Endless Love Ch. 02

"What time is it?" she asked me. "Whoa, how am I here? Ohh God, my head is hurting."

I looked at my phone and saw the time. It was 9 am.

"9 in the morning."

I got an aspirin for her with a glass full of water.

"Take this, you'll feel better." She downed the pill with one gulp.

"I have to ask you to remember everything about last night."

"We were supposed to go to a restaurant. Suddenly, he changed his mind. He said there is a nice night club. He got me a drink. I took it and then in a few minutes I started to feel groggy. I don't remember anything else."

"Okay. I need you to take a tox-screen. I'll tell you everything later, just trust me. I want to be sure about something."

"I trust you, you know that."

"Good, get ready. We'll go right now."

In about an hour & half, we reached to Dr. Samantha Miles. She knew us since we were kids.

"Hello Dr. Miles."

"Hello Daniel, hello Rachel."

"Hello."

"I need you to run a tox-screen for her."

"Does it have a specific reason?"

"Rachel, wait outside for a moment please, will you?"

Rachel looked paranoid, but I had promised that I'd tell her everything. She went outside.

"Last night she went to a club with a guy. She doesn't remember anything about last night after the drink."

"But that is kind of normal, alcohol of course. They will return in time."

"I'm thinking roofies or something similar."

"I think it's an overkill. You're just being paranoid."

"The kind of things that I've heard, I'd rather be proven wrong than let it go and regret."

"Alright. What about your mother? Does she know?"

"She doesn't. She has already been through a lot. I want her to have one less thing to worry. I'm just happy that nothing happened."

"Hmm. I was thinking another test too, but I guess that won't be necessary. Send her in."

"I will tell her everything after I get the test results. For now, please don't tell her anything."

"Sure."

The nurse took Rachel in a room and took all necessary samples like blood, saliva, urine.

5 days later

Daniel's P. O. V.

I was reading a book, when I got a call from Dr. Miles.

"Hello Daniel, this is Dr. Miles."

"Hello Doctor. What happened?"

"Rachel's toxicology report. You were right about the roofies. Rohypnol was found in the urine sample. Only other thing that was found was alcohol and traces of acetylsalicylic acid."

"That son of a bitch. What is acetylsalicylic acid?"

"It's a mild pain reliever."

"Ohh, I gave her aspirin for her headache. Thank you. I'll collect the report within an hour."

"Sure."

I got the report and told Rachel everything. I had a feeling that his brother Alfred had to pay for his sins and Justin too. Initially, it was only about Rachel, but then I imagined what must've been going through the families of other innocent girls.

I got the list of girls that might be victims of Alfred. I spoke with them in person. I told them that if they were willing to give a statement against Alfred in court, at least many girls in future will be saved. One less evil guy (or two) out in the open. I also assured them that they had a choice to decline. I got 8 girls ready for the case that I was going to open against Alfred.

I had talked with a police officer with the report and asked him to get a warrant for CCTV footage in the club. I needed to make sure I had everything that was necessary. Of course there was a clear face of Justin in the camera slipping a pill in Rachel's drink. After a little work around, Justin easily broke and confessed of getting the pill from Alfred. After getting enough evidence and the statement of the 8 girls, the police nailed Justin and Alfred. Alfred was charged for drug abuse and raping them. Justin was charged with attempted rape of Rachel with use of narcotics.

During and after all this ordeal, Rachel was emotionally vulnerable. She had skipped dating or anything similar entirely. I made sure of staying with her at every step that she took. She began to spend more and more time with me whenever I was home.

A year later

Daniel's P. O. V.

I had came back home for holidays. As soon as mom saw me, she hugged me.

"Hello mom."

"Hello son."

I sensed that something wasn't right.

"Mom, tell me what happened."

"Its about Rachel."

"What happened to her? Is she alright?"

"She may not be. It's her prom and she doesn't have a date."

"That's kinda hard to believe. She's beautiful, why she doesn't have one?"

"She hasn't accepted anyone's invitation for it."

"Oh my god. Why wouldn't she go? It is an important phase of her life."

"Would you go talk to her please?"

"Yeah mom. I'll talk to her when she's back home from school."

In the evening, she came back home. I was waiting for her sitting on the couch. I stood up when she entered the room.

"Danny. You're home."

