I was heaving as I had run around the block looking for someone I knew, some face that would look known. In this city of unknown, I was filled with a strange fear. Every passing man seemed to be a demon lurking in the darkness, waiting to pounce on me. Waiting for the bait to fall in his clutch.
I had come miles away from home to meet him. I was not going to come so close and get lost in this labyrinth. He had told me that he would come to pick me up. The more he delayed coming, the more my heart thudded aloud in the cage of bones. I had come to tell him the truth. The little fact of my life. The fact that I had long hidden within my heart. I didn’t know what he was going to say, what his feelings and thoughts were, but I had to tell him. I just had to tell him!
A car screeched at the opposite side of the road. Instantly, I pulled the black jacket around my body tightly. I shut my eyes fearing a blood-splattered sidewalk. With a shriek I covered my ears with the cold palms. I stood there, afraid to move or even see or hear the things happening around. There was a eerie silence that prevailed. I didn’t want to witness a horrific accident while I was already struggling as a lost foreigner in one corner of the city.
As silent moments passed I heard footsteps. They were getting closer and I felt they were approaching me. Someone was running towards me from across the road. When I opened my eyes, I saw him coming towards me!
There was worry across his face and a fear looming in his eyes. Seeing him my eyes were filled with tears. Finally he was here. He was always there at the right time, whenever I had needed him, at school, at college, on dates with some boy he disapproved of and even today! Even with the worry on his face, he looked all the more amazing. He was one handsome man I had ever met in my life. While I did date some really good looking men, I never saw him the way I did today. They say rightly, you value something or someone only when it moves away from you!
His black shirt stuck to his body, which he had paired with a pair of black jeans. He had a passionate love for that color. His eyes were filled with feelings of concern and apprehension. His nose had a tinge of pink, the colour tinted his nose and cheeks when he had cold or was trying hard not to cry. His square shaped face with his well trimmed stubble was illuminated under the moonlight. His broad shoulders moved as he rushed. Every nerve that emerged and hardened under that skin was visible to me today. Why had I been so blind! I thought removing the palms off my ears.
Reaching close to me, he stopped at an arm’s length. Breathing heavily he spoke, “Are…. you…. all…right?”
I nodded my head.
“What…are…you…doing…here? Why…didn’t… you…call…earlier?” he spoke one word at a time.
I just smiled at him. He stopped talking and looked at me. In a few moments of silence he had steadied his breath while I felt breathless standing so close to him. I was waiting for an opportunity to tell him that what I had come so far to tell.
Suddenly his arms rose and held my hands. Instantly, he pulled me closer. “I was afraid when you said you were here! You shouldn’t have stepped out of the airport.”
“I wanted to surprise you! But guess that was a bad idea!” I giggled. Trying to control my laughter, I pulled my right hand off his grip and tucked a loose strand behind my ear.
Just then his hands cupped my face. “This wasn’t a surprise, Amanda! This was horrible. A terrible idea! You have no idea how I managed to drive that damn car without running over someone and how I avoided getting hit! I don’t know how many traffic signals I broke. The moment you said you were here, I was so happy but when you said that you left the airport in the middle of the night and there was no one with you, it drove me mad. How could you be so irresponsible? My heart…. I…. You….. You have no idea, right?”
He stopped midway.
“I have no idea of? What Rick?” I asked him.
He took a deep breath and his grip on my face turned soft.
“I was scared. Scared of losing you. I can never think of existence on this earth without you Amanda. I just can’t….because….because….” A lone tear fell from his right eye.
“Because?” I looked at him. My heart was beating with a strange pain and blood gushed around frantically.
He looked into my eyes and said, “Because, I have always loved you! Always have and always will.”
As he said those beautiful words, he pulled away his hands and turned back. I saw his right hand rise and I knew he was wiping away that little tear. His shoulders rose and fell as he tried to control his breathing and the turbulent feelings. I knew he was trying to gain control on his emotions.
My body shook with a new joy, a new feeling of peace. Tears fell from my eyes and my heart skipped a beat. My lips split and stretched themselves involuntarily into a smile. I took a little step and got rid of the distance between us. I put my hand on his shoulder. He turned. His eyes red with new tears in them, his lips quivered as he struggled for words. Raising my right hand I wiped his tears, and softly stroked his cheek. He tried to look here and there, avoiding meeting my eyes. Finally his eyes met mine.
“And you never told me?”
He didn’t say anything. His head lowered down as though he had something wrong.
“Rick, you want to know what brought me here? You want to know what it was that I came here for?”
He wiped his pink nose and said,”Yeah! You had said you’d want to buy your wedding dress from Paris. So I guess that’s what you are here for!”
I smiled and realized how he remembered a little wish I had shared with him, years ago after watching some wedding gown catalogue.
“No! How can I buy a wedding dress when I haven’t got a bridegroom?”
He made a face. Confusion and innocence all plastered on it.
She took a breath and knew, she had to tell him, tell him now!
“Yeah! I broke up with Kevin and realized everything was just another mistake. When I announced my engagement with him six months ago I didn’t know I was being so naive. It just didn’t feel right. A few days later you left me there and came to Paris. That’s when I knew something was wrong. I was wrong. I was so foolish that I didn’t know what my heart wanted. There was no way, I could keep that engagement when my feelings were for someone else. And those feelings I realized after I saw him go. Those feelings I accepted when he had gotten away from me. That love I valued when I had been separated from it, from him! I came to tell that person, that man, that love of mine, that I love him. I love him a lot!”
His eyes questioned me, though I thought it was all clear for him.
“I came to tell you, Rick, that…. I…love… you!” I spoke each word slowly so that he would have no more doubts.
Never had I seen someone cry with ecstasy like I saw Rick that day. He pulled me into his arms and embraced me tightly. I could hear his heartbeat as he stroked my hair with one hand and held me by my waist with the other. I felt safe. I felt loved. I could feel the love in his heart. I could feel love in those strong arms of his. I had got my little heaven of love, right there, in the arms of the man I loved!
After a long time wrote a little story! Couldn’t come back with something other than love! 😅 Hope you guys liked it!
Lots of love to all!
Syeda
