Vultures

It was a darkest of the dark nights. The owls howled with their loudest voice telling everyone who hears that this is not the night to be wandering about. She was walking by a deserted road lost in her own music. She did that every day and never expected tonight to be different. Suddenly a slight cold breeze passed by her making her shiver. She thought to herself what if she hadn’t stopped to finish the report; she might have been drinking coffee snuggling with her boyfriend in her bed. Suddenly it felt as if someone just walked by her. She looked on each side of the road and saw no one. Mind plays weird tricks when you are tired, she said to herself. Slowly she gathered up pace hoping to reach home soon. She felt as if someone was watching her, the same feeling she had since she started walking here. She took a deep breath and almost started running. She was scared, no matter how much she refused it to herself.

Suddenly someone or something came sliding forward at speed neither a man nor a beast could travel. It looked like a human but was too fast for it. All she saw was its bright orange eyes and its teeth piercing her skin, after which everything started becoming a blur. She tried feeling its exposed skin, but it was too cold and too harsh to touch. The fibers looked as if it belonged to a human, but the vessels were popped out of it so much whole of the skin had a deep red tint.

*********************************

It was too early in the morning, about six, just when the sun was rising and the stroke of sunlight made its first break through in the area was when Dante finally came back home. Feeling exhausted he found it best to just go to bed and get a good sleep. After all he had earned it. Last night wasn’t his best, but certainly wasn’t his worst.

A good eight hours later, at dusk, just at the time when the final streak of sunlight was about to leave he woke up. He felt elated, his head was buzzing. It felt good. He got out of his bead wearing nothing. First thing he did was he walked up to the mirror in the dresser. His eyes were a deep shade of red, almost maroon. He smiled to himself. He looked down and felt as if he needed a shower. The marks of what he did last night were still visible on his body. A warm shower, he decided.

It was getting dark outside, probably the best time for him to get to work. He tried many outfits tonight, it was Halloween. He finally decided to go as Count Dracula. The humor in that made him laugh. So finally pasting his hair back and putting on a robe made him feel pouty. Little too cliché he thought to himself, but all in all he felt that he looked nice and he felt a little hungry so he didn’t wanted to be late.

The party was like all the other parties he went too since the time he came into this town. A couple of topless guys trying to woo girls, a couple of drunken girls and all in all just regular stuff. Tonight he wanted to eat something a little bit easy to get. He was a little tired from last night. He looked across the room and saw a girl with a glass of beer in one hand, a wooden stake in the other and fake fangs in her mouth and he thought to himself this is going to be the easiest ever hunt he made.

Things were a different back at his times. Back then people were afraid of vampires, not want to date them. Whatever it was, it always worked in Dante’s favor, though sometimes the girls were disappointed that he didn’t sparkle. He always found a sparkling vampire to be funny, after all vampires are the most vicious creatures of the night and not the tooth fairy. But Dante never complaint, he was after all getting the most kills since the time he actually became a vampire.

It was around 60 years back, when the world was gearing up for the big war which is called World War 2 now. Dante was just any other innocent 19 year old kid. Being the eldest in the family has its pros and cons, well mostly cons. The government ordered the eldest son to be in the army for the war and Dante was almost pulled towards the world of hatred and bombs. He might have gone to war as a boy, but he came back as a man. He saw his own people being blown up by bombs and still he survived. The little sparkle in his eye showing of his innocence was now long gone. He was a hardened soldier now, a hardened soldier who fell for a woman, a woman who was not a normal mortal, but a monster.

He was so in love with that girl that he wanted her to turn him too so that they can spend eternity together. She told him his emotions would be heightening once he became like her, even a small mood swing could wreck havoc. She fed on him but just enough to leave the venom into his system. The love he had for her before grew many folds now after he had been turned, almost at the brink of obsession. He couldn't stay away for her for a single second.

But future had something else in stored for them. The local people found out what she was and ripped her head off and burned her alive. Dante hid in the roots of the tree in the graveyard and cried for 3 days. With his magnified emotions taking over, his anger turned into red hot burning rage. He wiped out the whole village himself. He ripped off the head of every living person present in the area. But he wasn't a monster he was still in the process of becoming one. He felt guilty after killing so many people that he even tried to revive some of them, he tried joining the heads back to their body just to make himself feel better. But they were dead and along with them was his humanity.

Vampires don’t have a humanity switch, he always shouted at TV whenever the show about vampires came on. Vampire’s humanity is fried from the moment they become a vampire. They are predators, they like to hunt their prey down and rip them apart. The chase is as fun as the killing. The blood running in human veins make them hungry. The rhythm of a beating heart only makes them hungrier. The only place safe from a vampire is the safety of your own home as they can’t enter without being invited in. Everything else being showed about them was more or less a lie, he always thought to himself.

Back at the party, the girl he was eyeing for almost all the time checked out him too. He signaled her to come out; she was too drunk to say no. He took her way into the garden and grabbed her neck and sunk his fangs into her. The blood oozed out of her long and weak neck. The sound of her heart slowly started fade away. She was completely drained out of blood. He threw her to his side, cleaned his face with her dress and went back into the party, he was still hungry, and the vulture wanted another one.

Love Song for No One- 4

Kiaan got up and stormed out of the room leaving crying Ira behind him. While he was going out of the room, he collided with a stranger, someone he had never seen before. Stranger had bold blue eyes and all he did was he kept on staring towards him. It kind of felt uncomfortable with that so he stormed out hurriedly.

Zev had only heard of Kiaan and now after seeing he in person made him feel guilty. On one hand he practically ran out of the house and on the other hand Ira was laying there crying her eyes out. He was confused so he left, but he knew he had done wrong and he knew whatever he may do is not going to be enough. He just wanted to prevent any other collateral damage.

It had been a few days since that happened but Ira was still not able to take it properly. This had been a subject of concern for her parents as they just could not see their daughter in this condition. On the other hand, Ira had it much worse. She had been crying the whole time partially because of the fact that she cheated on the man who loved her and the rest on the fact that the man she loved wasn’t there with her when she needed him the most. It had been days, she didn’t know how many, but Zev hadn’t called.

Her mother took her to shopping that evening just to prevent further sulking and thinking that she might feel good surrounded by people. While she and her mother were passing through the market, they came across the bakery. Ira hadn’t been there in a while so her mother thought it would be a good idea for them to go inside and meet all of them. Ira had no will of going into the place where it all started, where she met Zev for the first time, they way she felt when she looked into his eyes. Just at that moment, without any particular reason she began to cry, not hysterically but she had water in her eyes which was quite noticeable even after her failed attempts at wiping it off.

