Theera

"You look absolutely beautiful." Mom says.

"You do." Saami agrees.

Neil will be here any minute to pick me up, and I'm nervous as hell. I know I'm going just as a friend, but still. I love him so much.

"So, are you ready for your date?" Saami asks as Mom walks out to attend to her ringing phone in her room.

"It's not a date!" I exclaim.

"You're meeting his family, dude."

"So? I'm going as a friend." I tell her. "Plus, I rejected him, remember." I remind her.

"Hmm, whatever you say." She replies, dropping the subject as Mom walks back into the room.

"You should wear this necklace." Mom says, holding up my favorite, emerald necklace.

Emeralds are my birthstone, and I love this necklace, because it was a gift from my aunt. It was the last thing she gave me before she died. I know it's sad, but I loved her. She was like my second mother, and this necklace is my most prized possession.

Mom clasps the necklace around my neck, and leaves it out, resting on top of the dress so it can be seen. I put the medical necklace under the dress, so that no one sees it, especially Neil. I don't need him to pity me.

With that, I grab my cream colored clutch purse. I look at myself in the full-length mirror, satisfied with how I look. Adjusting my wig one last time, I walk out of my room.

"Wow, you look amazing!" Dad says.

Sakith walks out of the kitchen, a glass of water in his hand.

"Wow! You look beautiful!" Sakith exclaims.

"Wow Theera, you look hot!" Nikki adds.

Meet Nikki. She's Sakith's girlfriend, the only one I actually like. She's a keeper, not gonna lie. She's nice to me, unlike Sakith's previous girlfriends.

I smile. "Thanks!" I say.

As if on cue, the bell rings. I check my phone and see that it's exactly 6:05. Well, he did say around 6.

"I got it." Sakith says, rushing to the door.

"Ah! Neil! Come in." I hear Sakith say.

I sigh and shake my head. Sakith interviews every boy that's my friend. It's actually really bad. He scares the living daylights out of them sometimes. This has been going on since I was young.

A few moments later, Sakith and Neil come into view. Neil looks so handsome in a tux with a red tie. His eyes pop out so much, and he looks amazing.

"Wow. Theera, you look...amazing!" Neil says.

I look down, blushing. God, what does he do to me?

"Thanks." I say. "You don't look so bad yourself."

He smiles. "Thank you." He turns to Dad. "I will have her back by 12, if that's okay with you, sir?" He asks.

"I can pick her up." Sakith says before Dad can answer.

I sigh. "Sakith." I warn.

"Sakith, it's okay." Nikki says to him calmly.

"Just keep us updated, Theera." Dad says to me.

I nod. "Yeah, k." God, why does my family have to embarrass me so much?!

"Oh, hey Saami." Neil greets Saami as she walks down the stairs.

"Hey, what's up?" Saami replies, looking like a deer caught in headlights. I don't think she realized Neil was here

"Nothing much." Neil chuckles.

"Well, I guess we should get going then." I say to no one in particular. Sakith is staring at Neil, who looks very uncomfortable. I'm sure Mom is staring at him too, or, more like, glaring at him. Dad's lively as usual.

"Yeah, we probably should." Neil says.

We walk to the door, everyone else behind us.

"Bye kids, have fun." Dad says. "And, Merry Christmas."

"Thank you. Merry Christmas." Neil says to my family.

There's a light blue Honda CRV parked in front of our house. Neil leads me up to it and opens the door for me. I blush as I thank him and get into the passenger seat, thanking the gods that it's already dark so he can't see my blush.

He closes the door and walks over to the driver's side. He gets in and starts the car. I wave to Mom, Dad, Sakith, and Saami before we pull away from my house.

"You have your own car?" I ask.

"Yeah, I got it a few days ago."

"It's nice." It really is.

"Thanks."

"You look really pretty, you know." Neil says.

I look over at him and smile.

"Thank you. You don't look so bad yourself." I tease.

"Not so bad, huh?" He asks, a mischievous look on his face.

"Yeah."

"Oh?"

"Mhm." I say, turning back to the front.

He reaches over and starts tickling me, and I start laughing, writhing in my seat.

"Okay, okay, stop, stop." I say between laughing.

He stops and continues driving. We talk about random stuff for the next thirty minutes.

****
We come to a stop in front of a big house. It's beautifully decorated, and is breathtakingly beautiful.

"Wow." I breathe.

Neil chuckles. Getting down, he walks over to open the door for me. I get out, and we walk towards the house. Neil opens the door to the house, and we step in. There is music playing, and the house is so beautiful. He leads me to a group of people.

"Ah! Joseph!" A woman says, walking over.

"Aunt Nina." Neil says.

