Friends like Family.

"My dad has cancer" she placed the coffee on the side table and watched the man beside her stare in complete awe, awe not pity, astonished what she had just spoken and revered at how beautiful she was and indeed the woman was utterly pre-possesing.

she had such beautiful features that could amaze every man, short chestnut hair which stopped a few inches after her chin and eyes of a deep brown colour that enhanced the features of her face.

Her hair used to be quite long and flow all the way to her waist line but the beautiful woman had cut it short as that was the most constant thing that reminded her of Natalia.

Lucas snapped out of his gaze and walked towards her. The young man sat on the chair opposite and held out his hands to her, she took it instantly and wept.

"Oh, I'm such a fool!" Adira sniffed trying to stop her tears, but the man gave her no room, he wrapped his arms around her and let her cry as she pleased and she did cry. She cried till it steered her to sleep.

--------------------------

"I know your dad fell ill and you don't want to speak with me on it"

her best friend blurted out, after a long while of silence.

she was besides Steph and they had been watching a N*****x series together.

" I know it's your life and all but I really want to be involved Adira" she smiled "let me in, please"

Adira sighed in relief. In all honesty, she really did need to speak to someone, crying to Luca had relieved her a lot but they hadn't really had a serious conversation, so she had a bunch of emotions still piled up.

"my dad has cancer" she blurted out and Stephanie had just stared at her with lips ajar.

Most people would think her friends had overreacted, they would have expected them to run to her immediately and say to her, words of encouragement, smile with her, and force the woman to laugh at their witless jokes, but no, they didn't, they both knew how hard Adira had grown, how tough it had always been for her.

They were aware of the amount of stress she would have to go through, providing and catering for her father in such a disastrous condition, so yes they stared at her agape with fear and worry in mind, this was a very tough situation for their friend and they were quite aware.

"Well, it couldn't be that bad" her best friend smiled at her, hoping it would provide a little bit of comfort at least

"Except I have no money at all to go about that"

"Oh shit, that"

Adira looked at her best friend who was terrible at comforting people and smiled at the little effort she was making.

"you could apply for fund support" she suggested and her eyes snapped to steph.

"Fund support?"

"Yeah it's an exam, you just have to get it right and receive a certain amount of money" Steph paused "apparently its from the University the one you ditched and it comes with a scholarship too and other basic necessities. It's also departmental based, so there is a winner from all department, each winner receives the same amount of money and scholarship, perfectly fit for you."

Adira glared at her.

"I could apply, I'd just explain to professor Williams and plead with him for tutoring"

"Do your thing girl, however, you should apply, I didn't"

" why?"

" why I didn't or why you should" the girl before her asked, her mouth full of oreos.

" you didn't?"

"girl, I iterally just said that"

"why"

" it will be of no use Adira i can't do that, we both know I'm dumb" they both laughed, this was her kind of humour "plus, I'm fine here, although, I'd advise you to speak with professor Malik instead he holds the program and is perfect on your course" she added.

Professor Malik, she had heard a lot about the man, but never seen him in person.

"Sure" she added nodding, of all things she didn't want to seem desperate but she was, so terribly desperate.

Later that day when steph had left, adira turned on her old dusty laptop and browsed on the university's fund support exam and she saw it perfectly fit, she quickly applied hoping she'd cover as much in some months time as the exam was scheduled within that period, anticipating the best, she planned a visit to the professor's office the next afternoon and grabbed her shit together.

" hi Dad" Adira waved using her feet to close the door behind her, her hands occupied with food.

" hey" she saw the light in her father's eyes and smiled heartily at how pleased he was to see her.

" how is my favourite human doing" he came again and she blushed

"very well dad, you?"

" perfect the second I saw you"

Lies!! he looked pale and shrunk, his eyes red and swollen and his gaze at her weak, terribly weak.

Adira feigned notice on all these features and dropped her basket of food on the table beside her.

"where is Elizabeth"

"she had to change, I told her to take some time off, the woman had been so attached to me" he laughed.

Adira watched the man with so much pain in his eyes, so much that his smile didn't get to his eyes anymore

he was worried, very worried and that feared Adira.

"Dad" she called, he looked up to her eager to listen to whatever she had to say

"You are bothered why?" his smile faded immediately.

"So funny that you ask that Adira"

" I don't see how that's funny Dad, I literally told you I am going to handle everything, I am handling everything"

"you're pissing me of young lady"

"pissing you off ,you are scaring the hell out of me dad" She said pacing up and down the room.

" you keep telling me to keep calm, I don't know how I'm expected to do that when I'm dying, I'm fucking dying" he yelled

"you're not dying dad, you'd be fine!" she yelled back.

