Kcris & Jeena

Casey died 5 years ago.

The room in which both are right now, is quite spacious, more like a hall. After getting inside the door, if you continue walking, you can walk up to the end-side wall with a big window, outside which you can see luscious green grass. All the furniture is placed on either side of this imaginary path from the door to the window-side wall. A bed and couch are on the left side and on the right side, there is a study table and a big wall-fitted cupboard. The left side of the wall of the room is all covered with photographs. There are lots of paintings in the room, as well. All the paintings are on the right side, some are in front of the cupboard, placed one upon the other and, some are placed on the floor resting by the wall.
After making Jeena calm down a bit, Kcris makes her sit on the bed and she, herself sits on the floor exactly in front of Jeena, cross-legged. Kcris’ hands are in Jeena's hands when Kcris says to Jeena, “What all happened 5 years back has nothing to do with you, so please, don’t get affected by it.”
“Kcris, you are scaring me off.”
“No, Jeena, I am not. Fine... listen to me, Casey ain’t gonna come. She can’t, because (Kcris takes a deep breath before saying) she is dead. She died 5 years back,”
Hearing this, Jeena clenches Kcris’ hands so tightly that Kcris almost screams, “Ouch” in pain.
“How? What happened to her, Kcris?”
“She committed suicide. Even after 5years, I am not able to find the real reason for her actions. Initially, I thought I was the reason but after meeting Maria, I learned that maybe it wasn’t the case.”
Looking at Jeena’s confused expressions, Kcris explains further, “Maria, the owner of the café CC square, used to be a sex worker. I saw her at Casey’s funeral for the first time. I was very angry and devastated by Casey’s death, so I approached anyone who seemed, could help me find some answers. After talking to Maria, I found that Casey got herself into prostitution. I didn’t believe it, at first but later on, the shreds of evidence I came across indicated that I was wrong.”
“Hold on, Kcris. I don’t get it. Maria is a café owner and your friend Casey was Mrs. Fabiola’s daughter. Then… why?”
“Jeena, Maria left that life after I help her set up the café. She didn’t have much of a choice back then. She has an 8 years old daughter to feed. And as for Casey, I am still trying to figure out the real reason why she got into this mess in the first place.”
“Wait… is this why… today and that day in the restroom… you… were…”
Seeing Jeena feel a bit awkward saying this, Kcris immediately helps her by completing the statement and says, “Yes that’s why I meet people who are sex workers or are related to them. (After a few seconds of thinking Kcris asks Jeena) Hold on… Jeena, what do you mean by that day in the restroom?”
Jeena squints her eyes in slight embarrassment and then tells Kcris, “Actually when my semester was over, I and my friends went to a party to celebrate, which happened to be in the same club, you celebrated Sky’s birthday. There, I saw you with a woman in the restroom, getting close to you but you got a call and went away. Later that lady told me, she was a sex worker. You know what, Kcris, that entire night, I was tossing sides without any sleep. Today also, I saw her get in that room, where you were… umm…”
Kcris starts to laugh and asks, Jeena, “(Kcris impersonates Jeena while saying) Umm… what... huh? What do you mean by your umm...?
Jeena immediately refutes saying, “I don’t mean anything.”
Kcris in a low tone explains to Jeena, “It is not like what you saw. Sometimes some women misunderstand that I called them for pleasure purposes so they try to come close and all. I am not that kind of person. And what more can I say to prove this except that I am not into women? (Kcris takes a pause and suddenly says) And before you get me wrong again, I’ll tell you that I am not against it, rather I do fully support the LGBTQ+ community. And what I just told you, is my preference. That is, it.”
Jeena smiles and says, “That misunderstanding has been resolved quite a long back. So, you can relax I won’t misunderstand you.”
Kcris gets up from the floor and sits next to Jeena, on the bed, saying, "Let me take you home. Alex must be home by now. I promised you that you won't be late."
"Kcris, how are you so unforgettable? I told you, Alex is out of town. You can comfortably share with me whatever you want to. There is no rush."
Kcris is confused, so she tells Jeena what exactly she has seen.
"I think, I saw Alex in the hotel parking lot. When I was parking, I saw her drive towards the exit. I wanted to ask you about it. But, you know what happened."
" You must have mistaken her for someone else. She left the city in the morning, itself."
Though Kcris thinks that whom she has seen in the parking is Alex, she says, "Maybe, I didn't see clearly. Anyway, can I ask you to reconsider going home because the weather is getting worse every minute? Is there any chance, you can stay over tonight? There are so many rooms, you can choose your pick."
Jeena's inquisitiveness about how come this girl, Casey used to be so close to Kcris, hasn't subsided yet. So to find out more about her, Jeena lures Kcris into telling about Casey by saying, "I will go home tomorrow when the sky becomes clearer. But, on one condition that you will tell me all about your friend, Casey."
Though hesitant, Kcris agrees to Jeena's request and tells her to ask whatever she needs to know. Instead of asking about Casey, Jeena asks Kcris about her schedule for the next day. Kcris is confused but still, she answers Jeena that she has nothing for the day except a meeting in the afternoon.
"Do we have red wine in the house, Kcris?"
Kcris is still confused as she can't figure out what Jeena is trying to pull here but, she answers Jeena yet again, nodding her head, "Yes, we have a small wine cellar. Do you want some red wine?"
"Would you like to drink with me, Kcris?"
"You wait here. I'll get us a bottle from the cellar."
"Kcris, if possible, please get a full-bodied red wine."
Kcris raises her brows and to confirm, asks, "Are you sure, Jeena? You may get drunk."
