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 And they lived happily ever after. These were the last words in the book. She read those and smirked. Closing the book she thought to herself, " huh, if only all of this was true."

She poured herself a glass of red wine and walked across the room to the balcony of the beautiful room she was in. She walked in and felt the light rain pouring. Miles away from the city, miles away from all the hustle bustle she could finally feel the silence. All she wanted in the past two years was to escape and feel this silence and peace.

Suddenly her phone buzzed. She had received a message. It read, "Hey, thank you for today. Your idea worked out. We finally made up. I am on my way back to the resort. I will see you tomorrow at 6 🙂"

She smiled while reading the message and then kept her phone on the side. She closed her eyes and heard the rain pour. It had been an hour and the wine was over. She put an alarm for 5.30 am and with a mind full of thoughts she went to sleep.

****

His phone buzzed, it was an email from work. He read the first few lines from the notification tab and then turned it off. He sipped on his beer in the balcony of the room. He could hear a bird make sound at a distance. While resting on the arm chair with closed eyes he heard the rain pour and felt the cold breeze on his face. He smiled and felt relieved being miles away from the city.

It had been four years since he had taken a break and finally he had taken one. The fact that noone could get to him right now was more satisfying than anything else. He just wanted this silence, this peace and this beautiful weather which calmed him.

Suddenly out of nowhere he opened his eyes, picked his phone and called Nitin. The call went through and he said, "Hello Nitin, sorry for calling you so late."

Nitin replied, "No sir not at all. It is all okay. Tell me how can I help you?"

"Just wanted to know are we on for tomorrow? You sounded doubtful today afternoon."

Nitin replied, "Oh, yes sir we are definitely meeting tomorrow."

He smiled and replied," that's great. I will see you tomorrow then. Goodnight."

The beer was over. He stood up, stretched and headed for his bed.

****

It was 5.50am. She was all ready for today. She picked her bag, turned off all the lights in the room, locked the door and left. At this hour the birds were chirping, the light rain continued. She was walking down the path and a resort staff, in a golf cart, greeted her on the way. The staff asked if she needed to be dropped at the clubhouse. She denied with a smile and continued walking.

She reached the clubhouse and looked around. Trekking boots and the poles were kept out. She looked around again but couldn't find anyone. So she sat down on the sofa in the clubhouse and put the boots on.

"Good morning."

She looked up and smiled and said, " Good morning Nitin."

Nitin smiled and said, " Thank you for your advise yesterday. I am so happy."

She laughed and said, " There is nothing to thank me for. I am glad you and your girlfriend patched up. Soo how many are accompanying us on the trek today?"

Nitin replied," Well 6 of them were to come apart from you. But you know how it is ya. 5 of them were of a group and they cancelled today morning."

Weirdly she was happy knowing that this trek was not going to be full of people. She secretly wished for this last night and knowing that it worked she was beyond happy.

She said, ”okay then let’s begin.”

And just then he appeared and said, “ Good morning Nitin.”

She stood up and looked at him. He looked at her and smiled.

Nitin stepped back and said, “Good morning sir. I was just about to ask the resort staff to call you.”

He replied, “And here I am.”

Nitin was the trek guide of the resort. And every morning the trek began at 6 am and ended by 10 am.

Nitin showed him the boots and the trek poles. She watched him wear the boots and suddenly her mind started racing. She wondered why he was here. What was he doing here.

Nitin stepped back from the two and said, “So unfortunately from a group of 9, including me and Thapa, we are just a group of 4 now. Thapa and I will be your trek guides. He will be here in a few minutes. Our trek will start as soon as he arrives. Today we will be climbing …” Nitin continued giving the introduction of the trek.

She was not new to this trek so she was aware of how it went. But he was attentively listening to Nitin. She kept wondering about him and drifted off to their first meeting.

****

Her flight was to leave at 7pm. She had reached the airport at 5.30pm and was highly annoyed. She rushed through and reached the check-in counters. She looked annoyed. She handed her ticket and passport at the counter and apologized for reaching late. The lady at the counter smiled at her and then said, “ That’s alright. Do you happen to have a seat reference? Because unfortunately …”

She cut her in between and said, “I’d like a window seat at the back end of the flight please.”

The lady said, “Ohh, we do have a window seat at the second last row. Hope that is okay.”

She nodded and the lady handed her the boarding pass. She took it and rushed through. Luckily the queue at security was less. She got through easily and then looked at the time. She now had good 40 minutes left and so decided to walk through the duty free shopping area. She wanted a chocolate real bad. After walking around for a bit she finally found a store and walked in.

