Love Short Story- A Forgotten Paradise
Photo credit: veggiegretz from morguefile.com
Mr. Smith… Mr. Smith……. Mr. Smith!!!!….
Mary kept on calling, but I was altogether in a different world. Appreciating the serenity of the uninhabited. Every time I observed a different shape appeared altogether. I thought how amazing life would be if only I was born a bird.
Being on the cover page of Forbes, Times and Business World was like a routine exercise for me. I had sky-rocketed and torn past all the others in the race of life. Yes, I was fulfilled. Mary handed me the pen drive I had asked for. I could guess from the gesture on her face that she presumed me to be an idiot of the finest kind looking outside the window and being self-delighted.
As I inserted the pen drive into my I-pad, I once more saw the magnificent clouds accompanying me in my lonely journey. As I opened the removable drive I recognized that this wasn’t the pen drive I had asked for. This business deal would fetch me millions and how could Mary act sloppy during such crucial times. But I knew that I was half paralyzed without her assistance and she was my lifeline. Just as I was about to remove the device from the port, I saw a folder named Rosy. The name struck me like an arrow released from the arms of mighty Hercules. My heart paced like a horse galloping on the grasslands of the Savvanah.
The name had such an overriding effect on me reminding me of my days with Rosy during my undergraduate years. It had been long since she had left me. The mind said no but the heart screamed for a glimpse of her photograph. More than often, the rational faculty of our mind is dominated by the passions of the heart even though I believed that both are a product of the mind itself. Quivering, I ensued to click on the folder notwithstanding of being conscious that the heart would be broken. Again. Upon opening the folder, I scrolled through the photographs. Carefree days when Rosy and I clicked photographs unnecessarily. Always standing next to her, beside her, for her. We were madly in love with each other and even if we never said it out loud we knew that the air resonated with love as we walked past others. Proceeding with the photographs, I stopped at the one I always loved. The photograph could have easily been the snap of the century if made public. The photograph still reverberated the aura of the love. With her head resting on my shoulder I held her hand and together we viewed the sunset. Paradise.
Good things truly don’t last forever and so did our love. She left me one fine morning saying that I had grown selfish over the years, leaving with me an address of New York which I had by hearted. Reminding myself of how foolish I had acted by browsing through this folder, I decided to shut it down and throw away the pen drive forever. Being a multi-millionaire oil tycoon I could easily afford such acts. But things weren’t the same during college days when I feared lending my pen drive to classmates in case it would be lost or stolen.
I got up and decided to flush the drive down the toilet. Suddenly, something inside me stopped me from doing it. Being distressed I called Mary and asked her to set up a drink for me. Whisky with 2 ice cubes along with soda was my preference. Owing a private jet had its perks I thought and again fell into the “Alex World”. The whisky coupled with the tiring journey was my perfect sleeping pill. Upon closing my eyes, it dawned upon me that the deal was scheduled to conclude at New York, my jet was heading for New York and the last known residence of Rosy was also New York!!!
I slept not to sleep but to escape the fact that meeting Rosy was now inevitable for me. Waking up after short nap Mary called out to me again but this time I woke up promptly. The drive from airport to Hilton Hotel, where I was accommodated, was a long one and all the time I thought about Rosy despite Mary explaining me the important briefings for the meeting. The sunshine shone through her hair, eyes beautiful as the lotus serenely situated in a still pond and a smile which captivated the sentiment of Cupid himself. When the heart is trembled even the mind seemed unstable. As I rested myself on the couch of the presidential suite I realized that I had come all the way to New York for a business deal and not to reopen the memory box. The callous me rejuvenated and with the board meeting scheduled in an hour I prepared for my presentation.
Why not visit Rosy after the board meeting? Am I scared of her? She left me I didn’t why should I visit her then? All these questions troubled me. So I decided to pay her a visit after the meeting to confront my love. As usual I out performed all the other competitors and snatched the deal. Winning had always been in my blood and this deal added big bucks to the company’s treasury. I was delighted with myself as always.
Some people could never be forgotten from your memory lane no matter how hard you try. I still remembered her address somehow. The driver told me that the house was on the second building across the street and since the road was a bit narrow the luxury sedan couldn’t pass through. It was still easier for me to walk a few steps for Rosy as I had walked miles with her earlier. The building seemed almost a century old with a dilapidated architecture.
As I knocked on the door I shivered thoroughly, the heart seemed to burst out and time almost stopped for me. She opened the door standing with a baby in her hand. As we looked into each other’s eyes the moment froze and our eyes needed no introduction. Our love never faded; it couldn’t have. She also stood still with the baby unable to utter a word. Gathering all the courage I spoke.
“Hello Rosy, I am Alex your long lost acquaintance”.
She snapped out of the dream saying she knew who I was and silently invited me inside the shabby lodge. As I stealthily proceeded, the room seemed to be more distorted than an unruly traffic of vehicles on a busy street. She kept down the baby and placed her gently in the cradle in the other room. I sat in the sofa which was beside the window trying to absorb the reality in the midst of my surreal meeting with Rosy.
Rosy had not changed a bit, her eyes reflected the tranquility of the ocean and the lips kept up to her name. Age had taken a toll over her but it never over shadowed the charm within. All I could manage was to ask her how she had been all this while. She told me that she married and was living happily with her kids Noel and Jesse, how much her husband loved her despite of the financial mess they were in. My eyes were filled with tears but I drowned my tears into the darkness of my heart.
The happiness I saw in her eyes was more than enough to finally satiate the years of heartache I had suffered. I told her about my professional success, flaunted to her all my wealth and informed her how I was living a King sized life. Rosy smirked and said that I was still the same over ambitious Alex. She said that she did not leave me because she did not love me anymore. She left me because I had always been worried about my career and all I ever thought about was being positioned highly in the world. She also told me that all the years she had been with me in college she had only seen me grow from bad to worse as a person. The Alex she loved was a very different person and she knew that a ruthless Alex had replaced the kind warm hearted fellow she loved.
For the first time in my life all the wealth did not matter to me and I cried. The words struck me like lighting. She came and sat next to me. As tears welled down my eyes I held her hand and she held mine too. After years of yearning I felt human. Clearing my eyes I realized what I had lost and I was still a prisoner in her love. Looking into her eyes filled with love I came forward to kiss her, for the last time. She knew she could not do so being a married woman. When there is a union of souls from heaven above no force of societal impositions could impede it. She succumbed and kissed me. Holding her close to me; our lips met, they reveled in each other’s amorous splendor like the couple swan in the pond. Our love was like the gush of wind, it comes and goes but never dies. If only I could seize the moment forever reminiscing the days when we used to sit together watching the sun go down.
As I detracted, she said that we could not proceed. I knew that I had to curb my passions and with a heavy heart I had to let go of her. Standing up I rushed towards the door. Before leaving she said the words I always craved for in all my lonesome years.
I always loved you Alex.
Walking out of the front door I knew that I had achieved my Paradise.
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