Third Person's POV
"Aren't you a little fucker? Going around sleeping with your guy friends. So awful." Her voice resonated in the fragile girl's ears.
"No.I don't. I am not a fucker. I don't do that. No. I am a good person. Stop talking like that. Stop it. Please." Her strong voice grew weaker and weaker with every word.
"A slut. You Lia pearl are a slut." Lia flinched harshly at those words.
"Having affair with two guys at the same time and on top of that you want other girl's boyfriends too? How cheap can you be. No wonder you have failed in your senior year. Well deserved." The girl was up against her face as Lia was pressed into the wall while everybody else just watched as the girl got harassed by her own 'name sake best friend'.
All the assaults and insults got the sensitive girl worked up as her mind went blank and her body worked on it's own accord. It all happened so swiftly that even before she could process it a harsh slap was planted against the girl's cheek.
Lia had subconsciously slapped the girl in front of her as all her false accusations triggered her anger. Before she could apologize,she was being pushed against the lockers next to her head as hits after hits were being made.
Lia covered her face in defence as she tried protecting herself against the hits and finally managed to push the girl away from her body but as she tried to walk away her leg was tucked back making her trip on her feet and fall down, hurting her knee.
Hundreds of students were surrounding them yet none. Not even a single one had come up to support her, with a silent sob breaking through her throat she tried standing which was difficult as her knees had got a tight jab because of the hard fall.
Just as the girl behind her was about to push her down, two pairs of hands shielded her body while a strong voice boomed in the college corridor.
"Get away from Lia. Right this instance. Or else you will regret that you ever came to college today Harleen."
The whole corridor was cleared in moments as all the students scurried away abruptly.
"Shh Li. We are here. Shh." Sakura and Sylvia wrapped their arms around Lia as her body shook with waves and waves of tremors and sobs.
Lia clutched her hands around their arms trying to hold her breath as her mind clouded and clouded before her body gave out, falling into Cyrus arms.
End of flashback
Ever since the psychology student has been dealing with panick attacks and social anxiety.
Her brain had stroked into such a depression that she even found taking her own life was useless and let the demons which were created inside her mind to eat away at her soul.
Since childhood Lia knew only one thing. Pain.
Her father who ran away, her mother who was broken and their financial situation which was worst to the point that at one point Lia's mother had considered being a prostitute.
By God's grace one of her friends had held her hand and her mother had coped up with the financial hurdles by taking up multiple jobs before settling into her current medical job.
All Lia remembered from her childhood was shattered objects on the house floor and loud arguments of her parents.
And hands that preyed her body even before she was ten but to her luck or unluck Lia barely remembered any details vividly which she somehow found comfort in.
That way she can pretend that those hurtful situations were not a part of her childhood.
And then when she started exploring the relationship called friendship, all she received in every turn was betrayal, humiliation, disloyalty and people who recklessly used her kindness, people pleasing mindset that she had adopted because of the times she had to run behind her screaming broken-hearted mother to just love her.
People made fun of her skin color just because she was not as fair as others. Words pierced the deep corners of her mind. "You look like burnt cigarette. What was that brand name again? Black or something. That's you.", " Do something to your skin. At least that way you might look less ugly.", "No one would want to have a girl like you."
Her voice whicg just sounded richly strong was also made fun of by words like "what sort of voice is that? So strange.", " You sound like a man.", "please do not talk lot or even try to sing along with a song. That song will turn pathetic and too harsh on our ears.", " Cannot stand your voice Lia. Just stop talking already."
But one thing Lia made sure to never loose focus on was her studies. Keeping up the good grades. Because she knew her hard working mother, her mother who sacrificed her life working like an animal day and night just to make sure Lia had enough food in her plate even if that means Jena would starve herself and to give good education to Lia so that she will not have to go through whatever her own mother was going through.
Her mother deserved her good grades and praises from her teachers. Which she ensured was being delivered to hed mother.
Jena would cry that very day, the days her results would be out or if she had gained good grades. She would cry so hard mumbling thank yous, I am proud of you, sorry for being so harsh on you.
And that day Lia would sleep contently knowing her mother was happy because of her.
But even that was lost when she stepped out of her school into the new world of college to finish her Junior and senior years.
The new world, the new people, the newness of all of it had lured Lia's naive self into it.
And especially with the people she was surrounded with. One of the main person being her ex-best friend, Harleen.
Lia's focus lessend and suddenly her grades started falling, her mother's tears, tears of pain, disappointment, hurt. None of it was reaching past Lia's clouded mind.
She was lost in having fun with her friends. Not having boyfriends or girlfriends or doing drugs kind of fun. No.
Just being happy for once kind of fun. Yes. Lia felt that she was happy with her friends. People who she believed were really her people, we're true friends.
