Strangers & Secrets Page 3

  “Why are you following me?” she asked.

  He looked behind her. The people on the street have vanished, including the people on the sidewalk and those stood under the shade were not there anymore. The whole street was empty without the reckless drivers. It was just him and her.

  “Who are you?” Her veil didn’t flinch as she asked. Only her eyes were asking the questions.

  The rain began to increase its volume. The droplets bounced back from the shoulder pad of his suit and nylon canopy of her umbrella.

  “I just wanted to remember you” He said looking at her eyes through the window in her black mask.

  Her eyes were intense as she took a step forward. He couldn’t see anything but that. The reflected drops from the umbrella fell on his face. He squinted his eyes, shielding from the raindrops.

  “If you follow me again” She said with a strong tone. “You will suffer the most”

  He was drenching under the heavy rain. The water ran over his lips. He forgot about his whereabouts. The whole place became so silent - dead silent. Something about her gave him a feeling that she is something more than what the eyes could see. All he could notice was she looked an inch taller than him.

  “I apologize for that” He said.

  She turned around sprinkling the waters spiraling out of the spinning umbrella and began to walk away.

  “Wait” Devin said.

  She brought her eyes again at him.

  “I won’t follow you.” He said “But I can’t stop myself from getting to know you”

  He could sense her hatred in her eyes. “All I’m asking is 10 minutes and if you can’t remember me by that, I’ll leave” He said.

  She began to turn once again and stood there. For almost a minute she didn’t speak a word.

  “There is a restaurant” she said pointing at the opposite road. “and I’m going there”

  That’s more than enough time to recall

  He followed her again but this time with her permission.

  They both walked into the restaurant nearby – another empty restaurant. Why is the place always empty whenever she is there?

  She placed her umbrella near the door. She chose the table on her left, near the window and took the seat facing the entrance door.

  His soaked suit felt heavy. He dropped his bag, kept the car keys in the table. “I’ll just be back” He excused himself to clean up.

  What do I do now? He entered the men’s restroom. He looked at his own reflection of the man who took a shower in the middle of the road. He removed his suit, tousled his hair to get rid of wetness and wiped his face clean with the tissue paper. His white shirt looked fresh. He removed the tie, folded back into his pocket. Here goes nothing. He adjusted his still wet hair before leaving.

  He came back from the restroom, carrying his suit on his arm. He placed it on the adjacent chair and sat opposite to her waiting for a question from her. He felt strange looking only at the eyes.

  The waiter came with the menu. She waved her hand discarding the menu from the waiter. “One cappuccino”

  “Same. No... Okay, same” Devin said uncomfortably.

  “With straw” she said as the waiter began to leave with a polite smile.

  You are making it harder. Devin looked around, avoiding her eyes. “Could you remove – I mean can I see your face?”

  “Why?” She asked tilting her head. “You asked for 10 minutes and It’s already 1 minute and 54 secs over. You didn’t say anything about seeing my face”

  “Okay. What is your name?” He started his interrogation.

  “I won’t give you my name”

  “My name is Devin”

  “I don’t care”

  He sighed, irritated by her rudeness.

  “I won’t give you my name” she said again “but I will give you my number”

  Devin’s eye widened at her words. “I do not have a cellphone” He said moving his bag on his side.

  “I didn’t say it’s my contact number. I said I will give you my number”

  The common assumption over “my number” phrase perplexed him.

  “Fifty- five. That’s my number”

  “What is that? What do I do with that?” Devin asked anticipating further details.

  “Absolutely nothing” She said coldly. “Look you may be remembering me from somewhere but I do not recall seeing you. You think that gives you the right to stalk someone - ”

  “I said I’m sorry” Devin replied before she could go further. “I thought I’ve met you before and that’s it. But who are you?”

  “No one”

  “Come on, you go to church wearing burka and whenever I see you, you were alone, literally alone in that environment. It just added to my curiosity.”

  “Do you know the purpose of burka, Devin?”

  Adding his name at the end of the question made it sound more serious to his ears. He nodded guiltily.

  “Where do you live?” She asked

  Nothing was going as he expected. You won’t even show your face but you want to know my bio-data?

  “Why would I tell my address to the floating eyes?”

  The waiter brought their coffee, kept them on the table. Her cup had a straw next to it. Top of coffee beamed with an artwork of heart, usually given to the people who come for a date.

  She lifted her veil, revealing the same pleasant face with cried out eyes. Her perfect shaped nose and high cheekbones did their best job of distracting the attention. The dark eyes gleamed with the crystal clear reflection of the window on his side.

