Page 19 of Fame & Chaos

And that became our pattern for a while.

Me pushing.

Her retreating.

Especially when it came to school.

Indi had always dreamed of becoming a nurse, but after her parents died, she stopped believing she deserved a future. Her grades started slipping badly because she couldn’t focus long enough to care.

The counselor kept trying to make her understand the truth—there was nothing she could have done to save them.

Nothing.

But grief doesn’t work logically.

About six months after her parents died, things finally started shifting slightly.

Tiny changes at first.

She started leaving her room more.

Started eating properly again.

Started listening when Mum talked instead of shutting down.

And now and then, she’d wander into my room while I practiced guitar or studied.

Those became my favorite moments.

I’d play for her sometimes while she sat cross-legged on my bed listening quietly, and I’d catch a glimpse of the old Indi again when she smiled at me.

Those smiles felt like oxygen.

One night, she walked into my room while I was buried in study notes for exams.

I looked up because something about her felt calmer.

Not healed.

But steadier somehow.

She sat down on my bed silently while I closed my textbook and turned fully toward her. “You okay?” I asked carefully.

“Yeah.” She gave me a small shrug. “Better today, I think.”

I nodded slowly.

Then she surprised me completely. “I might actually start studying again tonight.”

A grin broke across my face before I could stop it. “Seriously?”

She laughed softly at my reaction. “Yeah, seriously.”

“Indi, that’s huge.”

“I know.” She tucked her legs beneath herself on the bed. “Watching you study your ass off when you don’t even want a normal career anymore kind of made me realize I need to stop wallowing and sort my shit out.” The laugh that escaped her afterward nearly wrecked me because I hadn’t heard her laugh properly in months.

“You have no idea how proud I am of you right now,” I admitted quietly.