She was high on the peak of her happiness to even melt for her own mother's pain.
Not that she did not notice or not wanted to get back on track. She wanted yo, she really tried. But when hands are pulling you out of your zone and pushing you out on the streets irrespective of your resilience there's only so much your naive eighteen-nineteen teenage self can do.
Before she could comprehend she had failed her junior year and cleared it again in the second attempt but by the time senior year was done, she had failed yet again. That was the biggest failure of her day.
Such a shame to her mother and to her own self.
The girl who was the topper of her school had failed miserably in her senior year.
It was the day of her result, she had just seen her results and called her mom crying miserably to gain some comfort even though she knew she screwed up big time and felt a huge pang in her chest when this time her mother had not scolded nor did anything like the last time during her junior year but instead she had taken a deep breath over the call and just whispered in her gentle voice saying "It's okay. We will sort this out later. Don't cry Li. Come home soon, I will be waiting for you. We can talk more."
Lia did not understand what made her mother react that way or say those words but she was shattered.
How could she do that her mother? Her mother who had forgotten about all the pleasure in the world and only focused on her. Her mother who held her securely when her so called father had left them astray.
But by the time of the results day, her friends had all shown their true colors already. And that was one of the reasons along with her negligence to fail the subjects.
It had all started just few months before her finals.
Torture, manipulation, back stabbing, talking Ill about her, calling her names.
Lia had become too quite. Too silent already by the time she was taking her finals.
Eating less and less, talking less and less, smiling less and less. She had kept her distance from all her so called friends but obviously people fed on her distraught like it was their personal favourite dessert.
She ran and ran away from the whole college but was kept on being pulled back.
Perhaps, her mother had already seen her daughter's condition because she had become too soft around Lia. Weaving through thin thread as if her daughter might break any moment. And maybe that's the reason she had not shown any disappointment towards Lia's failure.
Lia was jumbled and astray as she had walked through the college walls making her way to home, to her mother.
That's when she was cornered by Harleen and was humiliated in front of the whole college.
It was sad that no one even tried to help her. The people she had lent a hand in their painful times also stood away.
Her friends or so she taught also walked away with Harleen not even sparing her a single glance.
That's when she noticed the only two people standing by her were Sakura and Sylvia.
Along with Cyrus.
The two girls had to move to abroad for higher studies on their parents commands.
But always made sure to send her postcards and couriers every now and then. They would call Cyrus or Lia herself directly and check up on her.
If not for them Lia would have lost whatever shreds of trust and hope she had unconsciously safeguarded in terms of interacting with people and allowing them into her life.
The whole incident in itself had lasted for hardly an hour or so.
But the impact and the extent it had affected not just Lia but her mother as well was way too huge.
People started talking I'll about her. Not even knowing the truth but just blindly believing whatever Harleen had spewed in the college corridor.
From one person to the other, words spread like fire and by the time it had reached Lia's house door it was twisted into such a gut-wrentching filth.
Lia's mother's character was also tarnished as her father leaving them was also bought to the streets and was made fun of.
People laughed, mocked, bad-mouthed right on their faces as if the mother-daughter duo were not just walking in front of them literally. Every single person's finger pointed at them. Towards Lia. Accusing and shaming her.
But her mother... Her mother never thought any less about her. Not even once. Not even in her thoughts.
Jena Pearl had yet again held her daughter safely in her arms and built herself into a shield for her daughter.
Yet knowing Lia's sensitive nature and empathetic heart, the girl could not withstand her mother going through those hurtful times and enduring so much of pain on top of losing her husband in the first place since years ago.
Lia was overdriven with guily, shame that had turned into self-resentment.
Crying had also become a burden because her mind was convinced that she did not deserve to even let out her pain.
She was so hellbent on believing that she deserved to suffer.
If it was not for her mother, Sakura, Sylvia and Cyrus, Lia would have been hospitalized forever.
Yes. Lia Pearl was admitted for whole two months because of mental instability caused due to depression, stress and anxiety.
Lia was put on prescribed medications before being discharged.
By the time she had come out of the hospital her mother was no longer living in the previous place.
Knowing very well that environment was only going to cause more damage to them she had vaccated and moved into a new place.
Yes. The incident had such huge impact that they had leave the place and move out.
People were unkind and easily influenced by non-proven words like that.
And seeing that just made Lia more depressive but there was nothing she could do. Her mother wss trying her best and she could not put her through more.
Between all these is when her uncle had fallen ill with a lungs disease and a brain damage because he was accidentally hit on his head too harshly while working in the factory by one of the machines.
Her mom not only had to look after Lia but also her mother and her brother as well.
Before she was hospitalized Lia had somehow managed doing a part-time job in a food mart. Lia was at least happy about thinking that atleast she earned money and gave it to her mother and looked after her own little needs without burdening her mother more even though she was not doing well academically.