She picked her favorite chocolate bars and went to the cashier. Two cashiers were there and both had queues. She got into one of the queues and he joined the other queue. He was busy on the phone and had chocolates and a drink in the other hand.

He said, “Joseph, I have sent the email today afternoon. It has all the details. Why don’t you check up on that again?”

He went on, “I hear you Jo, but you have got to stop panicking. I am only going away for a month. You can surely handle it all…”

He went on and on and she understood that he too was going away on a holiday like her.

She checked out at the counter and went to the waiting area. She boarded the flight and sat at her seat. Pulled out her phone and messaged her people informing them that she has boarded the flight.

He boarded the flight and sat right next to her. That’s where his seat was. She was still messaging others and didn’t notice him. And a few minutes later she annoyingly turned off her phone.

He watched her do that and pulled out his phone and turned it off too. She saw him do that.

The flight took off and they both were at ease now. It was a good 3 hour long flight.

Fragment

 

She looked at the office clock and realised it was 9:00 pm. She sighed and turned her neck around. She was tired and done for the day. She grabbed her bag, switched off her computer screen and the lights in the office and left for home.

The bus stop was at a distance of 3 minutes. She walked towards it. And that is when she felt him near her. She looked at her left and there he was, as always beside her.

“Tired?”, he asked. She nodded with a smile. “Let’s go home, quick dinner and we sleep off.”, he said. She said, “Yes I really want my bed right now.” He laughed. She walked on.

She entered the house, clumsily removed her shoes and went into her room. Turned on the lights, switched on the air conditioner and straight away fell into her bed. She lay there for a while, watching the ceiling. And in a few seconds her eyes closed.

And he said, “Oh you and your bed. Go get changed, we will have dinner and sleep off.”

She replied, “Nooo! Let me be for a while. Please.”

He laughed at her. She said, “It was a tiring day okay.”

“I know, I know. But you are the stubborn one. I have told you a million times, not to work beyond your working hours. Stop making it your life.”, he replied.

“You know it all too well, then why do you ask.”, she said.

He kissed her on the cheeks and said, "I am setting the table for dinner."

He walked out of the room. She lay there quietly. 

Something was not right about today. She was annoyed.

She finally sighed and opened her eyes. She looked at the ceiling and wondered how many times she had painted this ceiling with her thoughts.

She then finally got up and left the room. She went straight to the kitchen counter. Picked her plate and served herself. Today, for a change she did not want to eat at the table. She sat down on the sofa and switched on the tv. 

He was there too and while eating he watched her. He knew she was annoyed.

She was not eating and so he took her plate in his hands and asked her, "what is wrong?"

She looked at him and said, "nothing."

He did not believe her but decided to let it go for a while. He then started feeding her. She ate quietly. 

As soon as he stood up, she pulled him back. She put her head on his shoulder and said nothing. He didn't move either. He just smiled, kissed her head and stayed there. 

After a few minutes he said, “I am not a stranger, love. I am here for you. You know you can tell me anything and everything."

She said nothing. 

He went on to say, “you looked pretty today. It was difficult for me to concentrate on my work, you know." He chuckled and went on to say," you have got to stop enticing me this way."

She again said nothing.

He put his arm around her and pulled her closer into him. He breathed in heavily and said, “you know, loving you is easy. I wish I had met you earlier in life. Things would be so much more beautiful than it is today. What do you think?"

It seemed as though he knew what was going on in her mind but just wanted her to say it out loud.

She replied, “you really think so?"

He smiled and said, “Of Course love. Why would it not be beautiful? You are here, in your own little dreamhouse, with an amazing job, which by the way you love more than anything…"

she closed her eyes. And hugged him tightly. 

He continued, “Just like the way you wanted. So tell me what is it that is not making all this beautiful? … Ohh I almost forgot, I am here too."

She moved away and was about to open her eyes. 

He said, “Baby, don't open them yet."

She asked, “Are you really here?" 

He asked her, “You don't think so?" 

She opened her eyes. And looked down with her teary eyes and said to herself, “you are a beautiful fragment of my imagination. And nothing more"

And her heart questioned her, "does that mean that the love is fake?"

She had no answer. But he reappeared and said, “I may not be real. I will never be. Because I am someone you made up. But that does not stop me from loving you. You will forever be beautiful in my eyes and I will forever be by your side. All you have to do is feel my presence."

Her annoyed look was gone and she smiled. It somehow didn't matter whether her love was real or not. All that mattered in this moment was that she could feel the love.