What is love? Is it something that exists in the world, and how come one can find it while another cannot? Does love come to them, or do we come to love?
"What is this, Obi? How can you write 'we comes to love'? That makes no sense." (A young man in his teens, dressed in school clothes with his shirt unbuttoned from the top and his tie loosened around his neck, sat on top of an old, run-down car with a cigarette in his hand and a cup of chai in the other.)
"You're right, this sounds nonsense." (The boy rips out his page in frustration and throws it on the side of the street. The boy, dressed the same as the young man on top of the car and of the same age, with straight hair, a little chubby, was drinking his cup of chai while sitting inside the car.)
"Give me the cigarette, Neil." (Neil passed him his cigarette from the top of the car through the window.)
"Here you go, bro." (The boy let out a sigh.)
"You need to work on writing, or else you will never finish these poems for her," Neil told Obi in a sarcastic manner.
"Yeah. Yeah, I will. Once I complete this poem, then I will give it to her and confess my feelings to her." (Obi looked at the sky with hopes in his eyes and words.)
"Yeah... Sure." (Neil rolled his eyes.)
"What's that supposed to mean?" (Obi poked his head out of the window and looked at Neil.)
"I mean that she is just using you for free time. She doesn't like you, and you don't realize it because you're too drowned in delusion," Neil spoke to Obi.
"Why do you always think in such a negative way, Neil? Can't you let a man dream in peace?" Obi spoke in a defeated tone.
"Yeah, yeah. She is your fourth crush. And what happened to the others? You confessed..." (Neil put his hand on his chin and paused for a few seconds.) "...Yeah, they rejected you. That's what happened. And this time, it will be the same damn thing." (Neil took a deep puff of his cigarette.)
"You're right... about one thing." (Obi looked down in defeat and took a puff of his cigarette.)
"Come on, let's go, it's time to head home." (Neil hopped down from the car and grabbed his bag from the ground, filled with dead leaves.)
"You're right. I have to also do my homework. F*k, why is life so miserable? Can't we just have some peace and quiet and walk around with a partner under a maple tree in autumn?" (Neil slapped Obi's head with a small slap.) "The only thing we will get is a slap in the face by your parents if we don't go home now, jackass." (Obi looked at him with an annoyed face.) "Touché."
As they threw away their cigarette butts on the ground and walked away from the abandoned car toward the city street, it was filled with people moving from one place to another, people honking at each other in the traffic, and vendors selling fruit and vegetables on the street—just an average day in the city of Mumbai.
"And welcome to the rainforest of Mumbai!" (Obi put his hands forward in a camera position, mimicking the shooting of a movie.)
"Here we are in the natural environment of these people. These people are not humans; they are hollow husks, machines which lack love, passion, and empathy." (Obi pointed his camera towards Neil.) "Say something, Neil. The world wants to know." (Neil looked at Obi with a dumbfound face.) "You're stupid. That's why those people rejected you." (As he walked away from Obi.)
"Hey! That's not fair!" (Obi shouted towards Neil as he looked back and shouted.)
"It was not meant to be, jackass—" (Suddenly Neil collapsed on the ground. People around him scattered in shock to see what happened. A crowd began to form around him. People took out their phones and started recording him. People talked and whispered to each other, yet no one called an ambulance. Obi shouted and ran towards the crowd, pushing them aside, yelling from the top of his lungs.) "NEIL! SOMEONE CALL AN AMBULANCE, PLEASE! SOMEONE!" (Obi cried as tears rolled down his eyes, looking at his friend like that. After about 15 minutes, an ambulance showed up and took them to the hospital.)
"Neil... Koi na bhai, kuch nahi hoga tujhe (Don't worry, brother, nothing will happen to you)..." (As Obi rubbed Neil's hands inside the ambulance, he picked up his phone and called Neil's parents.) "Hello, Uncle?" (In a cracking voice.) "It's Obi, Uncle!" (Crying.) "Neil collapsed on the street. I don't know what happened; we were coming home, and he suddenly collapsed. We are heading towards the hospital... Yes, I will send you the location." (Obi hung up and looked at his friend lying down on the ventilator. He picked up his hands and started to cry...)
"You jackass..." (A faint voice was heard.) "NEIL! YOU'RE OKAY, THANK GOD!" (Obi clenched Neil's hand in relief, seeing him awake.)
