Ariana's POV
Max's fingers draw lazy patterns on my arm while keeping his arm wrapped around me. My head is resting on his chest, finding comfort in his strong heartbeat.
He is alive, and he will be okay.
We both lie in each other arms in silence. However, there is no awkwardness between us, just meaningful silence. Somewhere we both are at a loss for words. Maybe we do not know how to voice these newfound feelings.
I feel him pressing a small kiss on the top of my head, which causes me to raise my head from his chest to glance at his face.
His throat works as he swallows while blankly staring ahead. A moment later, his gaze flickers to me, and I watch a myriad of emotions passing through his face.
Ariana's POV Gathering snacks in my arms, I walk into the living with a wide grin on my face. Justin turns to me, adorning a similar grin, and rushes to help me carry the snacks. "Be careful." Turning around, Justin glances at me then he crawls inside our blanket fort. Rolling my eyes, I smile as I carefully enter Justin's fort. "Next time, we will make an even bigger fort," Justin exclaims and opens the packet of chips. "Which movie shall we watch?" I ask while turning on my laptop and connecting it with the Bluetooth speakers because my laptop speakers volume is not very loud. "The Karate Kid," After thinking for a moment, he replies.
Ariana's POV Until now, I never realized how good it feels to take charge of your life. You feel so powerful. Whenever anything went wrong in my life that turned my life upside down, I always tried to put together my life again. Even now, I am doing the same. The only difference is that all the other times, I didn't want to, but I had to. But now, I want to get hold of my life and put together the pieces of my life for myself. I want to be in charge of my own happiness and destiny. I want to do this for myself and Justin. He deserves a sister who is stable in her life, not someone who is an emotional mess. I don't want the impact of my poor choices to reflect on him. So even though I have said many times, I will say it again; I will make ever
Ariana’s POV “Everyone is not lucky to get a second chance at love in their life, but I am one of those few people lucky people who found true love after losing their trust in love.” Samuel smiles softly, but the sadness in his eyes reveals his true feelings, “I fell in love for the first time it was with a wrong person, but when I found the right person, I was not able to cherish her the way I should have.” “I want to blame the circumstances. I want to blame the world for whatever wrong has happened in my life. But the truth is the only person to blame is me.” He clenches his jaws while he stares at the table, “Only if I had the courage to tell you everything from the beginning, then I would not have made you feel betrayed and hurt. Maybe we would still have been friends. But I was a coward, and now I am paying the price of my mistake.”
Samuel's POV Ten years later. That moment is still fresh in my mind when Ariana left me. How can you forget the moment when your everything was walking away from you? I wanted to beg her not to leave me and just give me one more chance, but something refrained me from doing so. This was the punishment which she had chosen for me. Therefore, even if it was killing me, I decided to accept my punishment. There's a hope in this punishment that when it ends, I will find my eternal happiness. Only I don't know when or if this punishment will ever come to an end. Numerous times, I broke down because the pain of bei
Samuel's POV After finishing my long tiring shift at the hospital, I walk towards my apartment. The building in which I live has four floors and two apartments on each floor. It is a quiet and secured area. Moreover, it is near the hospital, so I can easily make it there in time on emergency calls. When I reach the second floor, I watch boxes fill the hallway of my floor as the door opposite my apartment is opened. Some people are moving boxes inside the apartment, but quite a few boxes are still littered in the hallway. Someone has moved into this apartment. I walk towards my apartment, carefully avoiding the stuff in the hallway. I hope my new neighbors are not like the
Ariana's POV Samuel is a laid-back and playful guy. Utterly opposite his exterior, which makes him look more like an intimidating gang leader than a doctor. However, the seriousness behind his eyes gives me an impression he has an aggressive side too. After bandaging my arm, he volunteered to help me with arranging my stuff. Thanks to his help, all the boxes are already in their respective rooms after the movers have placed the boxes inside the apartment. "I will just go and bring glasses from my apartment." He places the takeout on the coffee table and goes to his apartment. Since the set of glasses has been broken by me and I have yet to unpack the kitchen stuff, he brought two glasses from his apartment. He also brings his laptop with him,
Samuel's POV Mom? A small boy, nearly around six or seven years old, runs to her and hugs her tightly. I clearly remember not seeing any ring on her finger, so she might be a single mother. "I missed you much." He tightens his hold on her neck, and she pats his back. "I missed you, too." Pulling back, she makes him sit in her lap and turns to look at the door where a middle-aged man in driver's uniform is standing. "Thank you, Marvin, for bringing him home." She smiles at the man, whose name is Marvin. "It's not a problem, Ma'am." He nods then takes his leave.
Samuel's POV Changing out of my scrubs, I walk out of the changing room. Glancing at my watch, my eyebrows slightly shoot up in surprise as this will be in a long time that I am going home early. "Sam." Hearing my name, I stop near the reception area and wait for Mason as he quickly approaches me. "What's up?" He asks, slapping my shoulder. "Going home." "I am also done with my shift." Removing the stethoscope from around his neck, he rubs his neck, trying to release some tension. "Let's go for some drinks." "Nah, I have to go home, maybe some other time." Shaking my head, I decline his offer.
