When We Met - 67 in English Fiction Stories by Aisha Kapadia books and stories PDF | When We Met - EP - 67 - last part - (Part Three of Epilogue : There Is Just So Much That She Needs T

"So you're going to hand over this box to him right?" Mia asked, hoping for some positive response from my side, as evident from her slightly raised tone.

"I'm in the middle of considering-"

"What's there to consider-oh my God, I'm going insane, I think I've lost half millions of my brain cells trying to persuade the 'yes' out of you and Jesus forbid, but I still fucking failed! I'm gonna puke all my frustration towards your stubborn ass one by one-wait, I think I'm going to need to puke for real, wait! Don't go anywhere. I'll be back in a minute, " Mia said, as she leapt off her bed in a hurry to occupy the space in the floor of her bathroom, the alternating faint but sudden loud sounds of her throwing off the half-digested liquid contents being the only thing audible through the screen.

When she came back, she was breathless and half-exhausted as she took large gulps of water from the jug. Her eyes were red, brimming with the unshed moisture clinging at the corner of her eyelids as she wiped the sweat off her forehead with the small white towel kept ready under her bed drawl for these purposes only.

"Are you feeling better now?" I asked in concern.

She nodded her head in response, as she continued to wipe sweat on the side of her face and her neck. After drinking water again, she was sprawled on her bedside in a minute, trying to take the cool air from the air conditioner on her face.

"We can talk some other time, Mia. You need to rest now, you look pale and wasted. I'll also be late for the party organised by my immediate senior if I didn't hurry now and Mom will kill me some two times more if I tried to avoid the date set by her with so much expectations, and I must say, with so much disagreement from my side, as she suddenly had formed this notion that a doctor can find the real happiness in the other doctor only, as only they can understand the other so much than the layman-"

Mia was suddenly up on the bed again, taking the phone in her hands, with the selfie camera now zooming her face more.

"So are you going to the party or not, Emily?"

"I'll see after the party-"

Mia beamed in frustration. "Not to that senior's party. To Edward's birthday party."

"I-"

"This may be the last chance you'll ever get, Emily. Don't let it go-"

"But I asked for some distance from him. How can I go-"

"Yes you can and you will. Don't be stubborn! Otherwise I'm gonna call him right now and say you've something urgent to talk about-"

"Mia, that's forcing-"

"Fuck the generosity in friendship, I'm doing it right now-" Mia said as she took the phone and started swiping the contacts list.

"Okay, stop. Atleast give me some time to think about-"

"It's already past eight. Would you take the whole night to think about it and get ready to leave for his party only after the dawn?"

I sighed loudly in dilemma.

That was really the most pressure someone had ever put on me to confess. Ever.

"I've two numbers of Edward right now. First one goes right here, " Mia said as she swiped the call on her second phone and put it in front of the camera to show that she was really not joking this time around.

"No! Cut that call, Mia! That's so- that's really-" I took a long breath to calm my raging emotions and to think about it as fast as I can.

As the call showed receiving for a painfully extended time but received just as sudden, with the formal hello coming from the other side, I recognised the voice as someone I had been longing to hear from, for a long time of three months.

Closing my eyes in determination, my fingers balled in a tight fist as I took a deep breath and almost shrieked, "Damn, I'll--I'll go there...and--I'll...I will do it. Happy now!"

Mia smiled in victory, as she put the call on hold, and not just cut it, to push my remanining sanity more off the edge. "What will you do? Tell me more precisely so that I can understand well, " she said, her index finger hovering over the un-hold button.

I glared at her as while speaking, "I'll go to the birthday party, and hand over this gift-"

"To whom?"

"To Edward, of course."

"And what else will you do?"

I looked at her in shock, my expression suddenly taking a scared form. "Mia, that's asking too much-"

"Indeed. I should've never asked in the first place. Taking action instead works faster, "she said as she proceeded to put the call back on.

"No!" I raised my hands in defense as the serious expression on Mia's face scared me more. "I'll do that too! Don't-"

"Do what, Emily? Say it clearly for me to record it well, in case you end up eating your words later, so that I can atleast send this recording file to Edward if he ever was that unfortunate to miss his chance of hearing about his best friend's undying love for him to this extent."

I looked at her with disdain, as she tilted her head to highlight her demands more, while her finger still continued to hover over the red zone.

"Fuck you, " I said, as the words coming after, slipped slowly and painfully from my mouth, "I-" I paused to look at her and she raised her eyebrows, demanding for an answer instead.

Opening my mouth slowly and parting my lips agonishly, I took a small pause to continue again. "I'll...do it-I mean I...I will umm...say it...I'll confess, I mean."

"That's saying about deciding on such a huge resolution in too much of a careless way."

"I will get to you for this, don't forget-" Just as I said this, Mia put the call back on to speaking again, and my eyes widened to some three figures of zero, seeing her do that.