"What happened... My brain hurts, ahhughh, God damn it." (As Neil was lying down on the ventilator with an oxygen mask strapped to him and IV drips inserted in his hands.)
"You suddenly collapsed in the middle of the road. Everyone surrounded you. I rushed towards you, pushing them around. Someone called an ambulance, and now we are heading towards the hospital. I contacted Uncle and Aunty; they would be reaching soon."
"F***ing hell." (Suddenly, the machine started beeping rapidly. Neil stopped talking.)
"W-what is happening...!" (Obi spoke in a scared voice, as he didn't know what was going on.)
"F***, he is crashing!" (As the man grabbed an epinephrine and gave Neil a dose, the man yelled to the driver) "HURRY, OR ELSE IT WOULDN'T BE A PRETTY DAY FOR HIS FAMILY!" (Obi was shocked hearing this, and tears rolled down his eyes.)
(As the ambulance stopped at the emergency gate, the doors of the ambulance opened, and two nurses took the ventilator and rushed Neil to the ER room. The nurses were shouting at people to move out of the way. As Obi followed them, seeing people with different types of injuries, his heart sank. As he was walking forward, he was stopped from coming inside the ER.)
"You wait outside," the nurse spoke.
"But my friend is inside. I have to be with him. Please let me in." (As Obi tried to get in but was stopped by the nurse.)
"No!" (As he was blocked by the nurse.) "You have to wait outside the room." (The nurse went inside the room, leaving Obi outside crying in the hallway alone as he backed away towards the wall and slid down on the floor, resting his head on his knees.)
30 minutes later
"OBIII...!" (A voice was heard from the end of the hallway. A man and a woman came rushing towards him; it was Neil's parents.)
"What happened? Where is he, Obi? How did this happen?" (Obi was overwhelmed by the questions from Neil's parents.)
"I... I don't know. We were walking towards home, then he suddenly collapsed on the street. The doctors took him to the ER, but they haven't come out yet... I'm sorry." (As he broke down in tears, he clenched his sleeves.)
"It's not your fault, son. He couldn't have done anything." (As Neil's father hugged him, Obi broke down and started crying.)
After a few minutes
"Why don't you go home and take some rest? My wife and I will take care of things here."
"He is right, Obi," Neil's mother spoke.
"No, I will stay here with my friend. I called my parents already. I can't leave him here." (As Obi looked at Neil's parents, suddenly the door opened, and a few doctors came out. The group looked at the doctor.)
"How is he now, doctor?" (Neil's father spoke.) "Is he going to be alright?" (The doctors looked at each other and spoke.)
"He's going to be alright... for now." (The doctor removed his mask.)
"What do you mean by that?" (Neil's mother spoke with concern in her voice.)
"Well... how do I put it? Young Neil has cancer." (The group was in disbelief, hearing this.)
"You're joking, right...?" (Neil's father looked at the doctor with slight hope that what he heard was wrong.)
"I am not, sir. Young Neil has cancer." (Hearing this, Neil's mother fell down on the floor and started crying. Obi backed into the wall, hearing this, as tears rolled down his face.)
"What type of cancer is it, Doc?" (As Neil's father spoke, it was clear he was trying to hide his tears hearing about his son's condition.)
"It's brain cancer. And it's worse. If we don't start the treatment now, it will get worse." (The doctor put his hand on Neil's father's shoulder.) "I will take my leave now. You can visit him."
"Thank you, Doctor." (As he walked towards the door and saw his son lying there on the ventilator with machines hooked onto him, seeing this finally made him break down in tears. His mother rushed inside the room and grabbed her son's hands; tears were flowing from her face.)
"Neil! My boy, how could this happen? Please wake up. Your mama is here. Do something! Look at our boy!" (As she looked at Neil's father.)
"What can I do, honey?" (He began to walk towards the ventilator. As he stopped near the machine, he ran his hand down his son's face.)
(Obi began to walk away from the room, as he couldn't find the strength to see his friend. As he walked out of the hallway towards a smoking area, he took out his cigarette and lit it up. As he was about to take his first puff, he stopped, and tears broke down his face. He punched his hand on the wall. He threw his cigarette and walked out of the room, heading towards the room. He saw Neil's parents outside the room.)
"How is he, Uncle?" (With a worried tone.) (His father shook his head 'no'.) "Why don't you go see him?" (As he walked away with his wife, Obi pushed the door, seeing his friend on the ventilator fighting for his life. He sat down beside him.) "What's up, buddy?" (He couldn't hold it in anymore, and he cried his eyes out.)