But then the incident happened, she stopped going to the mart little by little as she felt tok drained and would just lock herself up in the room until one day she finally collapsed on the road while coming back from a nearby shop getting something for her mom to help her with the cooking.
Since then hospitals, medicines, never ending bills, pain, health issues and any sort of negative issues had become a part of her daily routine.
It was when she was months into this hellhole that she had met her little saviour... Ameralda Josan.
If it was not for that kid's loud wailing that day, Lia thinks she would have never come out of the dark room so soon.
And just like that she fought with her own demons alongside looking after little Amy. That's how she had finished her senior year retake in finals and aced it with more than first class results.
She had gotten off the medicines slowly but steadily.
In between of these battling days is when her life was blessed yet again with one more angel.
The only angel her heart ever bet for.
Leona Florence.
The angel who had now turned around in her embrace hugging her tightly by squeezing her hands over her nape and was sobbing silently into her neck hearing the elder share as many parts of her life before she entered the elder's life in a calming voice as if she was not ripped apart into scattered pieces before.
Lia did not know when she herself had started crying but silent tears slipped down her face steadily as each and every painful moment of her life hit her back to back.
Started from her childhood to this very day. Whatever was buried deep in her heart, everything bubbled up altogether as they burned their way through her veins and slipped out into warm waves of tears rapidly.
She let them fall. She did not find anymore reasons to hold on to them. Lia wanted to be free of all those hurt and pain of years. Lia wanted her heart to feel light again, completely as she wanted to breath freely in relief for once.
Lia yearned for this very moment where she could feel the shackles of heaviness chained over her entire body was being unlocked and slipping away one by one.
Her hand tightened around the younger's waist as her other hand fisted her hair in a firm yet loose grip making sure she would not loose her as well.
Because Lia could feel it in her bones that so many parts of her own self was being removed and were fading away. Parting their painful ways from her forever.
As she let her pain and hurt go away, Lia held onto her only peaceful salvation more tightly. Sticking their bods together as much as possible.
Just in the middle of her sharing her past, Leona had pulled away and straddled the elder's lap with both of her legs on either sides of Lia's waist and had hid herself in Lia's neck. Crying silently ever since.
Her heart could not comprehend what sort of life the elder had to live.
She herself was deprived of her father's compassion, gentleness, sweetness and over all love that the first male figure ever in her life should have given her.
The barely there relationship with her mother was not exactly a comfort either except for some temporary relief.
And that pain was unbearable. Even if her family was better now and her father was not that same cold, narcissistic man he was once, it did not mean Leona had not suffered.
She still felt prickles of that pain shredding their way through her being. Only she knew what it took to fight those negative thoughts and hold onto whatever happiness her father was trying to provide them.
So listening to Lia's life story all she wanted to do was protect the elder and shower her with everything she could gather from her own entire existence.
"You are too strong. Way too strong. I don't know if I should be damn proud or too damn hurt knowing that you did not want to be this strong but you had to become this strong." She hiccuped her words into the elder's neck still the sobs raking her body as the said girl's hands were tracing gentle lines over her back to calm her down while weeping to herself silently.
Even if she wanted to let out all the painful sounds inside her, they were just stuck in her throat like they were locked by some invisible cage which their mind was making up.
Pulling back Leona looked at the painful expression resting on her lover's face which clearly said that she wanted to cry out loud.
Lia was not looking at her but she was looking up at the ceiling trying to let her voice out as she strained her neck longer and opened her mouth wide but only stretched it in distress knowing she was not able to mourn the parts that were leaving her finally.
Tears after tears trickled down her face. Contrary to the cold breeze blowing into the room from still heavy rain pouring down, Lia's forehead and neck was still covered with a shean layer of sweat as she was forcing herself to cry louder.
Leona bit her lip looking down as she stopped another sob from raking her body seeing the helpless state of her girl.
"Li.. Baby.. Look at me." She gently weaved her hands through the back of the elder's nape and pulled her head down so that now both of their eyes were locked.
"Make me cry Leon. Make me cry please. Like a lot. Why am I not able to cry out loud? I want to let go of everything completely. Please, please.." Leona was not able to control the sob that left her lips this time.
How could she? Her girl friend who always stood strong and soft by her side, holding her warmly, even right now securing her hold around her was begging her to make her cry.
How painful was that?
Taking a deep breath, Leona decided to follow her heart and trust it because she for real did not know what to do to make the elder cry the way she wanted.
Yes. It would hurt like hell to see Lia bawling her eyes out but the younger knew better than that. She knew how crucial was it for the other to finally cry out loud and set herself free of all the painfully memories rooted deeply in her very nerves for years now.
