The Unsaid Dreams . Truth . Desires

30

She was woken up the next morning by an incoming facetime request from Rob. It was still quite early, she wondered what made him take the risk of calling her.

'Hey, you are still sleeping?'

'It's barely 6 in the morning, why on earth would I wake up this early?' she replied sounding clearly annoyed.

'Oh, my bad, I forgot about the little time difference. Anyways, my day is jam-packed and I am already dreading it.'

'Mm-hmm'

'And I miss your breakfast.'

'Cheeky, don't you have the best chefs at your disposal?'

'Umm, I like it more when you cook,' she said sheepishly.

He continued narrating how his day looked like and even went to the window to show her the view from his room.

'I might not be able to catch up during the daytime but do wait for my call in the night. I don't want a sleepy Al that time also.'

She cut her yawn short after this comment. 'I didn't realize it was this evident, sorry. And don't worry, I am 2 hours late than you, I will be awake.'

Rob smiled brightly, ' I will text you.'

'Bye!'

A part of Alina was happy that Rob is opening up with her, that he appears to really care for her. But she also felt everything to be too good to actually be true. Does Rob want to be with her, maybe more than just a friend?

'What am I thinking? He is one of the most desirable men out there. He is just being nice.'

A part of her was hopeful, 'But what if it's true? What will I do then? Do I want to be associated with him?' Her mind continued playing tricks on herm her thoughts getting overbearing every minute.

Over the next few days, Rob started facetiming regularly and she found hersef enjoying this side of Rob. She was 26 but she felt like she was 21 again. Everytime his name popped on her phone, she couldn't hide her blush. She found herself taking frequent breaks at work, only to escape to the breakout space to call Rob. She now was aware of his full day schedules, the places he was supposed to make appearences. She made sure not to ping him during his busy hours, she didn't want to catch any attenion and almost everything about Rob used to make headlines, where was he going, what was he wearing, whom was he meeting, everything found its way to social media or tabloids and no doubt, he hated this level of attention.

It was Wednesday and Rob wasn't expected to be back until Friday, it was going to be another usual day when she was greeted with another text, it wasn't from Rob this time.

'Hey Alina, I am back home, you mind dropping by my place tonight? We have loads to talk about!'

Alina was amused after reading the text from Zoe. She thought Zoe and Rob had meetings together.

'Hey Zoe, I thought you guys won't be back until Friday.'

'Come on now, don't change the topic. Are you free this evening?'

'Sure, text me the location, I'll be there.'

'Awesome, see you around at 8?'

'Sure thing.'

'Maybe she could answer some of  my queries,' she thought to herself.

Instead of going directly to Zoe's place, she decided to get something for her, this being the first time she would be going to Rob's colleagues' place. Not sure what to buy, she got some decorative, fragrant candles amd a box of cupcakes.

She reached Zoe's place a few minutes before 8 and Zoe welcomed her, even gave her a tour of her place.

'Rob wanted to stay there for a little more time, he had some errands to run.'

'Oh, and everybody returened?'

'Yeah'

'He didn't tell me this.'

'Are you in touch with him?' Zoe asked with a big question mark on  her face. 

Not sure how to respond, she blabbered first few words that came to her mind.

'Umm, yeah, he calls me sometimes.'

Zoe smiled coyly, 'Honey, are you guys dating? Do you like him?'

'What? No! We are not involved romantically, we are just friends.'

'Ofcourse you are, ' she now sat next to Alina.

'Alina, do you know anything about him? His past, his hobbies, anything at all?'

Alina didn't utter even a single word.

'What did he tell you about me?'

'Umm,...that you guys are working together on some upcoming projects,' she took some time to respond.

'Why am I not surprised, you know, Rob and I dated for 3 years, till his 34th birthday to be precise, we broke up almost a year back.'

Alina's eyes were wide open.

'This shouldn't come as a surprise dear. He never officially accepted it but the speculations were all over the place. You should have done a bit of research before jumping your guns.'

Every word of Zoe created wounds on Alina's mind. Her throat went dry and this was just the beginning.

'I was in a very early stage of my career. We met on an ad commercial shoot set for the first time, we started talking. Slowly, I was head over heels in love with him, he being one of the most charming man I have ever met. Entire world was crazy for him and he chose to be next to me, it made me feel special. I began adjusting my schedules for him, to get more time together and he seemed to enjoy my company, we made each other laugh and he always used to say that I make him happy, to know that he has someone devoted to him. And I was ok doing everything he liked.'

Zoe paused to catch her breath and continued, 'But he was always so secretive about everything. All I knew was that he would be travelling to so many places for so many days, that's it. He tried to avoid public appearences with me. Even when we were flying to same locations, we never travelled together. While heading out, he always chose a time past midnight or early morning. But I was okay with that also.'

'And you know the worst part, I was not allowed to call or text him.'

Alina's world was spinning, her head felt heavy but Zoe was not done yet.

'His link up rumours started hitting gossip columns, I knew that these sort of things were just, you know, rumours, but he didn't give me anything to hang to. He would be away for months and refused to share anything. In thise 3 years, he never mentioned about his family, friends, anyone!'

'I realised these things a little too late but when I realised, things started gettig clearer. I saw him flirting with other girls, even when he was home, he would go out for hours, God knows where! But this time, I had enough of this crap, I started focussing on my career and luckily, got signed for some prestigious production houses.'

'But when he got to know this, he said that I was no more the same person and that he didn't want me in his life anymore, because I don't give him enough time. It's only because of work that we are talking again, he had no choice this time.'

Alina rubbed her temples, trying to process the newly discovered information.

'Honey, I mean no harm to you. You are a wonderful person, you have worked so hard to reach where you are, don't let anyone ruin you. Rob, he likes to be a saviour, he needs someone to be around him to make him feel good about himself, someone who obeys him without asking anything.'

'Hmm...I don't know what to say. I should probably leave,' Alina made her way towards the door.

'Do you want me to drive you home?'

'No, I neeed to be alone, thank you for letting me know,' and with that, she left.