"Yups, I am sure."
Jeena continues to look at the photographs and says to herself, "Kcris really has a nice smile. I would like to know how come this girl Casey can make Kcris smile like this. She must be special."
Kcris comes in with a full-bodied red wine bottle and two glasses. She opens the bottle, pours it into the glasses, and passes one to Jeena.
"Thank you, Kcris."
"What are you looking at, Jeena, in these photographs?"
Jeena takes a sip and smiles to tell, "Two things. One is the skill set of the photographer and the second is your smile."
"Well... Casey was really good at it."
Jeena being playful adds, " Good at both, photography as well as making you smile."
"Huh... what?"
In a slightly annoyed tone, Jeena goes like, "What 'what'? (And then Jeena lowers the tone and requests) You should smile more often, Kcris. You have a beautiful smile. I always wanted to say this to you and now, I can, because you can't prove me wrong as we have the proof right in front of our eyes."
Jeena then goes and sits on the bed with her legs down. Seeing this, Kcris asks Jeena to sit comfortably but Jeena ignores her. Kcris instead of sitting continues to stand, slightly resting her body by the table edge, and tells Jeena to ask whatever she needs to know.
"What was she like? I mean, what sort of person Casey was?"
Kcris sniffles and then tells Jeena, "A simple, naive girl. She didn't like to have a lot many friends. We almost grew up together until I left for my higher studies. She was good with academics. We went to the same university but she was a medical student. She loved photography and painting. See this room, it's all hers. (Pointing towards the paintings Kcris continues) All these paintings are hers. She always drew landscapes. You'll find only a few portraits in her collection."
Jeena is amused seeing Kcris smile like a crazy child while talking about Casey. It seems as if Kcris is not just reminiscing about their old times but also reliving them.
"Kcris, can I see the paintings, please?"
"Of course. Come I'll show you."
Kcris starts to pick the paintings and show them to Jeena, one by one. The pride that can be sensed in Kcris' voice resembled the pride of a parent showing off their kid's talent. Jeena takes one of the paintings from Kcris' hand and asks her about it.
"This is me and my mother. Casey drew me this as my birthday present, the year I was leaving for my higher studies."
Jeena picks up Kcris' glass, which she left on the table, and passes it to her. Kcris takes it and goes to stand by the window looking outside whereas Jeena sits on the chair. Both continue to talk while drinking wine, which basically meant Kcris telling about her and Casey and, Jeena being all ears. Jeena's eyes are fixed on Kcris as if she is completely hooked on Kcris and Casey's story. Jeena can literally feel the change in Kcris' emotion just by looking at her. The smile which has pride in it is now changed into a sad one. Seeing this, Jeena gets up and drags her chair near the window where Kcris is standing. Jeena sits in the chair and then holds Kcris' hand as a gesture of support. Kcris places her glass on the windowsill and then turns to look at Jeena. Jeena smiles at Kcris and says, "It's ok. You can speak it, all out. Let it out, Kcris. I am here holding your hand. Trust me you'll feel better. So, tell me what happened to her. Kcris, I can understand your fear. But trust me when I say that I may not feel your pain but I can relate to it as I lost a younger sister when I was 15."
Kcris immediately asks Jeena, "How? What happened?"
Jeena smiles and says, "That's a story for another time. Today it's about you and Casey. Okay."
“Hmm.” And Kcris carries on, “It all started when I went abroad for my higher studies. Though I was familiar with the language there, it was an entirely different nation with a different set of people to live among. But, I and Casey had a deal that we won't go to bed without talking to each other. For the initial few months, we used to call each other no matter what. Even if it was for a few minutes, we did it. But as time went by, it became more and more hectic with the increasing workload, for me. My sleeping time become more irregular. There were nights when I used to work up late until the morning and went straight to college without any sleep. She would always call me but instead of making similar efforts, I started hiding behind the excuse of too much work. So we started losing contact. Now, when I think, it feels like I was so unfair. She must also be having similar trouble as she was in her later years of college and that too in medicine, but despite that, she continued to make time for me. Getting no response to her calls, she eventually stopped calling me and as further time went on, she stopped texting me too."
Kcris’ voice starts to break as if she is holding her tears. Jeena to help Kcris, interrupts, saying, “So, you guys lost all contact, right?”
“Yes... At that time all, I wanted to finish the course and start working. So I was all focused on my studies. I was working my ass off so that I could return as soon as possible. This desperate thought of coming back made me finish the 2 years course in a year and 4 months.”
“So, you came back after completing your post-grad?”
“No, I didn’t. I started working there. Actually, I wished to come back and restart the company, which I created in my grad final year but I didn’t have that much work experience and funds. So, I thought of working in a company to learn better, the nuances of doing business.”
"Did you guys start talking again after you finished your post-grad? Did you tell Casey about this decision of yours?"
"No, we didn't. I thought it would be better not to tell her as she must have expected me to return after 2 years and there was still time. This is something I regret deeply till today because if I had talked to her then maybe I could have had the same chance today.”
"Kcris, Casey was really important to you, then how come, you didn't want to see her or for that matter talk to her? How come you went along with your life, without knowing how she was doing in her life?"
"Jeena, I too, am amazed at myself. I don't know how I pulled it off. When we used to stay here, there wasn't a single thing about her that I didn't know. But those three years were like as if there wasn't a single thing about her that I knew."
"Did you guys meet or talk at all after your post-grad?"
“I met her once. Actually, the company I was working for, was bought by Mrs. Fabiola’s company, just two months after I joined.”