"Who's it? Hello? Mia? Is that you?" Edward spoke, as Mia smiled viciously at me.

"Yes, it's me, Edward. Sorry I had another call to attend to, didn't mean to put you on hold on purpose."

"Are you okay? Do you need some help? Where's Jake?"

"Never mind him. Jake is out to bring the freshly picked persimmons from his grandfather's farm for me as I get sudden cravings for just anything these days. But that's not the reason I called you now. Actually I've been meaning to tell you something for a very long--"

"Mia. No, " Shaking my head in disagreement, I mouthed her name desperately through the screen. "Don't do this please." I begged her, as I raised both of my hands above my head in defeat, showing her that I'm surrendering to her words.

Mia stared at my eyes, for a whole minute, searching for truth in them as her demeanour changed to shy one in a second while she spoke next, "--that I'm pregnant for three months now, is what I've never got the chance to tell you. Sorry, I've been out of many things recently so I never actually-"

Edward laughed lightly, and hearing his reverberating happiness made me feel nostalgic and sad. "I know it already, Mia. In fact, I would want to apologize for not visiting you even once when you clearly need some help and support in your tough emotional turmoils. In my defense, I'd just say, for the past few months, I had been caught up in many things I never thought would become the reason of the most of my misery. I've been drowning in self-guilt and self-resolutions but still, the only solution to everything comes back to the previous questions that I've been avoiding so far, and I'm not sure if I'm ready enough to find the answers to those questions all by myself."

"I'm sure we both know who you're talking about."

Edward sighed as he said, "If you're in contact with lily, tell her I'm still here, waiting for her to come back to me. I promised I'll stay away from her as long as she wants, that's hard on me too. I hope she knows how I'm dragging each day without her by my side, how this uncertain expectation with the biting pain that she'd come back to me one day, in her old smiling and cheerful self, and we'd go back to living in the old times as we've always been, keeps eating me up from inside. Still, if keeping the distance between us, keeping me away from herself makes her happy for all the pain and misery I've given her unwillingly, if that's the solution she thought is right for the both of us, then I am willing to go for it too."

"After everything that happened, how can you two ever be like before?" Mia asked as I looked down on the floor with heavy heart.

Edward took a pause, before speaking, "That's something I'd like to leave it all with her. Whatever she wants and however tough decision she takes for the both of us, I'll try to be sensible and respectful with her words."

"Then I hope you two get an ending that each of you soulfully deserve, whether individually, or being together as something that you can put a name on. As a mindful friend, I'd support both of you in anything you guys decide. But promise me just one thing Edward?"

"Yes?"

"That you won't let stupid reasonings blurr your sensible mind with unnecessary thoughts that would lure you into taking groundless resolutions which, eventually, will make you unhappy. Promise me you won't avoid situations for the sake of protecting it forever, and with a heart that is honest to at least half a degree, you'll try your best to sort out your problems and your reasons first, before going forward to embrace something what your inner conscious asks for."

"I won't ask the reason why you asked for such things but I promise, Mia, I'll take each word of your advise as the helpful words of wisdom in my hard times."

"Then you better get fine soon, I wish to meet you as the situation gets better. So, do call me then. I'll be going now. Bye. And don't forget my words and your promise. "

"I'll keep it safe with me. You too, take care. Let me be remembered as the kind Uncle when when he gets out into the world."

"That depends on how well you keep your promise."

"I'll keep note of each word of yours in a needy situation if that helps you sleep at night. Stay healthy and yes, eat extra from my side too. Bye." Edward said, his voice hinting a smile before he hung up.

Mia hung up too, as she turned towards me to confirm if my words still hold the validity or not.

I stared at her for a time, my mind processing facts, reasons, possibilities and every sort of timing that might not prove to be favorable for this ardent task for which I had considered to put my friendship, future, and love in risk, after avoiding it for the long and better half of my life.

"Have your thoughts about resolution gone back to being under consideration?" Mia asked, her voice hinting instability of her emotions. As if she's been pushed off the edge enough already.

My lips were shut in a thin line, before I spoke, with perserverence and sudden confidence, "No, I'll confess to Edward today." My eyes met with Mia's in a new determination as I said, "Everything I never got to tell him before. Everything that he needs to hear and everything that he needs to understand about our unnamed relationship. I'll tell him all today. I'll put an end to all this misery I've been living alone with, for all these years. And this time, I would hear directly from him too. If not immediately, I'd still tell him that I do need a straight answer from him. But this time, I would not expect anything from him, I'm not doing it for him. Or For our twenty-year long friendship. I'm doing this for myself. For me. For my satisfaction. For my own heart. For my own peace of mind."

Mia exclaimed in happiness. "That's my girl!"

I smiled in strange melancholic content, "You're right. What's there to fuss about? It's either yes or no. Nothing in between. Nothing beside it. It's already been too long anyway. And it should not affect me anymore."

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