She gently traced her hand from behind Lia's nape and now placed it over the other's beating heart putting a warm pressure on the area to catch the elder's senses locked on her.
"Your pain is deserved to be felt. You can feel it all you want. You deserve to cry out your pain. Every single hurt you had to endure, it's time that you bid them good bye love. I know your mind is battling with your heart against finding this peace of finally releasing all the burden but listen to me Lia. You do not deserve the pain of holding it all inside. Just break and let it go. We both will figure this out together. Whatever is waiting for us after you breaking down, we can face it. We will face it. Because I will always being here, in your arms ready to wipe away your tears whenever you want to stop weeping and will ensure to pull you out of that graveyard of burnt memories and will wrap you in the most flowery fields of my love for you. So.. Cry. Cry all you want Li."
Leona spoke softly looking into the elder's chocolate brown irisis. She saw how they started taking in her words and sudden change of despair into hope of finally been given a chance to wipe away her sorrows and then finally falling into nothingness.
The younger girl sat on her lover's lap with her face cradled in one hand and the other feeling the raising heartbeats of the elder under her tank top which made her palm to directly come in touch with the high plumpness of her lover's breast.
She took in each and every change behind those moist eyes before Lia had pulled her closer and burried her face on her chest.
Leona had silently craddled her head against her chest weaving her fingers through the burgundy locks.
Five minutes passed and there was no movements, no voice or words from the elder but just the hands around her small waist giving hard squeezes from time to time making it seem like she was consoling herself by confirming that Leona had not left yet and was still in her arms.
Then ten minutes passed. Thirty. Forty. Everything was just too silent but Leona felt the other's shoulders tensing up and the lips against her skin had slightly wobbled.
Within next few moments a quite sob hit her body and Leona caressed the back of elder's head softly.
Then the sobs became louder and frantic.
And within minutes the silent room was filled with loud wails of cries, quivering voice and harsh weepings.
Tears flowed drenching her tank top as Lia had now pulled away from the younger and was crying in her arms now as the other had wrapped her arms around her gently with her own teary eyes seeing Lia let go of everything so loudly.
"It's too much. It hurts Leon. It hurts so bad. But today I will let go. I will finally feel light. Right?" Lia asked between her loud sobs now her hands which were covering her own ears in habit while feeling too much of pain was fisting the younger's shirt on her back.
Caressing her tender, teary cheeks Leona nodded slowly speaking assuringly "Yes. That's right my sweet girl. You will feel better."
Lia nodded swiftly before latching herself to the younger and burried her face into her chest letting the nerve-wrecking sobs tremor over her shivering body.
"Tell me I am not a bad person. Tell me I am worthy of good things. Tell me I am not a whore." Leona squeezed her eyes shut hearing Lia's desperate stinging words.
"You are not a bad person. No. You are the most amazing human being. My lover, my girlfriend, my life, my world. My most adored blessing baby. You are not a whore Lia Pearl. Although you can be my personal whore, that's a different thing." The younger's lips curled up in a small affectionate smile when she felt a small hit on her arm and heard a snort from the elder.
But that smile turned into a pain silence as the elder's cries picked up again.
Leona held the elder through every rake of her body.
The loud sobs silenced down to tiny sniffles and finally fell into a calm silence.
"Love?" Leona pulled back when she felt the arms slacking around her and saw how Lia's head lolled on her chest.
"Baby.." The younger whispered with a chuckle at the adorable sight of the younger who had dozed of due to exhaustion.
Her natural straight lashes which was not curled fell down under the heaviness of her tears.
Her brown cheeks were covered with soft flush and her whole face and neck was sticky due to sweat and salty tears.
Her long locks were sticking to the sides of her neck as her lush lips pressed together in sleep.
"I love you." The younger whispered placing a tender kiss over the sleeping girl's forehead before shaking her awake unwillingly.
Lia whined in protest as she was being walked over to the bed.
"Sorry Li. I really wish I could carry you but I am a bit small for that." Leona chuckled helping the girl lie down comfortably in the middle of the bed as the elder gave a sleepy smile at her words with eyes closed.
"And I do not care if you like it or not. I am sleeping next to you." Lia really wished she could roll her eyes at the younger's silliness but sleep was pulling her consciousness as she just snuggled more into the girl curling herself into a ball in Leona's arms.
They drifted off to sleep tangled in each other's arms with furry blanket thrown over them as their legs locked between each other and arms pulled ther other's body closer to themselves and the elder's face squeezed over the younger's chest with the said girl's head tucked above her head.
The now drizzling rain, pitter-pattered it's rhythm as lullaby to the tangled lovebirds.
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Hello guys
We are 70% through the story.
In few more chapters this journey is going to come to an end.
Well I have lot to say but I'll save it for some other time.
Have a good day...