"Yes I'm home."

She hugged me.

"Get dressed, we'll go get ice cream for us."

"Okay, I'll be back."

We got our ice cream in the shop and went nearby for a walk while I wanted to have a talk with her.

She looked at me and spoke, "I know you want to talk to me about something. Get it over with."

"Your prom. Mom told me that you aren't going. The question is, why?"

"I can't trust people anymore."

"Just because of one guy? You need to let loose. Enjoy your life while you can."

"Not easy as it sounds."

"You are making it difficult, it doesn't have to be."

"Why don't you make it easy by coming with me to the prom?"

"Really? Mom is already having weird thoughts about you and me being close. How would you explain why me?"

"The prom is in two days, I can't find a perfect suitor this early."

"What if people from your school recognize me? They'll think how desperate you are that you had to bring your big brother along."

"Nobody knows you in my school. They'll burn of jealousy because the most hot guy will be by my side."

"Damn. What can I say now?"

"A Yes would be nice."

"That's right. I'm trying to imagine mom's face when she hears this."

We finished our ice cream and went home.

Inside the home, Rachel broke the news.

"Mom, Danny has agreed to come with me to the prom."

My fear just realized in mom's eyes. She was starting daggers at me. I watched her being helpless.

"Why him baby? There are so many good guys out there."

"Mom, I don't know how I can find a nice guy within 2 days. It's better that I go with Danny."

"How will it look when people will know that you're attending the prom with your brother as your date?"

"Mom, nobody has to know. Nobody in school knows that he's my brother."

Mom thought for a second.

"Okay, go. But be back home before midnight."

"We will."

She didn't want to go, so she didn't buy anything for the prom. So, I took her for shopping and bought everything necessary like jewellery, heels, dress, corsage etc. This time she chose a light turquoise coloured prom dress.

On the prom day, I got ready in my suit as properly as I could manage. I was waiting downstairs for Rachel. Mom was sitting in front of me, drinking her tea.

"Danny, she has been hurt by the person who was supposed to take care of her. All the Fiasco that went down during the case has made her into an introvert. Everyone in the town knows about her. Most possibly they know you too. Everyone looked at her with different judgements about her. Only people that trust her are me, you and our friends here in this community."

"I know mom. I'll take good care of her."

"I know you will, but it's not about that. She's been having crush on you since more than half a decade. I don't know how to handle this. I didn't have to go through what she had to. It's up to you that things don't go out of hand."

"Mom, I'll do everything possible not to let that happen."

"Alright, I'm counting on you. Don't disappoint me."

"I won't."

Suddenly I saw Rachel walking gently down the stairs. She was looking so beautiful in that dress, her hair made into a proper bun, some of the curls hanging on her cheeks touching them gently, My heart literally melted. I thought it would spill out of my mouth any moment while I tried to exhale.

She looked at me and then looked down shyly. "How am I looking?"

"I don't have words that's can do justice." My voice was hoarse. I then cleared my throat and said that again.

Mom then looked at her and touched her face with motherly affection. She then kissed her forehead and said, "You look amazing my dear."

She then took out the camera.

"May I?" I looked at Rachel and asked. She gave me her hand and I kissed the back of it gently. We stood together, hand in hand. Mom took our several pictures.

I then went to the door with her by holding her hand gently where a limousine was waiting for us.

"You rented a limo?"

"Yes. It is an important part of your life and I never went to a prom. It is so perfect that I get to be your 'date' for your prom."

I then opened the door for her and then entered the limo by other side after closing the door.

All the while we were on the way to her school, she didn't let go of my hand that she had held and intertwined the fingers of, simultaneously looking into my eyes. I couldn't help but look back into hers. Once I did, I couldn't look away. I hadn't seen such a love and affection for somebody in someone's eyes. I didn't even realize when we reached the school entrance.

The driver tapped on the inside window of the limo.

"Sir, we have arrived." This broke me out of my trance. Rachel seemed to be shocked too.

I got out of the car, opened the door for Rachel and held her hand in mine. There was an arch made of flowers and decoration on the door to the hall. All of the couples were going in pair one by one and pictures were taken by the photographers. When we arrived, I noticed everyone was checking her out.

A little while later, Rachel held my hand tightly.

"Hey, what happened?" I asked her.