While she was watching the table where Zev sat for the first time with all of his friends, she noticed something going on two tables back from where she was standing. A guy and a girl were sitting there, kissing each other and while one hand of the guy was in the hair of the girl, the other was slowly moving near her waist. Ira felt quite disgusted by it, mainly because Zev was the only guy she knew who could do this kind of thing.

They say an idea is one of the most harmful things in the world as if planted properly; a simple idea can destroy countries. This was just what happened to Ira at that time, she kept praying to god that he shouldn’t be Zev or otherwise she’ll kill herself. She slowly moved towards the table where they were sitting, careful not to make any sound. She was almost dangerously closed when the couple stopped to take a breath and that was when Ira’s deepest fears came alive. It was Zev.

Ira felt an overwhelming wave of emotions that she couldn’t control. She was confused in either to go and slap him across the face or start crying and run. She felt the water in her eyes slowly starting to slip down and when it reached its end, another droplet started its journey. She just stood there, frozen as if she wasn’t alive at that moment. She wanted to move, but just couldn’t. Just then Zev’s face slowly turned around towards where she was standing and what was worse that Zev’s face showed no sign of guilt. She looked normal as if Ira had just been another one of her passing the time kind of girls. She slowly felt as if some power was working between her and Zev that was making her walk towards him. She suddenly stopped near the table and expected Zev to say something but he just kept staring at her expecting her to say something.

“What????!!!!!” he simple said trying to sound surprised.

“Who is she??” she just asked with her voice trembling.

“Oh her!! Well her name is ‘who-the-hell-cares-when-I-am-getting-some-action” he said trying to sound calm and yet a little excited.

“But how could you do this to me??”

“You? NO!! I was doing everything to her, you just came”

“But… but…. I… I love you.” She said trying hard not to break down.

“Oh well, thanks for that” he said with his signature grin.

“Thanks?? That’s all you have to say??”

“Well, I don’t love you so I am not going to say it back. My mother always taught me to be polite, so I said thank you. Now go away, run… you are wasting my time. Every second she is becoming more sober”

“But I love you…. Doesn’t that count for something??”

“Does it look like it counts??”

“You are a jerk. You used me!! And what about all those things that you told me, all the things who said you never told anyone??“She said with her anger overtaking her over emotional ride.

“I used you?? Now c’mon. How is any different to what you done to that Kiaan guy?? He loved you, right?? But you still “fell deeply, hopelessly and madly in love” with me.” He said making actual air quotation marks in the air. “And about the things I said, are you seriously too stupid to understand that I say that to every girl I meet. I probably said all that crap to this chick sitting here too, only if she was sober enough to listen to them.”

Ira couldn’t say a word. Zev was right. It wasn’t any different from what she did to Kiaan, after all he loved her with everything he had but she still fell in love with someone else, someone she knew for a few days. It was somehow becoming a story straight out of a film. She felt weak in her knees; slowly she started to fall but finally managed to maintain her balance. Seeing this staff came to her rescue but she felt as if someone was chocking her while piercing her heart a million times with many needles. She had to run. She couldn’t bear it any longer. With her wobbly legs, she made a run for it. She stormed out of the bakery.

Zev was left sitting there, thinking. For the first time in his life he felt something for a woman other than his mother, who actually died when he was young. He felt his heart beating so fast that it might come out at any second. But he knew deep down inside that he had done the right thing. It wouldn’t have been fair to Kiaan if he and Ira ended up together, even if they both loved each other. He felt the pain he hadn’t felt ever in his life, the pain of heartbreak. He wasn’t quite sure if it was ever going to be ok, but he knew he had to live his live, eat, sleep, drink till one day it doesn’t pain so much.

“What happened here??” The girl sitting with him somehow murmured; too drunk to actually see what ever that happened.

“Please… just... Just stop talking” he said as he picked up his glass of scotch and slowly started to slip it.

Love Song for No One-3

From that moment, Zev started talking about how his mother died when he was just four, how he saw his dad with number of girls then on but he had none, how his dad was dedicated to his business than to his only son and so on.

“…living without a mother was not enough, my father sent me to boarding school abroad where even though I had a lot of money, I didn’t know anyone. A little child is easily taken with the bad things and I was no exception. I started drinking at a very young age and drugs were not very far away. Since then I put my mind in booze and women only, not because it was the right thing to do, but because it was easier that way. I could just turn off my pain whenever I was too drunk to walk. I was never satisfied with women because I always wanted someone who was more than just a doll, who would listen to me, feel for me. Some did try to feel for me, to discover what hidden beneath the surface was present, but I really never wanted them too. You know the world respects you when they fear you and they fear you when they don’t understand you. I tried to do well, but it was never enough. I am really to be the bad person. I am not a hero Ira; it’s just not in me”

She was part shocked and part hurt on knowing what he went through, and is still going through. She as a tiny droplet of tear forming on the edge of his eye and all she wanted to do was hug him and tell him that everything was going to be ok, but she didn’t.

“Why don’t you let other people see the in you??”

“Because Ira when people see good they expect good. By being bad no one expects anything from me. I can do whatever I want and people will just end up saying he was always like that. Being a jerk has been the best thing that has ever happened to me. As they say, sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me. They can say all they want, but the fact of the matter is that I still can do whatever the hell I like. I told you earlier no one is born a jerk. A jerk is always made by people.” He said and by now the tiny droplet of tear started slipping down his check and was about to jump from his face when Ira touched it.

She ran her finger through the path the droplet had taken and ended up near his eye, the very same object that was the reason of many sleepless nights Ira went through. She could almost see what he went through, almost feel the pain. She saw the reflection of moon in his moist eyes and slowly she started to sway towards him. Many thoughts came by her mind with majority of them involving Kiaan but she ignored all of them. It felt like everything getting back in place, even if it was wrong.

Rev was really not in himself at that moment and wasn’t thinking anything. All he saw was Ira bathing in the shining moonlight, her face lightened up with the streak of light that went from her forehead right down to her neck.

Though he had been with many girls, many of them even more beautiful than her, Zev felt something deep inside of him that he didn’t even knew existed. He was overwhelmed with a deep sense of warmth and affection towards this girl whom he didn’t really know but still told her everything there was to know about him, even the things even he never wanted to revisit.

Suddenly he found himself swaying towards her; there was something between them, that none of them understood even though it didn’t matter. He moved his face dangerously close to hers, so close he could even feel her warm breath all over his face but he didn’t really go all the way, he stopped just by covering ninety percent of the distance because he wanted to know if she was going to do the same thing as he didn’t want to spoil it by being too desperate. Every fiber in her body was stopping her from covering the ten percent of the distance but she couldn’t stop, even if she wanted to. Soon enough their lips met and puckered and everything went hazy for both of them. Both were into each other and the moon shone brightest that night maybe to shower its blessing on both of them.

