This story starts 24 years back when Olivia was born in Beaufort. She was the only child and had brought in loads and loads of happiness in the lives of her parent. Her dad.. Her dad worked in a garage and her mom was a homemaker. 4 years later, Olivia’s sister, Ava was born. They both had a bonding like Elsa and Anna from Frozen. They were inseparable.
Olivia and Ava never saw their paternal granddad and they could hardly remember their paternal grandmother as she had passed away when they were little. So, they spent most of their vacation at their maternal grandparent’s house. The two of them were very mischievous when together. Olivia was bold and an extrovert, whereas, Ava was shy and an introvert. They both were complete opposite of each other.
As they grew up, the bond between them got weaker. They didn’t hang out with each neither did they share anything anymore. Somewhere while growing up they lost their best friend in each other. But that didn’t stop them from being overprotective for each other.
Olivia always wanted to live her life away from her home. She was a care free bird. When Olivia turned 16 she decided to move out from her parents’ house and relocate to her dream city, Paris. Olivia’s parents didn’t want her to move out as they didn’t have enough money to finance her education in another country. Olivia argued with her parents’ day and night and didn’t talk to them for 2 weeks straight. Her parents couldn’t tolerate this and decided to sell off their house to fund her education. Olivia’s parents made a pact that they’d never tell Olivia & Ava about this.
Soon, Olivia left for Paris. As she left, she cried happy tears as she’ll finally be living her dream life in Paris. Little did she know that her happiness had cost huge amount of loss and pain to her parents. Ava & her parents moved back to their village. Even though Ava was 4 years younger to Olivia, she was mature enough to understand what was going around even without her parents telling her anything. At night, she used to hear her parents fight and cry because they didn’t have enough money left to meet their day-to-day expenses. Their life long savings were all given up for Olivia’s education. Since then Ava made sure that she’d never force her parents for anything and that she’d work hard to meet all the expenses. She just wanted to see her parents happy.
Olivia after moving to Paris didn’t talk much to her family. She’d always disconnect stating that she was busy with her college work. So, one-day Ava messaged her sister:
“Hey! It has been 3 months since you moved out. Couldn’t imagine that we’d survive that long without seeing you. How’s life in Paris? And how are you doing? Mom and dad miss you a lot. Please video call them whenever you get free. And don’t tell them that I messaged you. Take care. Love you.”
Within a few minutes’ time, Ava received a video call from Olivia and they all talked for an hour. During the video call session their parents told them that they were deciding to send Ava to Paris to stay with Olivia. Olivia and Ava both were shocked. Olivia tried to cover up her expressions by faking a smile. She then told her parents that maybe its’s too early for them to take this step and that she didn’t have a nice apartment where they both could stay. And after some quarrel they bid their goodbyes and went off to sleep. But, Olivia had forgot to disconnect the call, and Ava overheard Olivia and some other people she didn’t know. She could hear her sister calling out a guy, Roman. Olivia was asking him to pass the pack of heroin. Olivia’s friends were making fun of her family and Ava heard it all. She was devastated. She couldn’t process the thought of her best friend, her elder sister as a drug addict. Ava quickly disconnected the call before it came to Olivia’s notice. Ava recalled the whole incident & she was shattered. Pretty soon she decided to move to Paris and stay with Olivia, just like their parents had planned. Ava had decided that she’d bring back Olivia to her senses and insist her to move back to America.
Ava landed in Paris and Olivia was supposed to pick her up from the airport. An hour passed by and still Olivia didn’t show up. Ava tried calling her but she wouldn’t answer any of her calls. Luckily, Ava had the address and some money with her so she decided to take a cab to Olivia’s residence. Upon reaching Olivia’s residence, she knocked on the door and a guy answered the door. She saw her sister lying naked with a guy and there were packet of heroin lying around. Ava was filled with anger. She then rushed to the kitchen, found a jug and filled it with cold water and threw it on Olivia’s face. Olivia opened her eyes and saw Ava standing right in front of her who was extremely angry. Olivia quickly put on her clothes and cleaned the mess. She was shivering and crying and begging Ava to not tell any of this to her parents. Ava promised her that she’d not tell anything only on one condition that Olivia has to stop all this. Olivia promised her that she’ll surely give up this habit. Ava saw her sister struggle to survive as she had become a drug addict and could hardly stay a moment without drugs. Ava made sure that she was always by her side to take care of her. Ava took this opportunity to rebuild her relation with Olivia. With time, Olivia’s condition got better.
Soon, Ava’s college life started and she got busy. There she met James and they fell in love. Ava thought of him as her Mr. Right. She had blind folded herself in the name of love. Ava could never stand a single word against James. 5 months of relationship and James asked her to move in with him. Ava was on cloud 9 but she couldn’t move in with him as she feared that Olivia will be back on drugs in her absence. So, she managed to convince him to move in with her. She even told him about her sister.
After a week, James had finally moved in with Ava. They used to cook together, watch movies the whole night and talk about anything and everything. Ava got so busy with James that she didn’t notice change in Olivia’s behavior. At times, Olivia would say that she’d be staying at a friend’s place so that they both can have some privacy. In the beginning, everything seemed fine to Ava but day by day Olivia’s behavior seemed suspicious. So one-day Ava decided to follow Olivia and found that she was back on drugs. Ava jumped in front of Olivia and tried to stop her but Olivia pushed her away and told her to stay away. Ava dragged Olivia back to her car and drove her home. She then locked Olivia in her room and went to James and cried her heart out.
