera exclaimed as she pushed Ben again and stormed out of the kitchen.
Ben followed her closely and asked, "Where the hell do you think you're going?"
"WE'RE LEAVING, BEN! WE ARE LEAVING!" Nera exclaimed as she stomped her way upstairs, catching the attention of Ben's mom, who came out of her bedroom. She watched as Nera went into Aditya's room, dragged him out of bed and pulled him down the stairs.
"What happened, Nera? Where are we going?" Aditya continuously asked as he was being pulled down the stairs.
"We're leaving, Aditya. 'Cause someone pushed way too far," Nera responded, giving Ben one last glare and finally, along with Aditya, leaving his mother's home, ending up on the streets of Karvatan.