"Look at those girls, they're staring at you."

"What's wrong in that? I'm your brother, aren't I?"

"Quiet! Somebody will listen. You are my date, remember? You are not supposed to notice someone else."

"I'm not, I promise."

The photographer took our pictures too. We posed for him almost like two people in love. I saw a man in his fifties walking towards us.

"Good evening miss Smythe. How are you doing?"

"I'm doing fine, Sir."

"Won't you introduce this young man to me?"

"Oh, I'm so sorry. Daniel, this is Mr. Tomas Reade. Our history professor."

"Hello Mr. Reade. It's nice to meet you." He shook my hand. "I'm Daniel, Her br..."

"Boyfriend." Rachel corrected (?) Me.

"Nice to meet you too Daniel. Enjoy the party. Both of you. Just remember something, stay safe." I scoffed on his suggestion.

"Are you alright Daniel?" he asked curiously.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm alright."

We entered the hall, there was sufficient space for couples who wanted to dance and tables and chairs in the corners.

Drinks were served who were of 21 of age or 18+ who had a driver. I ordered a wine for both of us. We had a limo hired, but I wanted to stay in my senses. There was a girl, who tried to flirt with me. I kept the basic conversation going, but didn't show a lot of interest. But she was practically throwing herself on me.

"Hello. My name is Jessica and you are?"

"Daniel."

"I didn't know you had such a handsome guy hidden somewhere Rachel. You weren't coming, were you?"

"There is nothing that I owe you. Not even an answer to your question. Don't you see? We're busy."

"You don't seem busy enough. Please, Daniel. Would you join me for a dance?"

"I'm sorry Jessica. I don't want to insult you, but I'm taken. I'm with Rachel."

"Did you get your answer? Please leave us alone."

Jessica didn't seem to take the rejection well.

"What's with her? Doesn't she have a date?"

"She must've. But she's like that. She's just hollow. Just dumped her boyfriend because he got into an accident. Few days later, I heard that she didn't want the prom pictures with his face disfigured."

"Oh man, god save this guy that she came with."

Rachel took more drinks. I drank the same amount, but didn't feel like I was drunk.

"Let's dance." Rachel said with determination in her eyes.

"I don't think I can."

"Just follow my lead."

I offered her my hand, she got up after I held hers. We went to the middle of the hall. I didn't have courage.

"Put your hand on my waist." She looked into my eyes and said. I couldn't, so she held my left hand in hers and put it herself on her waist. Jessica saw this and gave a look like she knew we weren't a couple. Rachel saw that too.

There was a slow song playing in the background. I followed her movement and got a hang of it in a while.

"Come closer, hold me in your embrace such that I'd never want to be anywhere else."

"What?"

"Didn't you listen or want me to say it again?"

"Couldn't believe."

She pulled me closer. Instantly I felt stirring in my pants.

'What the hell!' I kicked myself mentally. I tried to pull away but she didn't let me.

"What are you doing Rachel?"

"We are a couple. Look into my eyes."

I did and I felt the same that I was feeling in the limo. I just sank into the depth of her eyes. In a few moments, I noticed that somehow our faces are closer. Only half an inch of space between our lips. And then our lips touched. My eyes closed without me knowing. In a little while her palm was pulling my head from the back of it. The kiss's grew intense. It felt like a button that I didn't know suddenly appeared and turned on. This resulted into my hands pulling her even closer. Suddenly I heard that other couples were clapping and some of them whistling. This brought us out of our trance. We looked around, everyone was looking at us. Rachel felt kind of shy. She looked at me and smiled. We saw Jessica make angry face and left the hall.

Here I was feeling remorse and relief both at the same time. Such an amalgamation of emotions that I couldn't understand. On one hand, I wasn't supposed to let it happen. On the other, I didn't really feel guilty. Man, my mind was never this conflicted. She was clearly tipsy. I wasn't. I could have chalked it up as a drunken mistake. The problem was that I wasn't. And she is my sister, not a random girl that I picked up at a bar.

In a while, the party was over. Everyone was either going home or somewhere they might've planned. I balanced her by holding her on her waist. I had called the chauffeur to drive the limo on the gate. After opening the door for her, I gently put her inside. Then I entered the limo. As soon as I was seated, she hugged me and was looking into my eyes.