A few days later, for Zev the time between that kiss and every moment after that was the most magical time of his life. The stars seemed to shine more, the moon seemed bigger and everything seemed to agree with him. He stopped being a jerk to everybody and even though old habits die hard he seemed to enjoy every second of his life now.

On the other hand it was completely opposite for Ira. She seemed so guilty about that night that she went into a darker place that no one could actually see what was happening to her. She stopped smiling, stopped working. No matter what she did all she could think was Kiaan and how much wrong she did to him and how bad a person she was. The worst part was he was returning back today and Ira was in no condition to receive him even though she knew she would be the first person he wanted to meet when he steps out of the train.

The train stopped and he stepped out, the same man in the completely changed world. Kiaan had no idea what had happened. He looked way down the platform but couldn’t see Ira anywhere. Angry yet a little worried he picked up his stuff and went straight to her home. Ira’s father would be in the bakery and mother would be busy doing the household chores. He went inside said the courtesy hello to Ira’s mother and went straight to her room. Half hoping that she might have a surprise party planned for him he knocked on the door, with no response he thought of knocking again but dropped the idea and went straight in ahead.

The room looked shabby as if it hadn’t been cleaned for days, the bed was not made but it was certain someone was spending way too much time in it. It was too dark to see so he searched for light switches, which was a little ironical because he had been in this room a million times and still had no idea where the switches were. Finally after almost tumbling over twice he found the switched and turned it on. He was shocked to see hat that resulted in, he was Ira curled up in a ball in the corner of the room with her eyes swollen by crying too much. He dropped everything he had and ran towards her and took her into his arms. This was the moment she came back into her senses and when she realized who was hugging her she starting crying hysterically. Kiaan kept asking what the matter was and she kept saying that she was really sorry for everything.  

Kiaan couldn’t still understand anything that had happened but he didn’t want her to cry so all he kept saying that it was ok and that everything was going to be alright. Ira looked up turning her face towards his face, the face she had kissed a million times, but now it looked different. She thought she didn’t deserve him, not after what she has done. She fell for another guy even after she was about to marry a perfect guy. Sobbing hysterically she narrated the entire story about everything that happened since he left. Not able to understand every word she said, Kiaan figured out the main portion of what she was trying to say.

After Ira finished confessing, she couldn’t gather up the courage to look up and face Kiaan, on the other hand Kiaan was waiting for her to look up. He wanted to see her eyes for the last time, the eyes he fell in love with, the eyes that fell in love with somebody else. He would have forgiven her if it had only been a onetime thing, but he knew her. She did actually fall for the guy. She finally managed to look up and amidst of all the tears still left in her eyes Kiaan could still see the old Ira, but he knew it was long gone. On the other hand all Ira felt was guilt.

Love Song for No One-2

To her and everybody’s surprise, Zev came alone. As usual he became the center of attraction since the moment he entered the party but everyone wanted to see who he would bring with him tonight.

The party was going on really well and everybody seemed to enjoy it, except Ira. She felt claustrophobic in the ball room where the party was held because clearly there were more people than Zev’s father had anticipated. So she thought it was a good idea that she stepped outside. To her amazement she saw Zev getting cozy with one of her co-workers, she felt disgusted so she went in further ahead in the garden. Zev saw her go and felt a little embarrassed, not that he really cared. He excused himself and went towards the place where she had just gone. He saw her sitting on a bench just watching the moon. He was quite amazed to see her in full moon light as he had never thought she would look so beautiful. She just sat there wearing her white dress and Zev thought of it as practically as a perfect site. He went to her.

“It is quite chilly tonight, don’t you think??”

She saw him as he was sitting beside him on the bench.

“Yeah but you got all the warmth you need, right??”

“Jealous??” he started to smile.

“Why would I be jealous??” she said tsk-ing.

“Because deep down inside you can’t stop thinking about me”. He said, almost like as if he was stating a fact.

She just looked towards him as he said that line, though it was true, Ira didn’t want anybody to know about it. She felt the same warm feeling she felt the first time she saw him, and every other time she saw him or even thought about him.

“Just kidding, don’t get so serious now.” He said turning his smile into a grin.

“You think it’s so easy, right?? Just smile and be charming and you can get all the girls you want.”

“Yeah but being rich helps too” he said proudly.

By the time Ira could say something else, both of them were called inside for the cake cutting, the cake which was made by Ira herself.

It has been a few days since the party and Ira didn’t stop thinking about Zev, not only for obvious reasons, but she thought there is more to him that meets the eye. She wanted to know more, but every time she saw him, he was with a lady friend of his. Ira just couldn’t let it go, she was stubborn by nature but this was an absolute limit to her nature. She just had to know what his deep blue eyes were hiding.

In the town there was a place called the sunset point. It was both Ira’s and Kiaan’s favorite place to go and just look at the beauty of the magnificent nature around them. It was a place where words are not required to show how you feel. It was a magical place. Since it had been 2 weeks since Kiaan had gone, Ira didn’t have the chance to visit it. While finishing her work she decided to visit the sunset point mainly for the sake of old times, the times before Zev, the good times.

She kept thinking of Kiaan while she walked down the lanes of the small towns of how both of them used to go there, this wasn’t particularly necessary but she just was just trying to keep Zev out of her mind.

She reached the point just as the time when the sun was setting down on the horizon. Everything was glowing with a beautiful orange color which always calmed Ira. Birds were returning to their nests after the day of trying to find the feeds. There was a lot of noise made by the little animals living there but still a certain sense of calmness prevailed.

As she walked down further, she saw a shadow sitting by the valley and it reminded of Kiaan just sitting there and waiting for her. But she knew it wasn’t Kiaan, it couldn’t have been so she ignored the shadow and moved the other way. She just wanted to be alone. She wanted to be alone just so she could reminisce about whatever happened since the time Kiaan had been gone. Her life was perfect, at least that is what it seems now thinking about that time. She was still lost way deeply lost in her thoughts when a voice brought her back to her senses.

“Why are you following me everywhere??” said Zev in his usual tone of sarcasm mixed with dark humor.

“What? Me following you?? Not even in your dreams” she said, sharply.

“Then why are you here?? I hope not to check on me??”

“I can ask you the same question.”

“Well, I used to come here when I was a child. Nostalgia brought me here.”

“I am sure you used to bring a lot of girls here.”

“Some, not a lot” he said winking. “And some of them just came here following me”

“You really hate me, right??”

