A young, fair-skinned man with short, straight hair was lying down on the main road. He was dead. Blood was dripping down from his partially opened mouth as water droplets were dropping from a tap that is not fully closed. Beside him was a crashed car and a van. Pieces of glass were scattered across his body, causing him to shine as if he were a treasure waiting to be discovered on a treasure island. Oh! Such a tragedy, the corpse treasure had no life anymore. Blood was invading the main road, wrapping itself around the broken of the car and the van. My eyes were totally laid on his eyes. They were closed, but I truly knew that they had a universe within them. I took my eyes away from him and saw how people gathered to see the accident like a flock of birds who saw prey.
“Is he dead?” A man asked from another. “No use in taking him to the hospital.” Another replied. “Oh! God!” I saw a woman crying. “Did he drive the car alone? Wasn’t there anyone?” The conversations were going on without an end so that my ears could not tolerate them anymore. I was standing alone, staring at the incident. Most probably, I think I was in shock. I realized that my eyes were getting blurry lenses. That is when I realized that my eyes could not handle it. As dark clouds put down their pain as rain, my eyes put down tears. It was not only him who died that day. It was also me. But tragically, my heart was beating, and my brain was functioning without a soul.
My mind ran back to the day that my eyes collided with his eyes. Indeed, it was like the Bi, giving life to the universe within me. I was studying at the university researching for my assignment when he first came to me and said, “Hi! I’m David. I think your laptop is not charging, even though you’ve put it to charge.” I looked at him and at my laptop again and realized that I had forgotten to switch on the plug. Blushingly, I replied, “Thank you!”
“Nice to meet you. What’s your name?”
He asked while I was blushing like the Pink Panther from the cartoon.
“I’m Kavi, and nice to meet you too. “He looked at me for a while and said, “Your frock is really pretty.”
And at that moment I realized that the conversation I’m going to have with him would either give me my worst heartbreak or the love that I’ve always searched for. Risking my life, I looked at his eyes, and I was mesmerized by the universe his eyes held. His eyes were shining like the stars in the night sky. Not brighter than the sun but like Venus or Mercury when you observe the night sky. The universe in his eyes gave me life. My heart started to pound as I ran a marathon. My cheeks were turning red, and I felt it. No other butterflies could ever reach my stomach because it was full of them. We stared at each other for some time, and it felt like a lifetime. I was in love, and I knew he was too.
From the next day onwards, he sat next to me in every lecture, and we spoke about life, lectures, adventures, and interests. When I replied to him saying that I was interested in poetry and literature, he said that he was interested in art. Then he drew a picture of me and said, “This is the art that I’ve fallen in love with.”
It was like a dream. Before meeting him, I had no life. My poetry and literature had no emotions. But meeting him made me write hundreds of poems within minutes. I never knew the value of my life, the adventures it had. He made me realize how worthy I am of love.
Every day, after the lectures, we went to the beach. He held my hand tight, and his skin was gently touching my hand.
“Isn’t the sunset beautiful?” I asked him.
“Not as pretty as you” were always his reply.
But dear lord! He never understood what I meant. I could have told him earlier that I am a cancer patient, but the hope I had when the doctors told me I had 8 years to live invaded and manipulated my brain into thinking that I could live forever. The constant agony of keeping the secret that I had eight years to survive from him killed me little by little.
One day, we went to the Victorian park. We were holding hands as usual, and both of us thought of drawing a picture. I told him that I was not as talented as he was, but together, we drew a couple walking down a path that had roses beside it. My paintbrush was full of red paint, and suddenly, it fell on the picture that we drew together, painting the boy we drew in red. I was heartbroken and started to feel like I’d ruined his painting, life, and heart too.
“Oh! That’s nothing to worry about, Kavi. We can draw another picture together and paint it slowly.”
He replied. His softness and gentle heart made me weaker, and teardrops from my eyes started to roll down and fall on our drawing, making the girl in the picture get blurred. David hugged me tightly.