"Did you like it?" She asked me with her drunken gaze.

"Like what?"

"You know? The kiss..."

"You are drunk Rachel."

"Maybe. But how would I get the courage of taking the first step towards where I want to be?"

"What did you just say?"

"This dress, my hair, my face, even me. It was all for you."

BINGO! Déjà vu moment, fellas.

"What?"

"I've had crush on you since I was thirteen. In the beginning, I thought it was just a stupid crush on my big brother. Then I saw you with a girl when I was sixteen. What I felt at the moment was anger, jealousy. Then it started to water my eyes. I cried for whole night. It was a realization that you will be taken away from me. I felt like my breath will stop anytime soon. I asked myself, why not me?"

"But I'm your brother."

"Don't you think that I've asked myself the same? I tried dating Justin, thinking he was the closer one to you. But then, he turned our to be a prick. When he kissed me, I felt dead inside, felt like it is not supposed to be like this."

"It is not right."

"Who says?"

"The society, the law, more than nine tenth of the world population."

"I feel what I feel. Nobody gets to decide what I feel from my heart. You probably don't have an idea what I feel whenever you have to go back to wherever you are stationed. I feel afraid if you don't return then how would I live. I have to prepare myself for the worst. It takes a lot of courage to not to just stop you and never let you go. I think about you every moment. I pray everyday, every moment that you would return, in one piece. The kiss tonight, it made me feel alive, made me whole."

The driver tapped on the glass. I then slid the glass aside. "You have reached your destination, sir."

"Thank you very much." I came out of the limo, opened the door for Rachel. He was going to get paid by the rental company. I slid fifty dollar in bills in his hand.

"Thank you very much. Have a nice evening, sir."

It was past midnight. I entered the house with Rachel. Mom was asleep.

I took her to her room. I was gonna leave her room right then.

"Don't go, just yet."

"Why?" I said looking at her. She sat on her bed. I sat keeping a little distance between us. "Why me?"

"You are everything that I want in a man. You have set such a high standards, nobody is even close. Then I realized that I really, really love you. I don't want anybody else. I have stayed silent long enough. Today I felt this is my chance. If I hadn't expressed my feelings, it would have been the betrayal of my heart."

I didn't know what to say anymore.

"Okay, hold on a second." She opened the closet, there I saw a hidden compartment. She took out a little box that was inside it. She opened it. Inside was a ring. Few moments later I realized, they were actually two rings. They were made in such a way that both of them had a half heart shape. left half on the one and right half on the other. When combined, it looked a large ring and the shape completed. One of them had text engraved 'His' another had 'Her' near the semi heart shape.

"When did you buy this?" I asked her curiously.

"Remember my money was stolen when I was thirteen? I bought this. It is custom made. I designed it and gave it to a jeweller who did custom jobs on demand. I hoped that we would be wearing these when we would get married someday. I knew it was impossible, but I still hoped that we would. I'm sorry, I lied. But how would I explain why I made it?"

Now I didn't really know what to say. She had been dreaming to marry me since ages. I didn't have the courage to demolish such a dream.

"You didn't tell me the whole story when mom saw us sleeping together for the first time. Your hand was above my breast." She said, looking at me with an intent.

"Oh my god."

"Yes, I remember. My hand was on yours. I didn't do it intentionally, but it felt so... right. I fell asleep again knowing I'm in your loving embrace. But when you left the bed without me knowing, I felt betrayed. Do you need any more proof to show you how much I love you?"

"Ohh man. I didn't dream this would happen."

"But it is true isn't it? I know you love me too. Please, don't say no. I'll die without you."

I realized that I loved her too. I was just too chicken to admit. I couldn't stick with any girl forever, because she was the one I was waiting for.

"What is it with the text engraving on the rings?"

"The one that says 'HIS' is for me. It means that I own your half of the heart. Another that says 'HER' is for you. It means that you own half of my heart. Both of us having half of each other's heart and half of our own. This is how we complete each other."

Man, the thinking behind it. I couldn't have thought like that. She has definitely given this a long, long thought.

"You have to understand one thing Rachel. This is it for me, it's all or nothing with me. You have every chance to back out if you don't want what I want."

"I wouldn't have it any other way. I've been yours for my whole life, please don't make me wait anymore."