After a few minutes
(A nurse came and told Obi visiting hours were complete and he should leave. He looked at the nurse and walked away from the room, looking back at his friend getting treated by the nurse. He walked out of the room, seeing Neil's parents. He said goodbye to them and walked home. He took a taxi home. The clouds were heavy and dark, looming around the city. The winds were strong. He looked outside the window as heavy rainfall started. He asked the driver if he could smoke in his car. The driver nodded. He took out his cigarette and took a puff as he remembered the first time he met Neil.)
Few years back
"Man, what is this sandwich? It tastes like shit." (Obi sat in the corner of the cafeteria of his school, regretting that he spent his money on this garbage.)
"You're right about that." (A voice was heard from the back.) "This sandwich is shit." (Obi looked confused as to who the person was. The boy offered a handshake. Obi took the handshake.) "You... are they?"
"I'm Neil. You're new in this school, right?"
"Yeah. How do you know that?" (With a confused look.)
"Well, no one buys that sandwich from the cafeteria." (He pointed at the sandwich.)
"What about you, then?" (Obi pointed to the sandwich.)
"Ahh... Desperate times call for desperate measures." (Obi gave him the side eye.)
Few years later
"Neil, come on, we still have a long way to go. And we are behind the rest of the group. If we don't make it to camp by sunset, then we are f***ed." (Obi looked at Neil from the top of the rock with his climbing gear on.)
"Oh, shut up, will you? Whose idea was this to go on a school trip in the first place?" (Obi's hands were on his waist with a dumbfound look.)
"It was your idea, dude."
"Mine? Are you sure about that?" (Neil looked at Obi with a confused look.)
"I'm a hundred percent sure. Your words were, 'Come, let's go, this would be the greatest thing ever, blah, blah.'"
"You're right. Come on, let's go, slowpoke."
(Those days... I remember them clearly, like the day we first met and were on a trip. Now, did I miss the sign of him being sick?...)
"Sir... Excuse me, sir." (The driver shook Obi's hand.) "We have arrived at your destination."
"Oh, sorry. How much?" "250 rupees, sir." (Obi handed him the money and went inside his building. His dress was soaked wet, shirt out, mud marks on his pants and shoes. People from his building looked at him. He went towards his home and rang the bell. His parents opened the door and asked him what happened to Neil. He explained the situation and what the doctor told him. His parents were shocked hearing this. Obi went to his room and shut the door.)
Few days later
(It's been three days since he's been expected to wake up. Obi was walking towards their usual spot where they would meet, drink chai, and smoke cigarettes. He looked at the abandoned car, thinking about all the things they did together. He opened the door and sat inside the car, crying. Suddenly, his phone rang. It was Neil's father. He picked up the call.)
"Yes, Uncle..."
"What? He is awake...!"
"I will be there in 5 minutes."
"Yes, yes."
(Obi hung up the call and rushed towards the hospital.)
Finally, he is awake. (The feeling he felt when he heard that his friend was awake made him cry. He rushed and stopped a taxi and went towards the hospital. He stopped at the entrance and ran inside the building. He slid through the hallway, seeing Neil's parents outside the room.)
"Uncle, how is he?" (Obi spoke while huffing.)
"He is stable for now. Doctors are doing some check-ups and will let us see him after some time."
"Thank God." (Obi sighed in relief hearing this.)
(A nurse came from the room and told them they could see him right now. As they all went inside, they saw him sitting up on the ventilator with an oxygen mask on his face.)
"My baby boy..." (Neil's mother rushed towards him and hugged him as she began to cry.)
"Do you know how scared I was?" (She stuttered while speaking.)
"I know, Maa. Don't worry, I will be fine." (As he hugged her back and looked at his father and Obi.)
"Wassup, champ? How are you feeling, son?" (As he hugged him.)
"I'm tired. It's like my whole inside has been juiced out," he said with slight discomfort.
"Wassup, jackass?" (Neil looked at Obi with a smirk on his face.) "How's my drip in this patient dress?" (As they both laughed.) "Seriously, though, you're doing okay? That's what matters to us. I was worried as hell for the past three days."
"Three days! I slept for that long? Jesus!" (Neil was shocked hearing this. As they were talking, a doctor came inside the room and called Neil's parents out to talk with them. Obi knew what was happening, but how would Neil react to the news?)
