Were you mine?

Chapter 21 The month

Jake's POV

I refused to believe what Rosa had to tell me. I almost shoved her down the stairs by accident when she told me what Lea had to tell her.

There was no way she was telling the truth. I wouldn't believe it. I couldn't believe it.

That was until she vanished again with just a letter for me this time.

The last time was different. We could still talk over the phone, even though it was not regular or for the fact that she kept making weird excuses. This time around, she literally vanished from my life... from our life.

She changed her number and even abandoned our aunt. I could not believe that Lea was capable of doing something like that. Not the Lea that I knew. Never. Not after what happened between us. Not after I let her know how I really felt about her.

I thought I was very clear with my actions.

And it did seem she wanted it that way as well.

Then what went so wrong that she had to abandon us all of a sudden.

I still refused to believe Rosa's theory.

Was Lea upset because of what she saw. I did plead guilty in front of her, didn't I?

She could have stayed without forgiving me.

She could have gone back home.

My mind could not wrap around the possibilities of where she could have been.

Had it not been for the letter, I would have searched the lengths of heaven and earth for her. That was for sure.

But she specifically asked me not to look for her under any circumstances and she made me do so, putting in line our past relationship.

" If you cherish whatever we had, our days together, you will not harass anyone, you will not look for me. "

Those were her exact words.

I had to shut everybody out trying to absorb the shock of it. I canceled my schedules, shoots and endorsements.

I couldn't care less if I lived or died.

I sniffed her clothes and slept in the middle of all her clothes piled up on my bed.

I refused to part with her essence even for one moment, only getting up to use the washroom or pour myself a drink.

I was wasted. Wasted in the true sense of the term.

I had thought of leaving everything behind and just going back to our home town.

But then that night my phone rang.

It was a call from Tara.

We hardly spoke after I left my home town. And she was calling in the middle of the night, though I was wide awake.

I immediately knew it was something grave.

" Thanks goodness Jake that you picked up! ”

I could tell she was sobbing.

" Tara, what's wrong? "

I immediately sat up, putting my glass away.

" I have been trying forever but I can't reach Lea. No texts, no calls... nothing. ”

I wasn't prepared to talk about Lea.

" She decided to disappear from our life. Tell me, Tara. You are crying. Why are you crying? What happened? ”

" It's your aunt! ”

Her words made me sit up on the edge.

" What happened to her? ”

" I had no idea. She was a little sick. We thought it was normal fever and would go away but then she collapsed yesterday and we had to rush her to the hospital. ”

" What!!! ”

This was enough to make me miss Lea even more and feel guilty for not being with our aunt when she needed me... us. But I had no idea that the worst was yet to come.

" The doctors ran some elaborate tests. She has been in critical care since yesterday. Now they are saying she has an advanced stage of cancer and can't be treated here. She needed to be shifted to a bigger hospital with better facilities. ”

One blow after another. The people closest to me were abandoning me one by one.

I had to quit my plan of quitting work and life after this.

I took the next flight back home, talked with the doctors and immediately got aunt transferred to the best hospital out of town.

They said she needed prolonged hospitalisation.

The cost of treatment was going to be enormous. But it was for the best.

And this was how I had to force myself back to my schedules. I had a tough time trying to convince them about my professionalism. My manager and Rosa helped me through this phase. To be honest, Rosa was really helpful. She threatened to cancel her own contract if they didn't take me back without any condition.

Ever since that day, all I did was work day in and day out. I worked not for the money though it was important. I worked to keep Lea out of my head. I worked to exhaust myself to sleep.

On days where my schedule was a bit relaxed or I got holidays, I spent them all in the gym, working out like crazy though I had no actual body goals at the moment.

This has been my routine for a month. A whole freaking month with any trace of Lea.

I wondered how she was faring. I wondered if she even missed me for the split of a moment.

Every press meet I attended, my eyes searched for her in the audience. I tried to send her cryptic messages through the journalists. However it never worked. I guess Lea wouldn't be sitting in front of the TV watching me when she didn't want to have anything to do with me in the first place.

I had to coax myself to finally give up.

" Jake, we are leaving. Are you done yet? ”

One of the staffs knocked at the door of my vanity van. We were headed for a remote location.

We had a packed schedule there. We had a shoot scheduled there but before that we had to attend some graduation ceremony at a college.

I had never been to one. I didn't even know what that was like.