"Fine?" He laughed "i'll be fine, you know that's far from true, Adira"

" stop yelling, dad" she spoke calmly

"Stop yelling?!"

"Yes, dad, stop it!" She screamed "stop it please" she added softly "you're getting me scared"

"no!" he raised his voice as loud as he could "I want you to feel the fear I feel Adira, you keep acting like everything is fine and you know it's not, it is not, it would never be, things will never be the way they used to before or even come close to, i need you to face reality, you need someone to say this to you, nothing is fine and it will never be, I'm dying love, I'd be gone soon"

"Dad please" she cried "please stop it"

"how do you plan on getting the money, what are you getting yourself into Adira" he yelled louder.

Adira laid her back against the wall, her palm shielding her eyes from the horror before her and at that instant the heart monitor beeped faster, his heart beat rapidly increasing, her father's words ceased.

"Dad" Adira got up immediately.

"Dad" he was choking on his words, his grey eyes almost unseen

"shit, shit!" She ran out immediately and few seconds later the nurses arrived.

" you need to stay outside ma'am"

And once again, Adira sat outside chewing on her fingernails as quickly as her teeth could let her.

It was currently 6:15 pm. Adira had not yet seen her father, yes she was worried but she had her teeth occupied already, feasting as best as they could on her nails.

Poor nails.

"Miss Jacobs" Dr Smith approached her, she got up instantly and waited patiently upon his reach.

" how is my father sir"

"well, but he could do better, we need to start medications soon ma and I know it's difficult but we need something from you, anything at all?" she shook her head slowly, her voice cracking as she spoke

"Nothing" she cried " I have nothing" she hated that she had to cry right now in front of this man and give more room for pity but it was either that or panic and there was no room for a fucking panic attack right now.

"I'd see what I can do to help, mean while, you need to rest" he paused "return as you please"

" thank you very much doctor"

"It's fine" he inclined at her once more before adjusting his coat and walking away swiftly, the young lady took a moment to calm myself down.

Adira remembered how she had always wanted to be a doctor, to be able to save people's lives and fill them with happiness, she had never really thought of the bad or difficult times. As a child, she believed that a human could not die in the hands of a doctor, doctor save lives, not take them.

But now, she had seen differently, most times, you could pray and pray, visit the best hospitals and work with the best doctors still, things would only get worse, she was strong enough to handle this, it was just cancer.

When she had been very litte, she had seen most movies of children that had cancer and almost all the time, they'd end up dead yes, she was still a child, so it didn’t matter but now it did, because she couldn't help but think her father would end up like those children in the movies, dead.

Oh, she couldn’t imagine life without her father, her gretest supporter, she was where she was, at the moment because of him, he had taught her everything she needed and wanted to know and they had made so much memories together, it pained her so much that he was in this condition.

And financially, where on earth would she get that much money from. She was struggling already, trying to take care of herself, missing classes, skipping meals amd now this. Adira would continue to believe that life was a tragedy, to her, there was nothing good in being alive, nothing pleasing.

She believed that even if she was in a better condition than she was at the moment, that even if her parents were together and extremely wealthy, had her family been happy and her life sweet, like the type she saw in movies and read in novels, where they'd all have breakfast together, laugh and chat after meals, making so much memories. Even with all of that or had she been in such a position, she'd still stand by her words, nothing actually made living worth it.

Because to her, even with all of these, deep down in her heart, there'd be a lot of things she'd still wish for, so many things that she'd never be able to achieve. You cannot force one to feel the way you want them to, there'd be so many emotions she'd want people to feel, so many feelings she'd want people to express, but they wouldn’t and there was nothing that could be done about that.

The stress of living was mighty, one is made to face so many circumstances, stressed, tensed, so why would anyone ever be glad to be alive, to be on the earth, trying hard to stay alive, maybe not every one needed to fight to stay alive, but she did and it was not fair on her part. Adira wished to see the beauty of life, that people appreciated, she wished to experience the magic in living that people talked about, had she no feelings, why was she not experiencing all of this like said, why was hers different.

but no matter what, no matter how happy and pleased she'd get there'd still be losses in life, no one was above death, so then how could one not leave their life troubled as the days go by that their time on earth is gradually coming to an end.

Growing up, she was always taught by her father to do to right things, make the right decisions, to listen to herself before she spoke, watch people's movement before she stepped.

She was never put in a position to handle things herself, as she got older, she learnt to adjust and make choices herself and now she had decided to make a very drastic decision and hoped for the best from it.

She was headed to her mother's place without an invite.