“Yes, I really hate you”

“And I love that. You know normally I am accustomed of everyone loving me. Everyone except you know, my father. It has been a long time since someone has hated me without even knowing me. “

“Without knowing you??What  is there to know?? You are a jerk. Period.”

“No one is born a jerk sweetheart. The world makes him a jerk. There is a story behind every jerk.”

“I bet you tell this story to every girl??”

“As a matter of fact, none of them. But I guess you are not interested in listening, so I guess I got to be going now” he said getting up to go.

“No, stay, please” as she touched his arm as if she doesn’t really want him gone, “Enlighten me with your story” trying to sound as sarcastic as she could.

“You really want to know?? Because you might fall for me if I do actually tell you my story” he said grinning. Deep down inside Zev never wanted to tell this story to anyone because it just made him vulnerable. He liked control, not vulnerability.

“I will try my best, believe me”

Love Song for No One-1

Lying in her bed, staring at the clock as if watching the seconds become minutes and minutes turn into hours then into days. It might have been weeks, she had lost the track of time a while back. For her there was no particular reason to get up from the bed in the morning. She had lost two of the most important men in her life, one who loved her dearly and another whom she loved madly and that too within a few days. She wasn’t always like this, being in bed all day; keep staring at the walls hoping someday most probably this pain will go away. But now she had her doubts if it is ever going to be ok. If she was ever going back to the way she used to be before it all happened. Having all this in her mind started giving her headache and without any specific reason she started to cry remembering all those moment when she felt alive.

About a month back

“For the last time Ira… I am coming back within two three weeks. You are behaving as if I am going for ever” Kiaan said.

“I know I know, but you won’t understand. What if you found someone else there? What if she is prettier than me?” she said making a pout.

“Very funny” he said grinning. “Even if I found someone prettier than you, I would tell her that there is a girl who has my heart, so stay away from me. I am a one women man and I am spoken for”

“I know you boys. Just tell lies to keep the girl happy, simple as that. I know you would jump on the first opportunity to get in bed with another girl.”

“Oh! Is that so??? But Ira what if you find a cuter guy than me? I know hypothetically because practically I don’t think that is possible but still, what would you do??” he said winking.

“I won’t. I am not going to another city to attend some stupid workshop, you are.”

“All right madam, enough of this fight. My train is leaving to I should be going now” he said and he leaned over to kiss her forehead.

“All right but keep yourself away from pretty women” she said trying to sound like she meant it but she too knew he would never cheat on her.

“I will try my best” he said winking. “Love you”

“Let’s see what you say when you come back” she said putting her tongue out as if to tease her.

He saw it and did the same as if they were saying goodbyes in their own way.

Kiaan was Ira’s boyfriend for as long as she remembered. Their parents were family friends so they spend their whole childhood together. When did friendship ended and love began, no one seemed to remember. Remembering would be waste of time none the less. The important thing was they loved each other. Kiaan’s father was the manager of the bakery in which Ira’s father was the head chef. They were practically family. Ira and Kiaan were engaged to be married and everybody was happy about it, but Kiaan had to go to the city for a training program which didn’t go down with Ira very well. But what had to be done had to be done. Kiaan was gone for the summer and Ira was left alone.

She wasn’t really the one who would sulk about being alone and cry with the memory of her and Kiaan together. She was a big girl and she got all together and got to work. Usually Kiaan handled the bakery since his father wasn’t doing well and Ira used to serve, not that she was the waitress, but just because she wanted to be with Kiaan.

But all of this was going to change soon and no one really could have predicted that. Zev, son of the owner of the bakery was coming back the next day. Zev wasn’t the best guy you will ever meet in your life. He was self-centered, egoistic and a player. He had a way to charm the ladies to get them into his bed before anyone could even realize. He had a good built, blue eyes and a deep voice but along with that he had a special thing, he was a charmer. He could even say something to offend you and just smile and you wouldn’t be worried about it. He was the bad guy of the area.

A few days later,

Zev along with his friends entered the bakery to get something to eat at the time when it was about to close, but naturally he owned it so he had to be catered. As they entered the gate, Ira was working on some other table. He got down and asked for a waiter and since Ira was the closest one, she went to him. They didn’t know each other as Zev had left much before Ira and her family came live in the area, so she had no idea who he was.

“Hi, How may I help you??” she said with a smile.

“Well, there are many ways but as this is a public place, I would not recommend it”

“Excuse me?” she said quite surprised, but she wasn’t the one to hold back.

“Do you always wear a dress like that or just in here to get more tips??” he said pointing towards Ira’s short skirt.

“I don’t get tips.” She said, firmly.

“With a body like that, you don’t need any” he said, winking. All of his friends started laughing.

She looked at one of his friends who was laughing and said, “I know you all are laughing so that Mr. Richie Rich here will pay the bill”. And the laughing stopped.

“How do you know I am rich??” he was confused.

“Let me see your hands, by the way you know that’s man’s hand have directly proportional relationship with their reproductive organ??” she said as he showed his hands. She smiled because she knew she had him.

“Yeah, so??” he asked feeling dumb.

“Well, with hands that small, you better be rich.” She said, grinning proudly as if she had just tamed a wild stallion.

“I like you. Give me your number.” He said, just like that.

“I am a good girl. I don’t give my number to strangers.”

“You are not a good girl, that’s way I want your number” he said, smiling.

Ira looked at his face, not carefully now. His perfect cheek bones, the perfect hair, the perfect teeth, the perfect smile and above all his eyes and she felt something. Something she had never felt before. It was something warm, just near the abdominal region. It wasn’t painful, though there was a little discomfort, but there was a certain soothing effect to it. She closed her eyes for a second as if to enjoy the moment but suddenly reality flashed by as she heard his friends laughing again.

She walked off and asked another waiter to attend to them. She stormed into the kitchen where his father was working. He went near him and stopped as if she wanted to see Zev again. She turned around and saw him laughing with his friends. She thought about his eyes again and she started to feel the same warm feeling again. This time her father interrupted.

“What was Master Zev saying to you??”

“Zev?? You know him father??”

“Of course, he is the son if the owner. But I don’t think you have ever seen him, so what were you guys talking about??

“Ummm nothing really.” As she looked back one more time, all she could remember was his eyes; there was something in them, something that pulled her towards him. She didn’t understand it, but she was sure it was not a good thing.

It has been some days since that incident happened, but she could never stop obsessing about him. She didn’t remember how many times she rolled onto her bed thinking about that brief moment of pleasurable pain Zev’s eyes made her experience, and at some weeks moment she fantasized about what his touch would do to her. She knew it was wrong, but she thought of it as general no harm fantasizing.

