Desperate Tears

A wintry yet bitter breeze blew, which made them shiver in their worst fear. It was a borrowed time. Those seconds when they embraced each other was a borrowed time and was now over. Raya could feel the separation increasing in the distance as she stepped back and into their age-old relationship. She thought that she could no longer hold the hands, which were red with her parent's blood. Her relationship with Denises' was now just like an apple detached from the tree and couldn't be reattached. Her eyes turned cold once again.

"Ma-Pa!" "I-I'm sorry" She somehow controlled her tears and took a deep breath. Biting her lips hard, she uttered - "You know,..." She gulped. "Mr. and Mrs. Denis, you know. I-I still c-can not believe what I heard yesterday". "Princess!" Mrs. Denis's effort to say anything faced Raya's prickled hand and bitter stare. "But I can't turn a blind eye to it, can I?" said Raya, still choking her tears. "We didn't do anything, Ra!" asserted Mr. Denis, making Raya blew her fuse.

At that moment, she wore a sardonic smile. With her mouth somewhat crooked, she shouted - "You still deny till the end! Huh? Just admit it already! How long were you going to leave it buried? Until I died?" "No, no! Never honey!" Mrs. Denis blubbered. She tried to hold her daughter. But Raya fell in her attempt of pulling herself from her mother. She broke out. "Just say no?! For my sake, just admit that 'I'm not your real daughter' ". Her tears overflowed. These words were a massive thunderclap to the Denis couple. They both rubbernecked each other in shock. "How-how did you?-?" stammered Mr. Denis. Mrs. Denis was gasping heavily. She shook her head, saying - "No -no! Raya! - you ARE our daughter huh?, Who told you this nonsense, princess?" She wiped Raya's tears and continued -"Raya! Listen to me carefully, huh?"

When she was about to say anything to Raya, Ken entered the scene. Since Ken was an orphan, his absence on the parent-teachers day was never considered strange. Both Ken and Raya's parents saw each other for the first time. Denis's couple's eyes were tremoring to see Ken. At the same time, he was busy assisting Raya, lying on the ground, sobbing. "Hey! You okay?" His concern made Raya cry as she had never before. Denis couple was still as stone. Seeing them, Ken yelled - "Doesn't your daughter matter to you?" His voice paralyzed their ears. Ken lifted Raya from her waist and walked inside the house gnawingly. Raya held herself close to him, the person she disliked initially but ended up receiving solace in him.

Raya was petrified and sullen. She looked at him pleadingly as he laid her on the couch. Raya didn't want to be left alone at this moment. Still, the component of Superego* inside her was dominant this time. She wasn't able to request Ken to stay there with her for a while. Ken was leaving the room, and Raya was sitting there desperately. This entire thing was unfolding in a manner just like it did in the DDLJ movie [1995], though it was without words this time. As expected, Ken turned and saw her face etched with hopelessness. "Umm, I thought that if I could stay here for a while because..." "Because?" Raya's face brightened up a bit. Scratching his head, he answered - "Because I haven't made dinner yet, so I thought if I stayed, I could have dinner with you...I mean, I'd save one-night dinner's fare." We must give credit to his way of tackling this situation, shouldn't we?

Denis couple were still outside, brooding. But why? Mrs. Denis rushed inside to see Raya and Ken sitting together. Her hands and legs were shivering like leaves. "Could he be him, honey?" "Are you out of our senses!?" His boiling blood cooled down as soon he saw Raya. "Darling," he said. "He's not him." Both Raya and Ken were perplexed. "Who in the hell are you talking about, Mr. and Mrs. Denis?" Raya roared. Mrs. Denis's white checked coat never suited her, according to Raya, but she kept on insisting on wearing it, soared as she ran towards Ken and hugged him. Raya was confounded along with Mr. Denis, who was standing at the house door. The hug somehow felt familiar to Ken, and unconsciously, he hugged her back. Mrs. Denis was now sure. But of what? 

Mr. Denis hurriedly separated them and dragged Mrs. Denis by her hand to their room. Meanwhile, Raya clutched Ken's jacket and asked- "Aye! Are ya alright?!? What happened?" Ken didn't dare to look at Raya and without saying anything, he left."Hey!!!! Where are you going? At least tell me, why are you leaving? I-I said I didn't want to be left alone." Raya said, welling up. Upstairs, in the Denis couple's room, Mrs. Denis was demanding her husband something in such a shrilled voice that Raya got up reluctantly and walked towards their room. It was afternoon, but the sky had already turned dark and creepy. 

"Honey! He's him!! We finally found him!" Mrs. Denis said, smiling tremulously. Mr. Denis smiled vacantly. "But..." he asked. "What about Raya?" They lifted their eyes with lumps in their throat only to witness Raya. Her wrist was bleeding due to all the scratching. Mrs. Denis looked at her with a caring gaze. "So this was it? The reason you've been scratching your hand. I saw you that night!" said Mr. Denis. "You thought I wouldn't do anything when you prevented me to enter your room just after I asked about that date "09.07.2003"?" A tear fell on her right cheek despite her attempts of gaining authority over them. "M-a! Pa! Who's Ken to you?"

NOTE: I adopted some terms and scenes from psychology and Bollywood movies, respectively. Below are the explanations for those who might not be aware.

*Superego: Reference to Freud's structure of personality involving Id [primal, animalistic part in us who only listens to its desires], Ego[part caught in the middle that has to negotiate demands from the Id, the Superego and reality], and Superego [our conscience telling us some things are right and some are wrong].In the movie DDLJ [Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge], the male lead said - "If she's [Female lead] is in love with him, then she'll look back!" And she did. Also, this scene was actually from Clint Eastwood's Hollywood film 'In The Line Of Fire', released in 1993, while DDLJ was released two years later in 1995.