"Yes, Doctor, how is Neil doing?" (Neil's father spoke with a worried tone as he looked at his wife.)
"I will not give you any false hopes. Neil's condition is very critical. If he doesn't take the treatment, it will get worse, and we might even lose him." (Neil's mother looked through the window in the door, seeing Neil and Obi laughing, as she began to cry.)
"There is a new treatment. It has shown a lot of progress. This will help him a lot." (The doctor looked at them.)
"Okay, Doctor, please start with the treatment." (Neil's father calmed his wife down as they went inside the room.)
"Obi, it's time we should go. We will be going now, son. We will come tomorrow, okay? Take rest now. The doctor will start with a new treatment."
"Okay, Maa. Okay, bro, see you tomorrow. Okay, take rest." (As they walked out of the room.)
"So, when are we going to tell Neil that he has cancer?" (Both the parents were silent, hearing this.)
"I think we should tell him when the treatment will start. Telling him later will only affect his recovery."
"You're right about that, honey," Neil's mother spoke.
"Okay. I will be going now. See you guys tomorrow. Bye." (As Obi took a taxi to his home.)
"Neil is very lucky to have a friend like him," Neil's mother spoke.
"You're right about that, honey," Neil's father agreed with her.
Few days later
"Okay, Neil, from today, we will start your new treatment. This treatment is fairly new, so the impact would not be much, but this will help you a lot," the doctor told Neil while inserting a syringe in his hand.
"Doctor, I wanted to ask something. Will you be honest?" (The doctor knew what was about to happen.)
"What am I suffering from?" (The room was filled with silence. The nurse looked at the doctor. Neil looked at both of them with a confused look.)
"Doc?"
"Son, you're suffering from brain cancer." (The nurse turned the other way. The doctor looked down at the syringe.)
"You're joking, right? Right, doc?" (The doctor remained silent. As the realization hit Neil, tears began to flow from his face. He put his hands on his eyes.)
"F***! Why me?" (Neil began to cry heavily.)
"Do my parents and Obi know about this?" (The Doctor nodded his head.)
"What are my chances of surviving?" (Neil asked the doctor.)
"I don't know for sure. The tumor that is present in your brain now is in a very dangerous location. Doing surgery could cause disability or even paralysis if things went wrong. But with this treatment, there is a chance of survival of around 46%."
"46%... so my life revolves around maths, the subject I hate the most." (Neil looked through the window in the door and saw his parents and Obi walking towards the room.)
"Good morning, son! How are you feeling?" (As they looked at the doctor and nurse and saw Neil crying.)
"What happened?" (As they rushed towards him.)
"What happened, doc?"
"He wanted to know what was happening to him..." (The entire room was silent.)
"You... told him? Why did you tell him?" (As Neil's mother cried.)
"It was my duty to inform our patients what they are diagnosed with."
"I want everyone to leave the room. Please, I just need to be alone for a while."
"But son..." (Neil's father was about to speak.)
"No, Paa, just leave me alone for a while."
"As you wish, son."
"But, Neil..." (Neil's mother was stopped in the middle.)
"Honey, please leave him. He needs his space."
(As Neil's father grabbed his wife by the shoulder and walked out, Obi just looked at Neil and walked out.)
Few hours later
(A nurse came inside the room and was shocked to see Neil was not present in the room. She screamed)
"Doctor! The patient is missing!" (She pressed the button on the wall, warning the guards there was a patient missing. Neil's parents were shocked to see their son missing.)
"Where is my son?" (Neil's mother was worried. Even his father was also worried. They began to search the entire floor.)
(Meanwhile, Obi was in the garden on the ground floor, sitting on a bench, thinking about Neil.)
"Quite the view, right?" (A voice was heard from the back. Obi looked and saw Neil standing there.)
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE! YOU SHOULD BE RESTING AND NOT ROAMING AROUND!" (Obi was concerned for Neil, seeing him like this.)
"Meh, it's fine. I'm on a walk, and I found you." (Neil shrugged off the treatment.)
"But still..." (Neil cut Obi off.)
"Shush, be quiet. Let me enjoy my peace, brother." (Obi was shocked hearing this. As Neil started to walk away.)
"Come on, let's go." (As Obi followed Neil.) "Where are we going, Neil?" (Obi looked at Neil.)