Zev had been to the bakery many times, always with a new lady friend and always getting a little more hands-y than required, sometimes Ira felt bad, sometimes even felt jealous but she didn’t give it much thought. She had Kiaan, but she could swear Zev enjoyed taking his lady friends to the bakery so that Ira could see that she made a mistake by not giving him her number.

Zev’s father had planned a homecoming party to celebrate the return of his son and had invited everyone involved with the bakery. Naturally Ira had to go, half because she wanted to see Zev again, and half because she wanted to see who he would bring with him today.

LOVE

The alarm clock was now at rest on a bright Sunday morning after being snoozed off almost ten times. He opened his sleepy eyes as the clock showed half past ten. With some sleep still left in his eyes he glanced to the other side of the bed.

Olivia, his wife was still asleep by his side. He looked at her more carefully than he normally did and still couldn’t believe his luck that he was actually married to her. He put his hand to block the ray light that was falling directly on her eye to make her sleep comfortably. Just out of humor he removed it and the lines again formed on the cute little forehead of her. After fighting it for almost a minute, she finally gave in and turned over. The glittering sunlight was now directly shining on her hair and he started playing with the pile of golden silk. He loved to play with her hair to tease her. However she wanted to sleep a little more. Nick looked at the clock again, which showed almost eleven and it struck in his mind that he had a doctor’s appointment at one and he had to get ready for it. He made the breakfast and brought it to the bedroom. He didn’t normally do this, but didn’t want to disturb her sleep today. He slowly crawled into his side of the bed, put his arm around her and gently kissed her neck. “Morning sunshine” he whispered.

“Mmmmm” she sleepily muttered.

“Sleep, all you want! I will go to Doctor Martin all by myself today”, as he again kissed her slender neck. He simply loved kissing her neck, so beautiful and so delicate.

“I am up, I am up” she abruptly woke up with her face telling she had left her dream incomplete. But nothing was more important to her than Nick.

“Get ready soon love. Appointment is at one and we are going to be late”

“Just half an hour” she said and ran towards the bathroom.

Nick wasn’t that cheesy guy you might think he was. At least he wasn’t till sometime before. It was about a year before when both met for the first time at a mutual friend’s house. Slowly, their friendship grew and gradually, it turned into love, at least from Nick’s side. He was not the kind of guy who would have thought about falling in love and that too with a friend. He had his share of crushes but he also had a commitment phobia inside him, which was the reason he had been single almost all his life. But Olivia changed everything about him. He forgot all about his crushes and fell in love with her. When he purposed for the first time, she rejected because she wasn’t ready for a commitment. But thankfully, soon enough she too realized that her heart beat only for him. After a while, they both were married. To an outsider, their story was no less than a fairytale.

It was just a half hour remaining for the doctor’s appointment and while she was still getting ready, he was ready. Nick actually liked getting ready before time so as to see Olivia getting ready, the way she played with her wet hair, Nick couldn’t help smile at that. Frankly, Nick thought that he never really wanted to go see a doctor for a mild problem in breathing; she could be really bossy sometimes. But he knew she just cared for him too much to let anything go.

 A little scared Nick with Olivia entered the building and went straight towards the doctor’s chambers. While Olivia thought it would be better for her to wait outside, Nick wanted her inside with him, but didn’t say so. Nick carefully opened the door with a slight creak in the end, loud enough for the doctor to hear it and turned around.

“Welcome Nick, I was expecting you.” Doctor said.

“Sorry sir for being late. I hope my reports came back??” he said trying to apologize to the doctor for being a little late.

“Yes they have, but I think you should sit down first” said the doctor with a stone cold expression, careful not to give anything away.

“Is everything all right, doctor??” said Nick sensing something ominous in the doctor’s face

“Nick, your reports came back this morning, and I am afraid you have Cancer.” Doctor said, again with a poker face.

“Wha-wha-wh-what??” He was shocked. Here he was scared of taking an extra pill or something and the doctor was telling him that he had the most dangerous disease in the world.

“Yes, you have a final stage lung cancer, which I am afraid doesn’t give much time for you to live. You were having trouble not because you had some infection, but because your lungs are now too weak. I am really sorry.” Again the stone face.

The feelings going on in Nick’s mind were hard to explain. He had just married the girl he loved; he had many dreams, aspirations for himself and his love. He dreamt of starting a family soon. He dreamt of going round the world; visit his favorite city, Paris. But now everything seemed very distant. He wasn’t nervous at this point; in fact he didn’t feel anything at all.

“How much time do I have” was all he could mutter.

“About four may be, if we are really lucky, five. But you would start having serious complications from second month itself and probably would be on a ventilator for the last month.” Doctor didn’t really want to keep him in any allusion.

He didn’t have anything to say. Even if he did, it wouldn’t have made a difference. He was, after all, dying…

While he was getting up from the chair, he felt dizzy and tired to find some kind of support, but it was too late and he fell hard on the ground. The doctor stood up to help him but he refused and started trying to get up. After trying really hard, he could finally manage to get to his feet and somehow with all the courage left inside, he started to walk out of the door.

While walking out he heard Olivia chuckling about something at what the receptionist had just said. He somehow opened the door and Olivia came running towards him and hugged him.

“Hey honey, what did the doctor say?? Is everything all right?? And why are you sweating so much? Is the A/C not working inside the room??”

He smiled. Just listening to her voice made him feel better, just a touch of her flesh made him able to stand up on his feet, just the warmth of her body made him wish to live. But he had to face the facts. He was dying and he couldn’t deny the bitter truth. A silent tear rolled down his eye when he hugged Olivia lost in a dilemma whether to break the news.

Olivia spoke up again as she hugged him tightly, “And by the way don’t you forget we have to go shopping today, alright? I want you to look absolutely stunning when we visit my mum’s house this week. After all she should also know that she married her daughter to a perfect man”

Nick released the embrace, held her face and kissed her forehead. He looked directly into her eyes and it made him realize how happy she was. He said to himself, “I will tell her soon, not now, just not yet”.

While driving back to the house, Nick was still trying to figure out the way he would tell Olivia. Nick himself was lost in uncertainity.

“…… happened. Isn’t it weird baby??” she asked something. “Nick” she called out figuring out the fact that he wasn’t listening. “You always do this, here I am talking and you don’t even find it important enough to listen properly. I hate you.” She frowned saying the last line.

Nick smiled, knowing the fact she lied about the last part. He was about to say something when he noticed beads of tension on Olivia’s forehead, he found it cute. Finally he decided he would not say anything. He put up his left hand on Olivia’s head and lightly stroked it as if he was telling her that she acts immature sometimes and he still adores it.

