As the car drew up outside our house, I grabbed my bag of medical supplies as my mother unlocked my car door.

And just like that I cast a glance at our door and froze.

“M-mom, are you seeing h-h-him too?” I stammered.

My mother came to stand beside me and looked in the direction I was looking. She stiffened.

The figure came down the steps all at a time and I instinctively jumped back.

“How?”

“Is that what you need to know first? Can’t you just give me a hug and rejoice? I mean I know we were over and it’s been two years, not that you have changed the slightest bit. I didn’t expect you to, though…”

I cupped my hand on his face to quieten his ramblings and yet it was all so familiar.
“I’m not seeing a ghost right? It’s really you."

My fingers shook as I traced the outline of his raised cheekbones and all those gorgeous lines. I was afraid that he was an illusion and would disappear at any moment. His hands reached out to touch my face.

“May I?”
I nodded, the day of our meeting, rushing back to me.

He touched the scar and then touched my lips. I could see his eyes blaze and was aware of the same fondness in them. Nothing had changed in these years and just like that our lips locked and my hands clutched his back.

And for the first time, we let go, not so careful about my skin anymore.
It was me that broke away. I definitely had time to savour him, but I wanted to know much more than that.

“I can see the questions playing in those hazel eyes and believe me, I wouldn’t have told this to you six months ago that I would shamelessly return to you and beg your forgiveness. I don’t deserve it after all the pain I gave you and…”

“Oh, Daniel! You’re just the same, do you want to do all the talking here?”

"No, we can go to your room.”

“The hell, my mom needs to know too,” I cast her a meaningful glance.

“I’ll talk with Daniel’s mom over the phone,” she waved us off.

Thankfully we scrambled to my room and I shut the door. I could see him eyeing my room as he had the first time. He sank on the bed, running his hands through his practically nonexistent hair. His two scars were visible through the gaps in his hair and I knew it was all effects of chemo.

“So here goes my story…” he dragged me onto his lap.

I actually made sure to pinch myself lightly to ascertain I wasn’t imagining him, because it went against laws of medical science for him to be alive.

“Okay, so I went to Oregon and continued my treatment hoping that the doctors would give me the ultimatum any day so that I could complete the rest of the procedures,” he began. “When I finished chemo, which was actually one year after I left and then I knew I had six more month. I began counting days for my condition to worsen. I had to return for an MRI every month. Eventually six months passed and it turned to eight. It was two months more than my deadline. My doctor announced that my tumour had stopped progressing at all and the way it became dormant, there was a high chance it could even regress.”

I gasped in relief and leaned forward, laying my head on his chest as he ruffled my hairs and continued his miraculous story.

“Then my treating doctor asked me to come for a research MRI and it was then I realized that I was having a certain gene abnormality, isocitrate dehydrogenase in my tumour, which was actually helping me to survive longer. Medicine caught up in these few years and all of a sudden I had a promising future ahead, though they treat me like a guinea pig, but I’m happy to help.”

“And believe me, this miracle won’t be the last. You have to just keep running. You won’t give up,” I smiled, sending a prayer to heaven.

“Tell me the truth, did you pray for me?” his eyes bored into mine.

"I did, every Sunday. Mother doesn’t know of it,” I admitted.

“Then you brought me back.”

“You brought yourself back.”

"What about you?”

“Me?” I gave a knowing smile, “I’m taking my doses of chemo. My earlier scars have healed and newer ones have formed and that’s life, but I did use some innovative ice caps to save my hair. I don’t know why, partly because for a girl, it’s a treasure and secondly, they were one of those things that reminded me of you. The whole world knew that I had moved on but my heart had remained stagnant at that place. It was as if it knew you’d come back.

“Whoa! That’s like my girl,” he caressed my hairs and buried his face in them.

“But what made you come back here? I mean…”

“When I was given a new lease of life and my initial plans failed, I realized how much I was missing out on life. My disease had jolted me back. I called up my friends and relatives, talked to them. I took out time to spend with mom and dad all the while wondering why I had never done all those…”.

“I know that feeling,” I touched his nose. “We think every day, what’s the use of that? I need to go to college and do my job. We lose ourselves in mundane activities and lose the importance of enjoying life. We realise it too late when nothing is left anymore. I’ve changed a lot too.”

“Phoebe, people complain a lot about the small stuff in life, money, property and worldly stuff. This had improved my work-life balance. I went out to play instead of staying cooped up in my room and before I could realise, I had returned to a life more normal than others, but there was something, a missing piece in the puzzle...”

He tore his eyes from my gaze, but I caught his jaw and made him look at my face, “And that missing piece had blocked your number, right?”

“Phoebe," his face was serious again. “I could have easily used other numbers to contact you, but I thought you needed that space and I gave it to you. But I couldn’t stay away any more and I wanted to talk face to face rather than text, so we planned to shift here though I may have to make frequent trips there for treatment.”

“You know we broke up, right?” I tried to test him.

“I respect your wishes, but still I came to beg you to accept me again and let me support you as you’ll do for me,” his eyes were molten chocolate, “This tumour isn’t gone and I need to cherish every positive MRI.”

“And my disease won’t stop either in spite of grafts and all. So I guess there’s no escaping from the reality that we’re going to die, sooner or later, right? But…”

“But we could make amends, catch up with each other, be a pillar and stay together, unless death snatched away one of us. The shadow looming over us can’t be ignored, but so can’t the joys of life. Phoebe, you’re twenty now and I’m twenty-two. We need to make a new start and go on, hand in hand.”

“Hey, that was exactly what I had in mind,” I teased. “It’s not fair, stealing my lines and that sounds poetic.

“I told you that poetry is contagious!” he wriggled his eyebrows.

“Then I’d like you to compose something for me.”

“Okay, Mom! And well, I actually did try to compose a reverse on. Here it is,” he dug his hands in his pockets.

I snatched the paper from his hands. It read…

I want to die
I won’t say that
I’m satisfied, contented with life,
and that life is beautiful
because life has done justice to me.
But I don’t care about anything
because I have a killer disease,
I’m dying slowly
Life would be beautiful,
Only if it would let me live to the fullest.
Death will prevail,
I want it all to end.
I’ll never ever say that
I have to live.

I read it again from the bottom and when I reached the top of the lines, tears of relief and love were flowing uncontrollably. If my cheeks stung with the tears colliding against my wounds, I didn't care. I had found the missing piece to the jigsaw of my life, again and that piece was here to stay.

A/N It's been a really hard time writing this. Especially when the reads dropped from 50 per chapter to just 6... I felt like quitting. A very few people stayed with me through and through to the end of this book! Lots of love to michh_44 firstly for the support. Dr_House_48 always... CynkNapp edelmeehan and Ranger_of_the_North for your support in all my tough times... THIS ENDING IS FOR YOU!

One request... If you loved even a part of this book, consider spreading the word about this book and EPIDERMOLYSIS BULLOSA. Lots of Phoebes need you... Lots of Daniels need you! Always.