  “How about now?” She asked with curious eyes.

  Are you a mind reader? That familiar face made him more uncomfortable. The mild jazz music played on the background did not help him. The echos of rain brought him the memory of his first meet on the diner. He took a sip from his sugarless coffee. His mind was too busy to notice the bitterness of the beverage.

  “OK, Miss. 55, what can you tell me about yourself?” He repeated the same question his interviewer asked that day.

  “My daily life involves playing with the knife and taking pictures. I do not go to any parties or any crowd gathering places and I’m fat”

  Okay, weirdness suits you. Devin tried to decode her message. The first part of the sentence provided with some open options. You might be a cook or a doctor or assassin more possibly. Taking pictures might be: Selfie in burka? That’s odd. Maybe the dishes or your target after killing them. Every visit had proved her ‘crowd gathering’ part of the sentence. The last three words confused him. She looked like a normal working out person with a fit body to him, even in her burka. You are definitely not fat.

  He took another sip. This time he cringed at the strongness of caffeine. He waved at the waiter. The waiter was busy with writing down something on his notepad.

  She put the straw into her cup, sucked the coffee without disturbing the artwork on top. She drank again bringing the heart toward the bottom. The background music turned to Beethoven’s 5th symphony. The bewitching tone rendered the chilling situation.

  “Are you a Muslim or Christian?”

  “I’m an Indian - Or that’s what they said”

  “You are not helping.”

  “You are like a pathetic child chasing the butterfly. I can guarantee you, we have never met before”

  “Maybe you are right. But I didn’t have the idea of ‘chasing the butterfly’” he said air quoting. “I am not like the usual guys you meet around and I felt you are different too”

  “You have a minute left. Ask wisely?”

  “I did not think of asking for a date. I just wanted to get to know you -”

  “You are not as different as you think you are” She said cutting off mid-sentence.

  “But not anymore. You are just a typical Indian girl” He tried to provoke her. “Pretending that you are the center of this universe.”

  Her expression was still. She took another swig, blinking slowly at him. He tried ha
rd to read her but the impregnable eyes didn’t let out anything.

  The music began to build up. Devin waved at the waiter looking at him. Her silence frightened him more than her rudeness. Her eyes did not leave him like a bull’s eye. She kept the cup back, emptying the whole bitter coffee. The heart stared back at him from the bottom of her cup.

  She rose up when the waiter approached the table. “Thank you” she said before leaving him in guilt again.

  The waiter stood there, waiting for a request. “Bring me some sugar” Devin said keeping his eyes back as she left. “and the bill”

  Devin finished his cappuccino after the waiter brought him sugar cubes. “Could you bring the bill?”

  “She already paid, sir”

  “She did? When?”

  “When you were not here”

  That was before we ordered. “How much she paid?”

  “She paid for two cappuccinos”

  She knew where I was. She knew what I will ask. She knew how this will end too. I know I will meet you again but when, where, how and why?

  Devin reached his home earlier than usual. He looked at his opposite house, neighbor/only-friend in the town. He strode across the street, changing the bandage on his wrist with a fresh one.

  He knocked on the door with rhythm. The maroon door stood still. “Eva” he called pressing the doorbell.

  The sound of releasing the door lock reached first. The door opened, came the woman of 30 more or less. “Hello Devin” She said wiping the sweats off her forehead using back of her hand. The stains in her clumsy t-shirt and undone hair gave her an exhaustive look.

  “Hi” Devin said with an up stood eyebrows. “The sweat pants and ripped T-shirt becomes you, Mara”

  “Come in” she smiled and opened the door further.

  “Is Eva home?” He asked looking around the white, bright house.

  “No, she went for art class”

  “Art?” He asked with amusement

  “Yes, and she is really mad at you”

  “What did I do?”

  “You promised to take her to that playground last weekend, and she was really disappointed”

  “But I called it even when we went to that movie”

  “You can’t substitute your promises, Devin” she said handing over a glass of apple juice.

  “You look super tired. Did you work out or something?”

  “I’m making dinner and I felt like I gained a couple of pounds sitting lazy, so repositioned the furniture, vacuumed the entire house, just trying something to calm myself”

  “By killing yourself?”

  “I was going to invite you too but you can take it to your home if you like.”

  Devin looked at her as she emptied half her glass.