It was a few days after that Sunday that Nick started to have a little more trouble in breathing. This time he was kind of fine with it because he knew it was actually going to get far worse in a few weeks. Olivia had been pushing him to get a second opinion about his breathing problems as according to her Dr. Martin didn’t give any medicines. Nick gave a sad smile every time Olivia nagged him about it as she didn’t know at that time that there was no medicine in the world that could save him.

Dealing with the fact that you are going to die within a few weeks is harder than imagination, but for him the bigger problem was how he was going to tell Olivia about it. Nick didn’t drink, he never actually drank his entire life, he practically hated the people who drank but this was either the pressure of claws of death slowly moving towards him or that Olivia would be left alone after him which made him enter a bar for the first time in his life. He ordered a Cuba Libre and sat in a relatively quiet corner of the bar. He held the glass in his hand and after almost 15 minutes of studying it for no reason he finally took one sip. It felt as if someone has burned his inside. He could actually feel the rum going down, burning everything it touched. Somehow he finished the first sip, the sour taste still lingered in his mouth but the burning had stopped, at least for now.  For some inexplicable reason he suddenly had an urge to take another sip even after knowing that it was going to burn again. He drank the whole glass in the next five minutes. It burned like hell but he wanted more. He ordered the bartender to serve him another glass. Before he was finished that night Nick drank 17 glasses of Cuba Libre. His chest was still burning but just enough that he knew he was done for today. He walked up, a little shaky but still better than most and strolled right out of the bar. He checked his pocket for his phone and after finally finding it he fumbled to unlock the main screen. After some desperate attempts, he finally was successful and saw what he anticipated. Olivia left 112 texts and 145 calls. He now started feeling a little guilty on what she might have been going through but still somewhere at the back of his mind he thought that this was going to be her life after he was gone. NO, he firmly said to himself, she deserves to know. He got into his car and drove straight to his house.

It was raining cats and dogs all the way home and while he was parking his car in the driveway he saw Olivia opening the door and running towards him, not caring about the rain. He got out of the car by the time Olivia reached him, soaking wet by now and she almost jumped over him hugged him tighter than she had ever hugged him before.  The time he had not been replying had been the worst time of her life and she wanted to make sure he was fine.

Suddenly, almost simultaneously they started crying, Olivia because she was too deeply worried about him and Nick because he couldn’t keep it in him any longer. Even though it was raining heavily, they both could see each other crying helplessly. Olivia tried stopping herself but she was too overwhelmed by an unknown emotion that she couldn’t stop. Same was the case with him, he tried speaking something but every time he tried opening his mouth but something choked his words.

After about 15 minutes, Olivia finally found the courage to loosen up and see the face of Nick. She saw immense sadness, something she had never seen before. She could see that something had happened to him, or something was about to, something so dreadful that Nick couldn’t gather up the courage to talk to Olivia about it.

He looked at her face, so shining, so bright and so beautiful. He looked in her almond shaped eyes which were now painfully swollen because of the crying.

With all the courage he had left after fighting off the disease that was going to kill him, he looked straight into the eyes he once fell in love with and just said, “I am dying baby. I am dying and I can’t do anything about it.”

It had now been exactly 4 months and 11 days since doctor had broken the news of Cancer to Nick, and it had been about 4 months since Nick broke this news out to Olivia. She had almost been numb for a few hours of Nick telling her that, but she soon realized that Nick needed her right now. They had consulted every doctor they could find and none of them offered any hope.

Nick had been shifted to a ventilator from the last five days. Olivia had been exceptionally strong in front of Nick, but he could see the sadness sprawled right across her face. The once lovely face of Olivia was now just a shadow of what she once had been, these past four months made her look more than a decade older then she really was, and Nick, he was just left a ghost of the man he once was. Weighing a little over 40 kilograms in his last medical checkup, he didn’t have enough strength to even stand on his own feet. He had to be carried out everywhere on a wheelchair.

At the routine 9.30 pm checkup doctor had given Nick a sedative injection as he had trouble sleeping the previous night. Just after the doctor left, suddenly Nick coughed out so hard that it seemed like he choked on something. Olivia came running towards him trying to pacify him. She started to turn around to get a nurse or someone to attend him but he held her hand and tried saying something but couldn’t get out the words. Olivia knew that he wanted her to stay with him. She hugged him tightly and Nick, even though he couldn’t breathe felt as if he was going to live, at least for now. He finally went into blissful sleep.

Nick and his older cousin were sitting at someone else’s funeral. The chairs had been lined up as if a huge amount of people were expected to show up. He looked at himself and he looked normal, exceptionally normal. While the service was still going, his cousin stood up and said, “Nicky I think I am going to go now. This stuff is really boring. Are you coming?”

 “You go, I will catch you later” Nick answered.

“Okay, but don’t be too late, I will be waiting.” He said and walked out.

Nick suddenly realized there was something wrong with everything around him. He got up walking to pay respect to the person who was dead, saw a woman; even though she looked older he could see she was about the age of Nick himself sobbing helplessly. He went closer to the coffin. He saw himself, his own corpse, turned pale and lifeless.

Nick suddenly woke up coughing hard. He saw himself and everything around him and it struck him that what he was seeing was just a dream. The cousin he just met had been dead for almost a decade. He had only heard about such stories that someone close to you who is dead comes to take you with him. Suddenly Nick realized that his time had come. He was going to die soon, very soon. He looked at Olivia for a long time as if to register her memory forever with him.

Nick passed away the next day. At his funeral, a huge crowd of people were present to show last respects to the man they all loved. Such a number even amazed Olivia but she knew he was the man who was loved by everybody. When she finally returned home after everyone left, giving their condolences she was left alone in the house in which they wanted to grow their future together. She started to collect all of his belongings, which were practically everywhere in the house. Suddenly she stumbled upon his wallet. She opened it and among some cash and credit cards she found a picture of her and Nick together. She remembered the time when the picture was taken. They had gone on a holiday with some of their friends and she did something to offend him. Nick was still angry with her when this picture was taken and Olivia was actually giving him a sorry hug. On the back of the picture Nick had written, “I love you baby”.

 Olivia had made a promise to Nick that she wouldn’t cry after he died, and she herself wanted to celebrate his life, not cry remembering it. Even with her trying her best, a silent tear rolled down her check onto the picture exactly on Nick’s face. She lay down on the bed on the side where Nick used to sleep, buried her head deep inside Nick’s pillow, which was surprisingly still carried Nick’s fragrance and she slept. She had not slept properly for the last long four months, but now, she went into deep sleep, where she knew Olivia and Nick would always be together.