Samuel's POV Ten years later. That moment is still fresh in my mind when Ariana left me. How can you forget the moment when your everything was walking away from you? I wanted to beg her not to leave me and just give me one more chance, but something refrained me from doing so. This was the punishment which she had chosen for me. Therefore, even if it was killing me, I decided to accept my punishment. There's a hope in this punishment that when it ends, I will find my eternal happiness. Only I don't know when or if this punishment will ever come to an end. Numerous times, I broke down because the pain of bei
Ariana’s POV “Everyone is not lucky to get a second chance at love in their life, but I am one of those few people lucky people who found true love after losing their trust in love.” Samuel smiles softly, but the sadness in his eyes reveals his true feelings, “I fell in love for the first time it was with a wrong person, but when I found the right person, I was not able to cherish her the way I should have.” “I want to blame the circumstances. I want to blame the world for whatever wrong has happened in my life. But the truth is the only person to blame is me.” He clenches his jaws while he stares at the table, “Only if I had the courage to tell you everything from the beginning, then I would not have made you feel betrayed and hurt. Maybe we would still have been friends. But I was a coward, and now I am paying the price of my mistake.”
Ariana's POV Until now, I never realized how good it feels to take charge of your life. You feel so powerful. Whenever anything went wrong in my life that turned my life upside down, I always tried to put together my life again. Even now, I am doing the same. The only difference is that all the other times, I didn't want to, but I had to. But now, I want to get hold of my life and put together the pieces of my life for myself. I want to be in charge of my own happiness and destiny. I want to do this for myself and Justin. He deserves a sister who is stable in her life, not someone who is an emotional mess. I don't want the impact of my poor choices to reflect on him. So even though I have said many times, I will say it again; I will make ever
Ariana's POV Gathering snacks in my arms, I walk into the living with a wide grin on my face. Justin turns to me, adorning a similar grin, and rushes to help me carry the snacks. "Be careful." Turning around, Justin glances at me then he crawls inside our blanket fort. Rolling my eyes, I smile as I carefully enter Justin's fort. "Next time, we will make an even bigger fort," Justin exclaims and opens the packet of chips. "Which movie shall we watch?" I ask while turning on my laptop and connecting it with the Bluetooth speakers because my laptop speakers volume is not very loud. "The Karate Kid," After thinking for a moment, he replies.
Ariana's POV Max's fingers draw lazy patterns on my arm while keeping his arm wrapped around me. My head is resting on his chest, finding comfort in his strong heartbeat. He is alive, and he will be okay. We both lie in each other arms in silence. However, there is no awkwardness between us, just meaningful silence. Somewhere we both are at a loss for words. Maybe we do not know how to voice these newfound feelings. I feel him pressing a small kiss on the top of my head, which causes me to raise my head from his chest to glance at his face. His throat works as he swallows while blankly staring ahead. A moment later, his gaze flickers to me, and I watch a myriad of emotions passing through his face.
Ariana's POV There are rare moments in my life when I truly feel helpless, where the feeling of being useless dominates all my other emotions. This is one of those rare moments as I sit across Max with a stoic expression, probably because I feel too numb to react. The silence around us is heavy. I can clearly hear the ticking of the clock on the wall behind me. Its ticking reminds me of the ticking of a time bomb, and somewhere it is not far from the truth. Time. Is. Ticking. With each moment passing, I feel my chest constricting. All these feelings were too familiar, the vice-like grip clutching my chest, making each intake of breath difficult than the previous one.
Max's POV Uncertainty is a part of our life since the beginning. Never in our life can we be sure what will happen next or what will be the outcome of our decision. I can't change some things in my life because those things are not in our hands. However, this doesn't mean I will submit myself to my fate. My life may be full of uncertainty, but this will not stop me from living my life the way I want. When I beat cancer a few years ago, I promised myself that I would not waste my second chance at life and live my life in the best way I could. I want to live my life free of any burden and totally focus on my happiness. I have seen people living the last days of their life with unfulfilled wishes. And I choose not to be one of those people.
Samuel's POV Ariana has left to drop off the children. Justin has also gone with Ariana. Even I was about to leave, but when I watched Max limping towards the bench, I changed my mind because he was in real pain, and he may need someone to be with him. I can clearly see Max is trying to downplay his pain, and the reason behind this pretense is Ariana. He is definitely hiding something from everyone, especially her. I recall the look on his face when I saw him at the hospital; he was shocked. Probably because of the thought of Ariana finding something he doesn't want to share. However, it would not have been possible because firstly, we are not in contact, and secondly, even if we were, it's not my truth to tell. So I would have never told Ariana anything if he didn't want to share it with
Ariana's POV "It has been so long since we all did something together as a family, other than hiking. Please do arrange such classes in the future as well; my family and I had a great time." Mrs. Brooke smiles, handing me the canvases which her kids were holding. A smile forms on my face when I notice both of her children have attempted to draw a landscape. And honestly, for someone who has painted for the first time, it is excellent. "Sure, I will try to arrange such painting sessions whenever it is possible." I keep the canvases on the table where other canvases are also placed, "I have your contact details, I will inform you where these paintings have been donated. So if you want, you can go and check them." Following dad's footsteps, I will donate these paintings to hospitals, retirem