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Chapter dedicated to : -Obsessed-
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I came out of that little fairy garden and received a call from Samaira right before her plane boarded.
"So, you met him ?" she asked expectantly.
"Yes."
"What was he wearing ?" She interrogated.
"The same old."
"... and that is ?" suspicion crept in to her voice.
"The scent of betrayal." I said sitting into my car.
" He never turned up, did he ? " she said as her voice sank , while her plane prepared to fly.
"The only one who showed up was I"
There was no disappointment in my voice, shockingly. As I liked the bold tone I had spoken in, I preferred to go with it.
"To cheer things up a little, I'll let you know, that I have been made the chief of the Forensics Department. "
As I put my keys in ignition I could sense her happiness radiating out of my phone.
" Congratulations , you deserved it. " I smiled.
" Thank you . When will you drop off your golden - cocker - retriever home ?"
" My flight is of 3 am , so I think I'll drop off Winners now. "
"Don't worry Samir and I will take good care of her." she said before cutting the line.
Suddenly, I was lonely again and the silence got heavier by the second.
No, don't get me wrong.
Being alone did not hurt, it was feeling alone that did. Surprisingly I managed to feel alone even in the crowd of thousands.
Thanking my problem ? - solution ! attitude I turned on the radio and it was playing the acoustic version of Out of the Woods by Taylor Swift. The song had just begun.
When , out of the blue appeared a BMW on my rear view mirror and stopped so dangerously close that it almost rammed itself into my car.
Ignoring the recent happenings I swerved out of the lane and on to the main road and it followed me out.
Assuming that the person too had some work on the main road or on any other road to which the main road led I focused my mind on the beats of the song.
When I got into my apartment Winners ran up to me. She was just a few months old. Looking at her lean on my knees while she balanced on her hind legs with that tongue of her's lolling around I actually considered cancelling my plans.
That was, until they actually got cancelled.
Sitting on the side table my iPhone lit up and buzzed itself to death and along with itself it also killed my mood.
CNN : Thailand's coast hit by a tsunami
Jeremy : Mind if I come over ?
CNN : All flights to Thailand cancelled.
Samaira : Hey , what does Winners eat ?
CNN : Tsunami hits Maldives and Indian coast as well.
The atmosphere around me dulled and my spirits lowered. So many people had died. The gloom that spread was only aggravated by the rain splattering on the windows.
I said a quick prayer expressing my gratitude that I was alive and hoped that the others were in a better place.
I drew the white chiffon curtains and as I tugged on them I saw the same black BMW standing 76 floors below. Its rain beaten roof could not look any sleeker, and yes I was pretty impressed by the car's design and the fact that its driver ended up in the same building as I.
Thats when my phone tinged for the second time.
Jeremy : ... because I am waiting for your approval under your window.
I made my way back to the window and peered outside , just to find myself staring down at the same BMW some lush green landscape, and buildings. It was getting tougher to see the small figurines on the ground as the clouds darkened and my window got covered by water droplets.
Which led to me , messaging him back.
Me : Come in.
... and in he came. Handsome as ever, polite as always. Yet unmatchably sarcastic.
"How are you doing ?" He said pulling out a chair for me.
A lightning struck and blazed the entire city for a split second and when it's roar died the city was robbed of its light.
Load shedding, pouring rain and high school love , is perhaps the worst combination ever and it was all that was needed to describe that moment.
"You still love scented candles , don't you ?" He said lighting one up.
Lemon grass , my favourite. Maybe the only thing he had done right in all those years was lighting that bundle of wax.
I sat down, completely ignoring his question. I never answered questions that bothered me, but it somehow never discouraged him from asking anyway.
"How was Australia ?" I asked.
"Amazing. " he replied in an instant. "Didn't miss out on a single thing."
"Uh huh." I nodded.
"Didn't miss out on anything, but did you miss anything ?"
Hoping it was me that he missed, but obviously I was being childish.
God, it required guts to say that. I hoped that I wouldn't regret asking.
"New York makes me feel like I am missing out." His voice trailed away as he turned to look at the clouded glass, and then turned again, "We both have a lot of catching up to do. "
There is a huge difference between missing something , and missing out on something, and I had completely ignored that notion.
I smiled looking at the candle flicker, how fragile was its flame that it could be blown out by a single breath and yet how elegantly it burnt not intimidated by two mortal breathers.
If a candle seems more interesting to me than the person I am talking to then there is definitely a problem.
He was acting like nothing went wrong. As if that never happened.
"Yeah right. Tell me all about it." I said.
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Hours later the rain that was thundering on my window pane had finally stopped and Jeremy had asked me to go on a walk with him. It was way past mid-night.
Everything was exactly how it used to be back in the days, and I knew exactly how I was going to wind up once the walk got over and yet I agreed to join in.
I locked the door and triple checked it, just incase. I saw him smiling at me from the corner of my eyes and just shook my head at his gestures.
Suddenly he bent down and picked up the 'cordial invite' his family and he had sent to me, that I had unapologetically thrown outside my threshold.
There was sign of distress on his face "Why ?" He asked.
As if it were a crime to throw away that piece of garbage. The look on his face screamed accusations at me, for disrespecting his dynasty. Almost like it was not expected of me...
"According to your invite that particular function was yesterday, and apart from me no one turned up. So I should be the one asking why."
"Something has gone wrong somewhere. " he mumbled to himself, as his face moulded into a sorry expression.
"Never merging with your company." I said in a huff.
"... but we're still going on that walk, right ?" He said stretching out his hand for me to hold.
"Right." I said taking it.
After walking for sometime under the burning lamp posts and the damp environment, with puddles formed on every nook and corner water could find its way in, we stood in front of the Statue of Liberty.
Suddenly his hold on my hand got tighter, or so I felt. We had stopped in front of that majestic beauty with a torch whose fire was not put off even by the dangerous storm that had passed.
"I've always wanted to see this statue." he said, breaking the silence which had enveloped the both of us.
He had been looking at it without bating an eyelid.
"How is it, now that you've seen it ?"
I asked looking at him.
"I'll tell you when I see it." He said looking at the statue.
He thought that I didn't know, but of course I did.
After all,
I had emerald eyes,
but he was colourblind.
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