Chapter FOUR

Rana arrived at Joey's together with Lina and the baby. Ben had travelled out of the country for business and was not expected to be back for a few days at least, so there was no one to keep Lina company back at Rana's place. At the sight of them at his door, Joey didn't dare welcome them or say a word. He was dying to say a few kind words to his friend's wife and hold Lina to tell her how much he felt her pain since he was also an orphan, but he didn't know how the women would react, so he simply settled for opening the door and letting them in. "Rana! Lina!" It was Rohna, who had been sitting disconsolately on the stairs as Joey went to answer the knock at the door. Now, at the sight of her older sisters, she jumped up and ran straight into their arms. "Rohna! Thank the heavens you're okay. Where is everyone else?", Lina asked, pressing her against herself in a tight embrace. She didn't need a verbal answer and neither did Rohna give her one. The shake of her head which was resting on her sister's shoulder was enough. It was a while before Lina released her and she went over to Rana for a warm hug. But just before then, Rana had quickly directed a questioning glance at Joey who in turn had shaken his head in the negative. The poor girl had no idea that their mother was no more. But the moment she was out of Rana's arms, the question she asked was the one they least expected and most dreaded. "Where's mother?" Rana was temporarily stunned by the unexpected question. She had wanted to take things slowly and gradually and carefully inform the young mermaid about the news, but the girl was too fast. She looked at Lina and Lina looked back at her. They had no choice but to tell her. "Rohna, I..." But she had to stop there. Lina had already completed it by breaking down in tears. "Nooooo!", Rohna screamed, rushing into Rana's arms and sobbing like her heart was broken in pieces. Rana held Lina close too and all three fell to crying afresh, and in the back of her mind, Rana couldn't help but wonder if they would ever overcome the grief. *** Joey had respectfully stayed out of the way as the girls mourned their mother. He only appeared in the living room when the girls finally requested his presence. "As you know," Rana began immediately, "Ben is away and I can't seem to reach him. Either way, there's no one at home. I'm sure Lisha must have come here and she must have told you what just happened to our family." Joey nodded and with his eyes on the ground, murmured something about how shocked and extremely sorry he was for their loss. He would have gone on to explain how he could relate with what they were going through seeing that he had also lost both parents, but Rana cut him off. "Thank you, Joey. We appreciate it very much. I have to be on my way now. We need to find our sisters as quickly as possible. But Lina will be staying behind to look after the baby. I'll need you to help look after..." "Sure, sure. It's the least I can do," Joey replied eagerly in an unusual burst of eloquence, making Lina blush. In truth, she had not and still did not wish to stay behind, but someone, preferably someone with considerable experience had to stay and look after her little nephew. Since Rana was going to lead the search for her sisters and Rohna, who had practically no knowledge of how to take care of babies, was better off assisting her, it was inevitable that Lina would be the babysitter. "Shouldn't we try to look for Lisha or wait for her?", Lina offered as a last attempt to escape her fate. "Not at all. Lisha is old enough to look after herself and she doesn't seem to care much about us anyway," Rana replied as she got up to her feet. Lina sighed and looked down at the baby in her arms. Her fate was sealed. There would be no other adult in the house apart from her and Joey and that was what was making her heart pound so hard and fast! *** When Rana and Rohna finally went off on their search, Joey didn't know where to keep himself. He was very glad to have Lina under his roof, alone with him and under his protection, but having the courage to talk to her was a different thing altogether. Also, he was beginning to sense that Lina wanted to avoid him at all costs. If he came into the living room, she would give an excuse about there not being enough fresh air for the baby inside and move out to the balcony. If he came to the balcony, she would suddenly murmur something about forgetting something inside. When the baby fell asleep and had to be put in his cot, there was no more excuse to run away from Joey and they both sat in the living room, as far away from each other as possible, very ill at ease and avoiding each other's eyes at all costs. This continued for almost an hour until Joey finally found the courage to break the silence. He began with a cough to clear his throat. Instantly, Lina jumped to her feet! "Umm... the baby," she murmured and rushed for the stairs. "No, it's not. It's me," Joey suddenly said and Lina was stunned! After a few seconds of silence, she managed to recover herself, but her left foot was still on the step and her back faced him. "I... I don't understand what you mean," she said in a trembling voice, trying her best to feign ignorance. "You're running away from me," Joey said in a tone of hurt and dismay. "I'm... I'm not. I just want to um... check on the baby," Lina stuttered. "Okay. Let's do it together then." Suddenly, he had found the courage to say more words to her in five minutes than he had ever said to any other woman in his entire adult life. But as he walked towards her to keep his word about joining her to go check on the baby, Lina slowly edged away from the stairs, putting more distance between herself and him. "You see, you're running away from me," Joey pointed out ruefully. "No. I'm not. I'd like to... to go alone." "I know you hate me because of what I said back then when your family visited for your sister's wedding." Lina's eyebrows shot up in surprise. What on Earth was he talkng about?? "I didn't mean anything bad," Joey continued, thinking he had shocked her by hitting the nail on the head and admitting his fault. "I knew I shouldn't have called you plus size or size plus or whatever nonsense I said, but I swear I wasn't mocking you. I was actually ahem..." Joey stopped there. He really didn't know how to tell her that he actually admired and loved her just the way she was. He didn't know how to explain that ever since the first time he saw her, she had been constantly on his mind. His courage was just not high enough to say any of these things. Luckily for him, Lina came to his rescue. "It's... it's okay," she murmured. And Joey breathed a deep sigh of relief. But just as he brought forward his hand for a handshake of truce and reconciliation, she darted past him and ran up the stairs!