  “What?” Mara asked suspiciously

  “Nothing”

  “Don’t give me that look. You know what is happening. Our sweet neighbors think that I’m a lone cougar looking for prey to have an affair by using my daughter as bait”

  “Are we?” He asked with a smirk.

  “Please, this is serious. I do not know how to deal with this”

  “When was the last time you went outside?”

  “This afternoon”

  “Apart from dropping your daughter somewhere, where else you have gone?”

  “With growing technologies and comfy services, I don’t have to leave. Everything comes to my door”

  “I know it is hard. But go out, meet new people. You are still young” He placed the glass over the table “And pretty if you change from your sweats”

  The oven timer dinged in the kitchen. She placed her glass before running back into the kitchen. The smell of cheese and green vegetables filled the hall.

  “Devin?” She called from the kitchen

  “Yes”

  “I heard a gossip you were following some interesting woman”

  “Oh god, women. Don’t you people know how to keep secrets” He shouted from the couch.

  The noise in the kitchen lowered and finally went off. She came out removing the oven mitts and placed a tiny black square device on the table which looked like a customized walkie-talkie.

  “I don’t like pink. I want to paint in black and white” A voice of a young girl came out of the speaker from that device. Mara pressed the button on the side, increasing the volume.

  “My dear, colors add depth to your painting. It gives a pleasant appearance to the picture and helps to convey in a better way” Now a matured lady’s voice came up.

  “Why everything always has to be better. I do not want it to be in a better way, I want it to be in my way and do not call me my dear. I am not your dear, mam” The little girl argued on the speaker.

  “Poor teacher” Mara said smiling at her daughter’s argument. “People find it hard to understand her”

  Devin noticed the smile made her look like a girl next door. Her blue eyes shined with happiness when her cheekbones rose up. For a minute, she didn’t look like a mother. She looked merely like a college student.

  “Mara” He called.

  She turned, with her smile fading slowly.

  “You should go out. Go and fall in love once again. I’m not saying you will find your guy at once but you can eventually.”

  “You are a sweet guy. But why are you so nice to me?”

  “That’s because I will leave you” He said with a base voice.

  “That’s because I will leave you” She mimicked in his voice.

  Her face returned to the same sadness he has been seeing every day. “Eva is my world now. Whatever I do now is going to be betterment for her. I am not looking for any worldly pleasure right now.”

  “Even Eva needs to hang out with her age people too. It is not healthy to spend all the time in my house. Her school mates don’t accept her. You need to do something for that. She is missing so much.”

  “I know. The neighbor boys stopped playing with her ever since she punched one of them right in the face because he mocked about her dress”

  “Feminist daughter!”

  “Just my daughter” She said with a corner smile in her lips.

  “OK, I’m heading to my home. If you want anything, call me.”

  “Don’t forget to come to dinner”

  “Are you sure?”

  She nodded with a slight smile.

  Chapter 4

  CHASING BUTTERFLY

  Sun came out for the first time in the past 3 weeks. The morning shined with the sounds of chirping birds. The teeny blossoms bloomed on the trees across the street.

  Somewhere in Bangalore, a navy Lamborghini sailed like a pirate ship. The reflections of the trees in the tinted glasses made it look like driving inside woods. The humming of the engine attracted some audience. She moved into a quiet neighborhood like a bride walking down the aisle. She slowed down and slowly halted around the corner.

  “This is a cul-de-sac” A thin Asian woman in the driving seat said.

  “You turn and wait for me, Mia” It was the same woman - Miss. 55. She was in her usual black.

  “Be done with it by the end of the day” Mia said with a serious tone and a bit of concern.

  She pulled her veil down before getting off the car. Miss. Double-five began to walk toward the end of the cul-de-sac. She looked at her cellphone, swiping the screen with her thumb. She glanced at the houses on both sides of the street.

  All the houses stood attached to each other. The trees on both sides made the sidewalk pleasant with shade and welcomed with the smell of fresh morning. The breeze tried to move her veil.

  She walked half-way through the street before spotting the house she was looking for. She didn’t have to try hard to identify the house. Besides the blocks of congested building stood a detached house unlike any other house in the city or any other house in the entire country may be.

  The well-maintained lawn with an appealing garden added color to the house. The white wooden fence stood in the front with hedge
reaching the back of the house from both sides. The greenish-blue roof with a chimney gave a classic American suburb look. The dormer at the top center with a sliding window on both sides below it and the bay window on the ground floor, left of the door could make any passers to admire it. The red door in the white exterior of the house completed the perfection of the house.