"We are going to the terrace of this building." (Neil pointed his finger upward and looked at Obi.)
"Are you crazy? What if we get caught?"
"Chill out, man. Nothing will happen, I swear."
Few minutes later
"The door is locked. What do we do now?" (Obi looked at Neil.)
"We break it." (Neil grabbed a stone from the garden and smashed it on the lock. Obi was dumbfounded, seeing this unfold right in front of his eyes.)
"Woah!" (Neil screamed as he rushed towards the terrace. Obi followed him behind.)
"Why are you acting like this, Neil?" (Obi stopped in his track and faced Neil as they looked at each other.)
"What do you mean?" (Neil looked confused.)
"This! Why are you acting happy all of a sudden? You were crying a few hours back. What happened?" (Neil walked away towards a wall and sat, and patted the ground, telling Obi to sit there. As Obi sat down...)
"The treatment is not working." (As Neil said that, he removed a cigarette and lit it up.)
"What? How? I mean, the doctor said you had a chance of survival with this treatment..." (Obi looked at him in disbelief.)
"Yes, there was a chance for other people. My body is rejecting the treatment. I feel like I wanted to spend my time with people I like, so I walked away from my room to find you, Obi." (Obi looked at Neil as tears flowed from his eyes.)
"Don't cry now." (Neil wiped the tears off Obi with his sleeves.) "Here, take this." (Neil passed his cigarette to Obi.)
"And I feel like I will die in a few days from now on. There is this feeling. I have read about it; people know when they are about to die. I guess mine is here quite early than the rest of the people. There are so many things that I have not done." (Neil reached his hand out.) "But I guess I will not be able to live those moments. But I want someone to live those moments for me instead, and that's you. I wanted to be your best man at your wedding, but that will not happen. So let's do this: we will act like you are getting married, and I'm your best man, and I'm giving you a speech, okay?"
(Obi laughed, hearing this, but deep down, he wanted to cry, but if he cried, he would make Neil feel guilty.)
"Sure."
"Okay, so here we go. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Neil, and I'm Obi's best man. We met each other in Grade 6 in the cafeteria, eating a shit sandwich. That was the worst sandwich we had in our life. After that, we grew closer. We were like brothers, bound for something greater than we could have imagined. He was there in my highs and lows; I was there for him. He is my inspiration. He is my idol that I look up to. I want to be like him one day, but I know I can't... (There was a pause.) ...Because he is the only one in the world. And I'll always be watching him from behind, whether I'm in a different city, state, country, or other side of the world, or in heaven or hell. I will always watch you and have your back, brother, because you're the only brother I want and ever will have. If there is a God in the universe and he is listening to me, I want to make a request to him: please make us brothers in the next life, and let me live my life with him."
(Hearing this made Obi fall down to his knees as he broke down. Neil walked towards him and bent down and hugged him. As they hugged each other, they cried their hearts out.)
Few days later
Time of death: 3:46 PM, Thursday, October 30, 2025.
(As the doctor drew out a white blanket and put it on Neil's dead body.)
"I'm sorry for your loss." (The doctor looked at Neil's parents and Obi as he walked away. Neil's mother hugged her dead son's body, as did his father, while Obi was standing at the back, looking at his dead friend's body.)
Later
(Neil's body was cremated, and his ashes were spread in the mountains of Kashmir.)
(The death of Neil was heavy on both Neil's parents and Obi. Both went into depression but were able to recover some time later. The absence of Neil is still present to this day in their minds and hearts.)
Many years later
(A man was waiting outside an emergency ward in a hospital, walking back and forth.)
"Everything will be normal, son. Have faith." (As the old person's voice spoke from behind.)
"I know, Maa. It's just that why is it taking so much time?" (The man tapped his feet in anxiety.)
(The light on top of the emergency sign stopped glowing, as a doctor walked out of the door.)
"Mr. Obi, congratulations. You're a father now."
"Yes!" (Obi clapped his hands in relief.) "How is my wife, Doctor?"
"She is alright. She just needs rest. You can go inside now."
(As Obi went inside the room, he saw his wife on the ventilator, getting checked by the doctor. He then heard the nurse say to come here. He walked and saw a small child in the nurse's arms. She gave the child to Obi. As he took the child in his arms, his eyes began to tear up, and tears fell from his eyes.)
"It's a boy, Mr. Obi. What will be his name?" the nurse asked.
"His name is Neil."
The End