Writer's Dilemma

First of all let me make this clear that I don’t see myself as a writer, I prefer myself as a storyteller or something like that. But still, the title says writer because you know, it looks cooler. I have been thinking about writing some of my thoughts down for a while now, but never quite had the time or the decency to put them into words. So, the stuff written now is a bunch of disorganized thoughts but don’t freak out, it will all make sense in the end, at least I hope they do.

First of all, I want to tell everyone that I don’t only write love stories, yes they do form a majority of the stuff I have written, but again, doesn’t love form the majority of what we are and what we live for? I, for example write my stories about stuff much more than just love, of course it includes love, but only in a much larger form then people usually infer. Like in one, it was much more about loving yourself then loving someone else or in the other it loved your dreams more than anything else. Moreover in the short stories I have recently written, there is nothing about love. They are related to other strong emotions such as rage or hate or stuff. Moreover I don’t like to write about my life, as many of the engineering pass outs from IIT’s are doing these days. It was once a nice feeling to read about someone’s campus life, or how they did something, but now it seems like everybody got through the same shit. Everybody is as screwed as the one before them. I like to write stuff I like to read. I am more of a fiction guy, kill me for that.

Secondly one of my very best friends once said that she thought writers have a really boring life, I couldn’t disagree more. I, for one think that I have had one of the most dramatic lives anyone has ever lived. You know full of drama, heartbreaks and happiness etc. But then again, everyone thinks of their life like this. If someone is a writer doesn’t mean that his/her life is going to be any different than any Tom, Dick or Harry out there. Everybody is the hero of their own story; I like to think myself as one, just like everybody else.

Thirdly my relation with all the main characters of my stories, people seem to think I write from my life experience or stuff. I do, but not as much as you think. The only exception I would think of is the lead male characters of ALL of my stories. I have been all of them, at one time or the other. I, and this might be only my opinion, but I still think every writer knits his lead character from somewhere deep inside of him or her. So even if there might not be any direct relation between the writer and his lead character, there will be millions of them indirectly.

And for the fourth and last point, I have been many times criticized that my stories don’t have a happy ending and someone or the other gets kills in them. For this I only have one thing to say, “Life has no happy endings, even if it does, I haven’t seen it. Believe me, when I do, I’ll write it.”

Not a Love Story

They say mirror reflects you what kind of a person you are inside. What you feel is clearly shown inside it. Even the old fairy tale to Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs has the mention of a special kind of mirror which shows the reflection of the most beautiful women in all the land. Well, they are all shit. You see what you look like to other people in the mirror, that’s just about it. Now when I watch myself in the mirror right now, I see a fat guy in his mid forties, balding, wearing a blood strained blue shirt and black trouser and holding a shovel covered with blood and what I think it the portion of the intestine of one of the two people I just killed.

I was never the kind of a kid who would like to go outside and play with the other kids. I actually hated them running around creating a mess all around. All the grownups used to laugh when they broke something. I never understood what with that. It was I guess in my early teens, the times when kids start to grow up, start doing the grownup stuff. The first time I felt like hitting someone. By now you might have guessed I didn’t have the highest of the self esteem you will see in a kid of my age. I was round, fat and grumpy. The other kids used to bully me, pull my hair, sometimes even my shorts down. I remember one time I was walking down the hallway in school when one of the kids jumped in from behind and pulled down my pants. It felt as if all the girls of the school were standing there. I felt as if I should take the fire extinguisher and hit that little kid so hard, but I didn’t, instead I started to cry. It was one of those many nights that I cried myself to sleep. But that is not the main part of the story, so moving on. I finally finished my studies with a very average marks, got myself a low paying job, and a girlfriend, yes I know, I got a girlfriend. It could have been a big deal if my own girlfriend wouldn’t have been making an ass out of me behind my back.  I got dumped, twice, by the same woman, that was the time when I decided I didn’t need any women in my life to screw me up. But the more I thought about it, the more I felt sick about myself.

Marriage is more of an obligation in India rather than a tradition. The more I tried to postpone it, the more my parents were determined to get me married. As I have already told that I don’t really look like a Tom Cruise, even though I have his height. So naturally I was rejected many times when my parents finally found someone who was willing to bear me for the rest of her life. The marriage went off really well; I was the first night after the marriage which was the problem. She was sitting there fully dressed up and waiting for me, but I just couldn’t get the courage to touch her. I thought it might just offend her. I took my pillow and slept on the couch that night, and for every night ever since.

It had been about 2 months in our marriage and she was trying very hard to please me. She cooked for me, took care of me when I felt sick. It was the first time for me that someone actually cared for me, except for my mother, but she is a mother, they have to care. I don’t know she did it because she loved me or just because she thought it was her duty to serve her husband well. But I never somehow got up the courage to ask her.

As it had been a long time, people in my office, bad people I mean, wanted me to give a party because of the wedding. Mostly they all wanted to team up and embarrass myself in front of my wife. I ignored all of them, except Jimmy. Jimmy was the kind of guy women would dream when they are with a guy like me. He was, if I am not being modest, one of the finest specimens of human males, and by the way, the only guy in the office who wasn’t a jerk to me. He was nice, warm and a truly genial person. When he advised me to arrange a party, I just couldn’t refuse.

The party went off well, I wasn’t teased much, nobody laughed at my fat stomach more then they usually do. It heredity people, get over it. There were now just a few people left, Jimmy and a few other guys from my work, and yes, my wife. Everybody in my office seemed to like her, her not me. I don’t really understand why. I have been working there for more than a year and still no one even recognizes me properly. Moving on, Jimmy seemed to enjoy chatting up with my wife along with other guys while I started cleaning up. It felt kind of weird seeing two of them together, talking to each other, with an occasional giggle from my wife. I felt kind of sick, my hands started to become warm. For the first time in my time since I have known Jimmy, I felt to as if slap him, but of course I didn’t. I continued cleaning up.

Jimmy hanging around in my house after office almost became a routine for him. It was as if he had a certain connection with me, or my wife now. He came over almost every day, would tell us hilarious stories, the kind of stories my kind of people might never have been part of. Sometimes he would come over even when I was not in the house. I, for obvious reasons didn’t like it, and of course didn’t say anything.

Today, Jimmy was absent from work. I wasn’t really worried because my wife had also gone to her parent’s house spend the night. I thought it would be a good time to hit the bar and soak up some booze. I usually leave my office at 5 and reach home by 6, but today I straight went to the bar and started drinking bourbon. Yes, guy like me drinking bourbon, it can happen. I thought of stopping by Jimmy’s place just to see if he was ok or not. It was dark and I was drunk, but I finally managed to find the right house. As I stepped off from my car, I heard screaming coming out the house. I would usually pee myself in a situation like this but maybe it was the booze or something else, but I got the courage to pick up the shovel from the garden and face whatever is in there. The weird thing was every light was off, except for the bedroom.

