Life Goes On... - Neha Dua (good beach reads .TXT) 📗

step of her life and killed herself. I was completely lost in my thoughts when Denise came near to me and offered me a place in her room to sleep. Chapter 12

The next morning, I was in her bed with eyes swelled up because of all night crying and my head was paining like someone was hitting nails in it. I asked Denise if she had medicine. As she gave me the medicine, I gulped it and let myself relax on the sofa for a while. I had no other place to go, like yesterday, when we had to leave for our new apartment, my mom died and that broker had called to cancel my appointment yesterday itself because we couldn’t reach on time.

I asked Denise for another help with a bit of an embarrassment in my eyes, “Umm!! Denise, Could I ask you another favor, please. Now you know that I don’t have any place to live, may we just stay with you for some days. I promise you; we will leave as soon as possible. By today evening for sure, I will talk to some brokers for an apartment near this locality only. It’s just that, I can’t take Susan with me for searching for an apartment, it will impact her studies, so if you don’t mind us staying with you”.

Denise came near me and put her hand on my shoulder and turned me towards her. She replied in her best possible sweet and calming voice, “Elena! You can stay here as long as you want. You don’t have to ask me. I will tell Alex to move in with Prince for the time being. You and Susan could take another room”.

I was a little satisfied with what she said, but I didn’t want to burden her with our presence for too long, as she was working very hard to pay for the rent & household necessities own her own by working after college hours. She used to work in a night call center so that she could earn some bucks for her livelihood. Alex was helping her in that along with his part-time job of working in a hotel as housekeeping staff.

Earlier I used to think that they were lucky that they got to live alone and enjoy their lives as they want to, with no restrictions from parents and nobody to keep a watch on their move. They could do anything they want to, parties, night outs, and clubbing and staying with all of their friend circle, boys, and girls towards under one roof.

But now, it all came to me like a big responsibility. I had my little sister to take care off. I couldn’t leave her alone. I don’t have that much money source also now to feed us for our lives. It was like a nightmare to me now, to think of myself working as a part-time or full-time worker to earn money for our education and food. I never thought that I would have to manage all these so soon.

I started college after a week. I had missed so many classes, which means I had to work harder to maintain my pace with the class. It was becoming hectic day by day to wake up early in the morning, make breakfast for me and Susan and then drop her to the school bus, go to college, come back home after picking Susan and then help Denise make dinner and at night do homework. I started to feel pissed off sometimes. It was all becoming too much to handle all alone.

One fine day, after thinking for almost a week I decided that I would opt for full-time employment for myself. I discussed this with Shane in the college lunch area, “Hi Shane! I wanted to discuss something with you in private”. Shane was having lunch with his group when I interrupted him and he gladly stood up from his chair and sat beside me, “Sure Elena! What is it? You look so dull. Is everything okay”?

Chapter 13

I couldn’t hide anything from him so I explained to him my thoughts, “Shane! I was thinking of getting a job. It’s been more than three months that I and Susan are staying with Denise and because of us Alex had to move out of that place to stay with Prince. I don’t know… but I am not comfortable with this idea anymore, so I had made my mindset that I want to get a full-time job. We are running short of money as well, as whatever savings my mom had, that will go in Susan’s semester fees and her doctor’s visits and I can’t compromise on her studies and health. For this, I would have to drop out of college and pursue my career now. It’s time that I should realize what’s best for us right now”.

Shane looked surprised by what I shared with him, but he seemed to finally understand my situation and without arguing with me, he just held my hands and encouraged me with his words, “Elena! I know it’s a tough time for you and Susan and whatever decision you have made, I will always stand by you. If at any point in time you need anything from me, I will always be there to stand by you in every situation and in every way possible”.

For the first time, I felt like, I truly liked Shane because of his supporting nature and his positive attitude towards every situation. I couldn’t feel prouder than today, as I had Shane by my side after my parents to make me feel that I am not alone in this struggle. 

In the evening, when I and Denise reached home after college, I informed her about my plans to get a job and move out of her place to give them space. She is the starting, clearly didn’t approve of my plans of getting a job as she knew me very well that it is hard out there in the world to survive and to earn money. But then she understood my situation and agreed to my decision. She is such a caring and sweetheart friend.

I dropped out of my college to start a new job as an assistant in the XYZ company. They were paying me a handsome amount of money for this profile, as I was under-qualified for this but they liked my personality and persona and finally offered me this position. With the first salary from this job, I paid the deposit money for the 1BHK apartment to the broker and I shifted with Susan to our new home.

The office was only half an hour away from where I live now, so it was a little easy to manage my professional and personal life, also, now I don’t have any homework to finish every day. I just had my 9 to 5 duty and to take care of Susan’s homework, diet, and appointments with the doctors. I got used to my new life and it’s been one and a half years that I have engaged myself in these activities and daily routine but I still missed my college days, my friends, our chit chat sessions, lunch breaks.  

We all used to meet every day after college for studies, play, and drama classes. Now, all of these have become just a memory. I meet my friends on weekends and spent time with them, but still, something has changed, the way we used to be around each other. I had become more matured and responsible, to which each one of them, still couldn’t believe. My friends have started their jobs also as full-time employment after college.

I have forgotten about my dream of going to London to pursue my further studies and to live my life with my friends. These all have become a part of my past life, my current life revolved around my little sister and her health. One thing that remained unchanged in the last two years is Shane. Shane never misses meeting Susan and me on every alternate day. He has been the only constant in my life after my family. Although I meet him regularly, every weekend, what I loved about him the most is, he never leaves Susan alone whenever he meets her. 

Chapter 14

 Shane makes sure that Susan enjoys every moment of her life and doesn’t miss mom and dad. Although I had never really expressed to Shane how I feel about him, after what happened to my family, I couldn’t even hide my feelings from him also. I invited him for dinner with us, to which he happily accepted and stayed for that evening at my place. 

I went inside the kitchen to prepare dinner for us. Meanwhile, Susan and Shane were playing around in her room. After half an hour, Shane came downstairs to look for the dinner meal, as he knew that I have learned cooking because of my responsibilities now. The look on his face was satisfying as if he has seen the most peaceful thing in the world and was smiling continuously, looking at me, making all the arrangements alone, from making the dinner to set up the dinner table with all the crockery and table clothes. 

After dinner, we were washing dishes and when we were done, we went outside of the apartment to take a walk at night. There was no one around to disturb us. The place near my society was silent and the view of the sky at night was mesmerizing. We kept on walking for around twenty steps without saying a word, but then I decided to break this silence and turned towards him, facing him straight in his eyes, “Shane! I am happy that you accepted my offer of having dinner with us. There is something I wanted to