“I thought that she would never do it again. I felt like I helped her come out of this bad phase. I thought I had been successful in doing whatever best I could do. I feel like a loser. I didn’t make any difference. She’s still the same, she promised me that she’d never do drugs again. I can’t afford to lose her because of some stupid habit of hers. I can no longer tolerate this.. I give up.” She said
James tried his best to explain her, to make her understand that she hasn’t lost her battle, that she can make it possible.
“Promises. Promises are meant to be broken. No matter how close a person is to you, they at some point will break the promise. Not because they want to hurt you, but because they don’t know how to be assertive. We all make promises we know that we’ll break.”
He believed in her. His words were so motivating. She hugged him and cuddled with him. She felt so lucky to have him in her life. James never complained about her not giving him enough time, maybe because he knew that for Ava her family comes first.
One day, when Ava was taking nap, she got a call from a stranger where Olivia was held captive for borrowing drugs without paying for it. Ava rushed to the spot and paid the whole amount. She was mad at Olivia. Olivia apologized to her but Ava wouldn’t listen. They started fighting and Olivia pushed her off the bridge. Before she could realize what had just happened, Ava was gone. Olivia couldn’t believe that she killed her sister.
During Ava’s funeral, Olivia stood right next to Ava’s body and said
“We all have to go through some tough times so that we can build each broken part of ourselves stronger than before. Ava, you have helped me grow. You held my hand when I fell and walked beside me and gave me strength. I’ve never met such a wonderful person, so optimistic and full of strength. She always wanted me to chase my dreams and never settle for anything less. She gave up everything so that she could make me a better person. She had an eternal love for our family, for James. How is that I never saw her wings when she was here with me? I always thought that my happy heart would be a guy I’d fall in love with. Guess what, I was wrong. You, Ava, you are and always be my happy heart. I hope that you stay with me even after your death. You fly in my dreams, hold my hand and show me the right path. For I am nothing without you. I lost my only chance to hug you, to hold you tight and say thank you for everything you’ve done for me. Here I am, shedding tears since I can no longer hold you in my arms but in my heart.”
James was there at her funeral, holding her mother like his own. He stayed in touch with Ava’s family, trying his best to fill the void their daughter’s death had caused.
Soon after the funeral, Olivia was sentenced to 9 years’ imprisonment. In these 9 years, James took care of Ava’s family, supported them just like Ava would have.
9 years later…
When Olivia walked out of the jail, she saw someone unexpected. James. James was standing there, looking at her with a diary in his hand.
Olivia: Umm. Hey! This is quite a surprise for me. What are you doing here?
* her voice shivering*
And, and what’s that diary in your hand?
James stood there in silence
Olivia: I…. I am sorry.
James: Uh…. I came here to hand over this diary. It belonged to Ava. I want you to read it.
James left before Olivia could say something.
Olivia went back to her apartment where thousands of memories rushed back. She fell on her knees and was in tears. She dozed off while crying. Upon waking up she decided to go back to America and live with her parents. Few days later, Olivia was back in America. When she reached home, she came to know that her parents had sold off their house to fund her education. Her mom was no more, and her dad was half paralyzed. She regretted everything. Blamed herself for everything that has happened. And suddenly, she saw someone. It was James, again.
She wiped off her tears before he could notice. “hey! What are you doing here?” She asked.
“Taking care of them just like Ava would have. She always wanted to be there for them, for her family. She wanted to see them happy.” James said
Olivia froze. She didn’t say a single word. Every now and then she felt guilty of what she had done.
Day-by-day Olivia felt lucky to have James around her who would help her look after her family. And soon, she was in love with him. Without a second thought she confessed her feelings.
“I am still in love with Ava. I’ve never met anyone so optimistic and full of life like her. No one in this world can ever replace her. Not even you.
I loved her so much. You… You’ve caused so much pain to your parents, to Ava, to me. I can barely look into your eyes because for me you’ll always be the murderer of our happiness. Murderer of Ava. My Ava. And nothing in this world is ever going to change that fact for me. I might have forgiven you, but I did not forget any of it.” James said
Olivia was left heart broken. She tried so hard to change everything, to make everything better. But looks like she’ll always have the stamp of a murderer on her face.
Olivia couldn’t bottle up her feelings and so asked James to leave as it would be hard for Olivia to move on if James stayed.
Years went by, Olivia worked hard to earn enough for her father’s treatment. She used all the money for her father’s treatment. One day, when Olivia was lying on her bed, she saw a diary. Diary that belonged to Ava. She had completely forgotten about the diary. As she flipped through the pages she realized that the book was dedicated to dreams that Ava wanted to achieve. But couldn’t. The idea of fulfilling Ava’s dream rushed into Olivia’s mind. Along with her dad she then decided to fulfill each and every dream of Ava. Live a life like it was Ava’s. Ava’s last dream was to see Singapore. Olivia and her dad went there, spent a couple of weeks exploring every street of Singapore.
Olivia, on their last day in Singapore, sat on the hill top with Ava’s diary in one hand. And as she went through the whole diary she saw a photo of her and Ava in it. She couldn’t stop herself from crying & said to herself “She was my Sirius.”
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