"Well, Joseph, who do we have here?" Aunt Nina asks.

"Aunt Nina, this is Theera." Neil introduces me.

"Is she your girlfriend?"

"Er-no, she's-she's a friend." Neil stutters, turning red.

I blush too.

"Neil and I are classmates." I add. I mean, don't get me wrong. I would love to be his girlfriend, it's just the bloody cancer in my head that could kill me any second that's holding me back.

"Hmm. Well, she is very pretty."

"Thank you." I say shyly. I'm not shy, in case you haven't noticed, but something about meeting Neil's family is making me a bit more conscious.

"Neil, you're here." I hear a familiar voice behind me.

I turn around and am met with Doctor Ray.

"Doctor Ray, it's so nice to see you again." I say.

"Theera! How are you?"

"I'm good, how are you?"

"I'm doing great. I'm so glad you could join us."

"It's my pleasure to be here, Doctor Ray." I reply with a smile.

"Oh, and please, it's Maria."

I nod. "Okay, Doc-Maria." I smile.

"Hi, I'm Eric, Neil's dad. Neil's told me a lot about you." Neil's dad says.

I blush. He talks about me at home?! "All good things, I hope." I say, laughing lightly.

"Oh, I like this one already." Eric jokes. I laugh along with him.

"Mommy, can you put this back on?" A little girl asks, running up to Neil's mom. She hands her mom a little hairband, which her mother puts back on.

Before the girl can run away, Maria grabs her hand.

"Sana, this is Neil's friend, Theera." Maria says.

I bend down to the girl's height.

"Hey, I'm Theera." I say, holding my hand out for a handshake.

"I'm Sana."

"Sanu, let's play." A little boy says, running up to Sana.

Sanu.

Sana runs away before Maria can catch her.

"Sorry about her." Maria apologizes as I stand up. I try to blink the tears away, but it doesn't work. I just hope they don't realize.

"Oh, no. It's okay. Let her play." I smile.

"Well, we'll leave you two to it. We need to go find a cousin anyways." Eric says.

Maria nods, and they both walk away.

"Hey, you okay?" Neil asks as I watch his little sister play.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, yeah." I say.

"Is everything alright?" He asks, looking at me with a serious look.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Theera, what's wrong?" Neil asks, worried now.

"Nothing, I just-I had a younger sister too, you know."

"What?"

I nod. "Her name was Saanvi. We all called her Sanu."

"I didn't see her, where is she?" Neil asks.

"She-she died." I tell him, trying not to cry.

"Oh, shit. I'm so sorry, I didn't know-"

I chuckle. "Don't worry, no one does." I say. "No one besides Saamiya that is.."

"I'm so sorry though."

I nod. "Yeah. She was a small baby, and didn't make it after a few months." I say, smiling sadly. If she were alive, she would've been Sana's age. "She would've been your sister's age now, you know. She would have been 7."

"I'm so sorry, I-"

"No, no, I'm okay." I say, turning to face him. "I'm fine, don't worry about it."

"Are you sure-?"

"Yes, don't worry about me." I tell him.

He smiles before leading me to the food.

****

"I had so much fun!" I say. Sakith called me like five times, and I told him I was fine. "Your family is amazing."

"Thank you. They all love you, you know." Neil says as we pull out of his cousin's driveway.

I smile and look down at my phone.

"I'll just call my brother, one second." I say.

He nods as I call Sakith.

****

Neil

Everyone loves her, even Aunt Marina, and she's hard to please. It's 12:30 by the time we decide to leave. She calls her brother, Sakith. I can't believe I thought he was her boyfriend. I mean, I'm not complaining that he isn't, but I had thought he was. I have never been this happy to be wrong about something.

I pull out of the driveway and start the drive to Theera's house. She spends a few minutes on the phone with her brother before ending the call.

"They are all up." She chuckles.

I laugh along with her. God, her laugh is so beautiful! "Your family is always there for you." I say.

"That is so true."

I smile. I love seeing her happy.

We talk about random stuff until we reach her house.

"Thank you so much, Joseph. I had lots of fun."

I chuckle as she uses my Christian name. No one really calls me Joseph apart from some of my family members, but when Theera says my Christian name, it feels amazing, even though I know she does it just to tease me.

"Bye, Thanushri." I tease her.

She chuckles. God, save me.

"Alright, bye. See you in the New Year." She waves as she walks up to her house and rings the bell, waiting for her parents to open the door. I wait until she walks into the house before driving away, still smiling like an idiot.

Ok that was so cute!!(ik i wrote it but its been like a yr since iv read it so gimme a break) What r ur thoughts on this chapter? What do u think will happen next? Lmk in the comments!!