One year ago...
Jeremy's sudden back hug made Sarah flinch
" Realise it before it's too late Sarah. I don't want you to regret it…" He whispered and uncoiled his hands from her waist.
Thinking about what he meant Sarah turned around and found no one standing.
" Was I daydreaming?" She thought.
She was not sure what this all meant but, inside her stomach a sudden churning made her feel nervous, she knew something was wrong.
She ran across the whole corridor and finally barged inside Jeremy's room even though people tried to stop her.
" Sarah doctor doesn't allow-"
" Just for a while…" She interrupted as she looked up at Niall standing outside the room.
He nodded and she closed the door.
Inside, the beeping of the monitor and his long breaths could be heard, she sniffed her runny nose.
Her vision blurred due to tears welling up in her eyes, gradually she took steps towards him and sat beside him.
" Jeremy… " She whispered as she held his hand softly.
"How come...I never realised that you- you had remembered my name out of all the women you met? How come-" She took a deep breath.
" I...never...realised how much you cared for me? I am so...stupid." She closed her eyes, frowning, her mind was a mess right now.
" Now I realise how you felt when I was unconscious lying in a hospital room, now I realised how- how much you might've suffered by thinking that what if I never wake up."
" Now I...realised how regretful I would've been if I hadn't realised it today."
" Now I realise that... it's you whose thoughts make me smile. It's you, it's you..."
And she silently started wailing, without realising that his eyes fluttered, that his hand slightly moved in her grasp.
Until he silently whispered her name, "Sarah…"
And she looked up at him, his eyes slightly open, his lips curved up in a smile.
"You awake?" She sighed in relief and wiped out her tears.
He urged to say something, he was mumbling and so Sarah bent down a bit. Through his whispers, which were only audible to Sarah he said,
"Thanks...for not...being late."
Sarah smiled and suddenly the monitor placed beside Jeremy's bed made a continuous sound. She looked up and there was a straight line running through the monitor. Jeremy's hand slipped through her loosened grip.
Her vision blurred and she kept looking at the monitor. Doctors gushed in, she was taken to a corner by Niall and Lisa.
Emma came in and knelt, she never thought this would be how she might say goodbye to her only brother.
Jeremy and Emma's father, who was standing in his uniform, froze at his place. His son, for whom he did all he could, was not going to debate with him again. He won't be able to scold him. His eyes filled up but tears didn't dare to slide down.
Doctors tried hard to make him breathe again, but nothing worked...
"He can't...just die..." Sarah whispered, her eyes filled with tears still stuck on the monitor as other sounds around her faded away.
******
"Sarah!" Cally called her out and she came out from those painful memories, her eyes filled once again.
Cally kept her hand on her shoulder,
"If it's too early, then take some time." She rubbed her back and walked away.
Sarah, feeling suffocated by her thoughts, walked out of the hall into the balcony. As soon as she reached a corner of the balcony her legs gave up and she knelt on the floor. Keeping her hands on the thigh she wailed out loud.
No one heard her because of the loud music being played inside and no one saw her as they were busy talking.
Sarah, on the other hand, was frustrated. All this time when she had no ideas about how Jeremy felt for her or how meaningful he was in her life she kept her distances from him. And now that she remembered those moments and those memories, and knew how much he meant he was unreachable.
She felt lonely, she was the reason for everything which happened. She thought if she recalled her memories in time nothing of this would've happened. Jeremy would've been alive and Emma would've been here with them.
In that cold air, when Sarah kept wailing someone kept a hand on her shoulder. Still kneeling she turned to see who it was but before she could Niall hugged him.
Brushing her hair lightly, he kept kneeling there along with her. She cried all her heart out in his embrace. And he kept embracing her without uttering a single word, without asking a single question.
Wasn't it funny to see how she loved this person who was in front of her right now, and now how she was sobbing for someone who is gone in that very person's embrace?
Isn't it funny how much time it took to change the frame of mind of these people, and to make them realise who is important to them?
How Lisa realised who needs her the most, how Leo found his Luna again, how Niall understood what family meant in reality, how Anna came to know that it's okay to be scared sometimes and there's no one to judge you for it.
And how Sarah understood, that though being on time she was late, how those two years when she locked her inside her room took the moments away from her in which she could've discovered herself a bit earlier.
In just a bit of time, it was like magic how everyone's frame of mind changed from what they used to think and know to what they know and think now.
In just...a bit of time...
*****
The next day...
"Ms Williams, this is your first book according to my information, am I right?" The interviewer asked and Anna nodded slightly with a smile.
"But I was amazed to see how your story turned out to be, your writing style and details. I liked everything as a reader." The anchor added.
Anna smiled again.
"Thanks, a lot!" She exclaimed.
"But for readers who haven't read your book yet, do you have any pre-talk for them, anything like a small gist, you wanna give them?"
"Umm..." Anna thought for a second.
"My novel, The story of me is...a journey of a simple girl who overcomes her fears with the help of her surroundings, the story is quite simple. When I wrote it and thought about it, I had never thought that it would grab so much attention." She scoffed slightly.
The interviewer scoffed along, "Well...I've read many stories and all I can say is that sometimes stories with much simpler thoughts grab readers attention and win their heart rather than plots with multiple twists and all. And I must say...your book is one of them."
"Thanks a lot once again." Anna smiled.
"And then, there's this question, when I was setting up the questions about what I should ask you, this one question popped out every now and then in the comment section. It was, what was the inspiration behind this story? What made you think of such a plot. "
Anna smiled brightly this time and looked in the audience, in the front row were sitting Sarah, Niall, Cally, Lisa and Sam with huge smiles on their faces.
"My friends, they were the inspiration for whatever I've done until now in my career. All the ups and downs I've seen, my friends were always the ones to be there with me even though they were having a hard time too. Though I never got to say this earlier, now that I've got a chance I'll say it now. Thank you so much for making me someone more lively than I was. Thank you for not abandoning and making distances from me like others, thank you for everything you've done for me. "
Everyone present there followed the sound of the clap which was the sound of Sarah's hands clapping. She looked at Anna and Anna looked at her,
"No need!" Sarah mouthed out followed by a huge smile while Anna just nodded, her ears overwhelmed by the claps ringing in the hall.
******
And so everyone found out what meant the most to them...
Emma left the city with her father to live in her hometown, she cut all her contacts with everyone except for Drake, cause she knew he would understand how she felt.
Drake, on the other hand, was now the president of the company, he is now no more called the slave of his father. And Niall and he live more like brothers. He has got all the reputation he deserved though he misses Emma and had somewhere a bit of guilt that he has replaced her.
And John retired from his job as a politician. He personally now realised that being a politician wasn't something he had ever appreciated. While Merilyn now lives with her both son and John, she still never got back together with John but they are on good terms now. They live in one house as a family, happily.
Flora has been missing her son in prison, and her punishment became worse when she realised that Drake will never come to see her and she can't go to him either.
Everyone got what they wanted, except for Niall. He never again pestered Sarah to marry him. He knew how she felt and so, he thought it would be wiser to live as a friend rather than forcing her to be in a relationship with him.
Though he is a friend of Sarah now he still is waiting for her.
Who knows when her frame of mind might change...