I slowly walked towards the bedroom window, trying not the make a sound. It wouldn’t have made such a difference as the screaming was loud enough to cover it. But I still walked slowly because I saw it in a movie one and it looked cool. As I almost reached the window, the screaming had now softened and reached at a point of almost moaning. I felt kind of silly standing there thinking what I was thinking, but I came as far as here; I thought a look wouldn’t hurt. As I peeked into the bedroom, I saw a man and women, well doing stuff. Man was definitely Jimmy but I couldn’t recognize the women, though she looked familiar. When they stopped to change positions, I couldn’t believe my eyes. The women was no one else than my own wife.

Let me clarify this in advance or it may be perceived in a wrong sense but I have never really been a violent person. I might be the most harmless person you will ever meet, but I don’t know what happened to me at that time, as I said earlier, I don’t know if it was the alcohol or anything else, but at that moment I felt something I had never felt before, rage. I felt as if my hands are starting to tingle and all I want was to go inside and smash their heads with all the strength I have, however less it may be. I swear time slowed down and my mind started playing with me, I am telling you, alcohol and rage is not a good combination. My mind wandered into my childhood as long as I might remember and I started to see the pictures of everything bad that has ever happened to me. Every time someone bullied me, laughed at me, cheated on me and made others to laugh at me. It somehow grew in my head and my heart started pumping blood to my brain so hard that I felt my brain would explode at any minute now, but all I could think of was the ways I can make everybody who made an ass out of me pay.

Without realizing I smashed the window pane with the shovel I had in my hand just hoping my brain would stop playing games with me, the moaning stopped and both Jimmy and my wife looked up and saw me standing out in the window with a shovel in my hand. All I could see on their face was fear, exactly like what other people would have seen in my eyes over the years. Suddenly I saw everyone’s face, everyone who has ever hurt me, in the shadow of their faces. I knew I couldn’t stop myself now and finally I jumped onto the window into the room and started running towards the bed. My wife was so scared she covered himself up with the sheet and interestingly enough her face was actually whiter then the bed sheet. Jimmy got up to stop me but with all the strength I had I smashed the shovel across Jimmy’s face and knocked him out. Seeing him like that made me feel like a god, seeing him like that made me do it more. I went up to the bed and started hitting my wife with the pointy side of the shovel. I kept hitting her head till I heard her skull cracking and blood oozing out of her head. I turned around and I saw Jimmy about to wake up so I ran across to him and hit him on the part he was just using with my wife. I kept hitting him till the time it actually fell off. Jimmy and my wife lay there motionless but I just couldn’t stop myself from hitting them not because I couldn’t but because I didn’t wanted too. I wanted to show everyone that I am not the same coward person anymore. I kept hitting them till there was something left to hit. By the time I was finished, both of them looked as they had been run off by a truck or something like that. That was the time I felt satisfied and I finally stopped.

Now as I look myself in the mirror, I see a monster that had been hiding under my skin for I don’t know how many years. People might say I have just become a monster, but I know I always was. Aren’t we all monsters under human skin waiting to be unleashed?? I think so, do you??   

  

Sands Of Time (Part 10)

And god knows she didn’t lose any hope .She took him out on his favorite places she knew he went. But she was extra careful by not taking her to the place where she and Pratima might have been, which was difficult because they had been together for so many times and had practically been everywhere. So somehow she always found out some place or something to do. She thought about telling him how she felt but she figured he needed a friend more than anything now and she was willing to be that for him. I will tell him, I will, but at the right time. She thought to herself.

One day they were returning from a place and it was almost evening. She decided to talk a walk to home as the weather was really good. There was a slight breeze carrying the whiff of freshly ripped apples in the air. It was cool and hopefully rainy. They were talking the whole way. Just talking, nothing specific nothing special. Suddenly she realized it started drizzling lightly. She loved the rain. Especially this because it was the first time that he was with Aryan. Aryan ran towards the shelter to cover himself up but Reet loved the rain and she even pulled him out of it just to enjoy the rain. Aryan felt a sudden burst of smile on his face, the smile that secluded him for so many days now. Reet loved herself for making him smile again. She stopped whatever she was doing and started staring at him like it was god itself smiling at her. She moved closer to him. It was late in the evening and no one was around. Even if it was she would not have cared. She moved closer with her heart pounding faster every second that passed by. She went so close to him that she even felt his body warmth for the first time.

 Raindrops started falling slowly. Everything in the universe felt perfect. Everything was moving slowly. Her teeth cluttered due to the chill. Her lips were trembling because of the nervousness on what she was about to do. She went in closer to him, Wrapped her arm around him. Aryan felt a sense of relief in her. He also wrapped his arm around her. She slowly moved closer and with her heart almost to her neck and her lips trembling badly she said “I LOVE YOU” and kissed him. Aryan didn’t resist as it was like that kind of relief he was looking for since Pratima left him. He held her closer to his mouth. And with his own trembling voice replied “I LOVE YOU TOO” and sealed the moment with a kiss.

After that they both went home told their parents about their feeling for each other. Their parents asked if they wanted to get married. They were both more than happy to say yes.

Within 1 year of their marriage, Reet gave birth to a beautiful little girl named Ishita……..

Then Aryan came back to the present. With his moist eyes he had just told his own love story to the girl he once loved. Pratima sat there almost crying to hear what she had done to him. But was happy to know that Reet was there to help him. Pratima started hating herself on being nothing but bad news to anybody. And due to that she started hitting herself lightly. The habit Aryan remembered and knew what to do in these situations. He went up and sat down on the chair close to her and hugged her and told her that it was not like that and she was good for anybody and reminded about Zenith, who she had brought up alone.

When he broke the hug he left Pratima with the sense of wanting it more. She saw Aryan sitting right in front of her. The very Aryan that she once loved. Her best friend. Her everything. Aryan told her that he had to leave because Reet and Ishita would be waiting for him in his home. He promised to her to bring Reet and Ishita along the next time he comes. He stood up, kissed her forehead and left.

She just sat there wondering what life would have been if she had chosen him over Rachit. For a moment she again found herself falling for Aryan all over again. But then she remembered something that her father once said to her when their dog ran away from their house when she was about Zenith’s age. It made her realized why Aryan never fought for her or reacted the way she imagined the day she chose Rachit over him. It was that if you truly love someone you should let them go because if your love is true, than their happiness becomes more important to you than your own. Love with your heart and with full devotion and the god shall be with you.