“Kavi, there’s nothing to worry about. It’s just a drawing. Calm down, darling… Are you okay?” He asked while hugging me tighter and tighter. I felt his heartbeat. It was calming as a calm piano sound. This melody of his heart comforted me.
“David, I have something to tell you.” I got my courage and said with a shaky voice.
“What is it, darling? Just tell me whatever it is; I’ll always be there for you.”
“David, I have cancer. I diagnosed it last year. I… I’m sorry for not telling you this earlier, and the doctors said I only have 8 years to live… I really hate my life, David. I… I… I don’t know what to do. My parents told me they did the best they could. Because of me, my mom is living in the constant fear of losing me. My father curses the name ‘death.’ I want to live! I want to live with you…!”
I could not stop crying and sobbing, and a river of tears was falling from my eyes, making his shirt wet as it was soaked in water. Crying, I looked into his eyes. They were like dark clouds, holding tight the pain they have within. I felt how his world was covered with darkness as I continued crying. His heart changed its melody, and I heard the thudding of it. His hands were shaking with pain in his heart, and tears started to roll down from his eyes.
“Kavi…” He whispered, crying. “Kavi, thank you for telling me this…” He whispered again. He took a deep breath. His hands were on my cheeks. They wiped off the painful tears from my face and looked into my eyes. His universe was looking at mine.
“Kavi, there is a magical concept that says, once you die, your brain will play the memories you had in your life for one last time for seven minutes. I hope once we die, our brains will lay the best memories in our lives… and I hope it plays the memories of you and me…”
I was staring at him and said, “David, you will always be my seven minutes.”
“You too,” sobbing, he replied.
“Kavi, teach me to live without you once you leave the world, but let me promise one thing. It is you that my heart will always search for. It is you that I am living for.”
David sacrificed his life for me. I dearly loved him, and he was entangled in my soul. Our love for each other grew every everyday as a plant that grows into a giant tree. I loved him knowing that he would lose me one day. But I knew that our love is forever entangled in the universe. We enjoyed all the simple moments. Every day, he gave me a red rose and said that he’ll continue giving me flowers for 8 years. I told him that every second is a moment to enjoy. I realized how cancer gave me a chance to live my life when thousands of healthy people live ‘dead,’ without embracing the moments of their lives with joy and happiness.
David and I continued creating our seven minutes. We went cycling together, we went bird watching together, and every lecture at the university felt lively when I was with him. Our souls collided together with never-ending love. On my twenty-third birthday, he surprised me with hundreds of roses filling his car and a chocolate cake with “Happy Birthday Kavi” written on the top. I was living seven minutes of my life. I loved him so deeply that not any ocean could reach that depth. I told him that to feel the love we shared with each other in nature, even if I die one day. I felt that the blowing winds, the setting sun, and even the pouring rain held our love. I told him that even if I die one day, I’ll be present in this nature because the love we were sharing is so powerful that no collision can ever erase it.
Our conversations on love were never ending. He drove me to my home on my birthday, and I hugged him tightly.
“I love you, David!”
“I love you too, Kavi!”
He said while waving me goodbye after dropping me near my home. He drove the car while looking at me with his sparkling eyes, and in a second, I saw a van… a van collapsing into his car. My heart was pounding faster, and I almost fainted. My legs stopped working. I felt numb and shocked. Without being able to lift a finger, I was staring at the incident. I saw my father getting down from our van, shaking. I saw how his leg was bruised. I saw the fear in his eyes, and I looked at the car. It crashed down with rose petals flying in the sky. I saw him… lying… on the main road. My legs collapsed down. My father… My love… I felt myself dying with the terror and pain of losing them. Luckily, my father was sent to the hospital. But him… David… I never thought that he would find his seven minutes before mine. Death has no timing. Love must be enjoyed while you have it. You will never know the value of a second until it’s gone.
Years passed by. David was truly unforgettable. But I managed to survive. I felt that our love was so strong. I felt the presence of his love in each breath I took. There were days I barely survived without him, but he taught me ‘living.’ He taught me the value of life and how worthy I am of love. He will always be my seven minutes.
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