The Unsaid Dreams . Truth . Desires

35

Surprisingly, Alina slept like a baby that night. It was past her usual time when she got up. She looked for Rob in the house but he was nowhere to be found. She started getting a bad feeling about it and was perturbed about the whole situation. Spotting Jeanne, she rushed to her.

'Have you seen Rob this morning?'

'Yeah, he left earlier today with his luggage, some trip I guess.'

'Did he tell when will he be back?'

'Umm...not really. Actually, we never ask him about anything.'

'Oh yeah. Thanks, Jeanne. Please let me know if you hear anything from him,' her positivity dropped after this conversation. 

She missed him, it was just last night when she decided not to believe anyone and make her own call, but today, she was back at square one. Was it something she did that hurt Rob or was there anything else? Her heart sank for a moment and it took all her strength to send a text to Rob.

'I thought we are gonna sit and talk things out.'

She waited for a reply but it didn't happen. The whole day she tried to figure out how can she connect with Rob. Contacting his team might not be a good option, getting them involved in personal matters was not at all a good proposition. Instead, she waited for a response to her text. She even tried to call him but he didn't pick up.

She was troubled and equally angry. She was mad at Rob because it was not completely her fault here. She even confided in him, telling him about meeting with Zoe while Rob has been nothing but secretive about this himself. She was even trying to get to know the people around him, to get to know him better but this time, he actually did cut her off entirely. Unanticipatedly, she felt very distant from Rob, Rob who was right next to her the whole day was now not receiving her calls. The more she thought about it, the more pathetic she felt.

Sitting and thinking about the events, replaying them again and again made her feel deplorable. She dismissed everything and devoted herself neck-deep into work, not letting any thought haunt her. No point deliberating the reasons, she made a point and stuck to it.

A week passed and she had npt heard anything from Rob. With each passing day, her level of anger kept on increasing but she made sure not to show it on anyone. Besides, it was 9 December, she surely would be getting calls from her friends and relatives tomorrow for her birthday and she was in no mood to let Rob ruin her day, her time with her closed ones.

Her mom and dad called her as per Indian midnight, precisely 11.5 hours before midnight in Los Angeles. She was glad that it was a Saturday, there was a series of unending calls from India. With midnight approaching, Alina felt low, because there would be no one with her on her birthday. She had a faint hope that Ro would call her, or maybe he will be back to surprise her, maybe they could have a moment together, but nothing was clear.

She stayed in her room that night, creating a virtual boundary between herself and the rest of the world. It was always like that for her, she felt she was being left alone and lonely, always. She spent more time with her thoughts than anyone else. Her friends from work planned a party for her, but she preferred to be around less people, the ones that actually mattered, instead of hundreds of folks. And this party in the nightclub was not until next evening, she disliked every bit it of it already.

Five minutes until midnight, someone knocked the door. A sudden flash of happiness covered her face, anticipating that it might be Rob. She rushed to the door and found Jeanne standing there, with a full smile on her face.

'It's almost your birthday,' her face was beaming.

'How do you know?' Alina's mouth was wide open with surprise.

'I heard you talking with your family earlier today, U didn't mean to eavesdrop.'

'Shut up! It's the sweetest gesture, I am ecstatic to have you with me tonight. You know, I thought I would end up wishing myself tonight.'

'That would never happen under my watch. Now come to the living room,' and she pulled her outside.

Balloons covered the entire floor, ribbons were hanging around the walls, the plce looked perfectly decorated for a small, intimate celebration, just as per her liking. On the centre table was placed a home-made cake with beautiful candles around it. A card and a gift wrapped box was kept next to it. She was delighted to see the whole preparation done for her birthday.

Touched by her efforts, she hugged Jeanne with teary eyes.

'I love you, you know me so wel, this is exactly how I wanted it to be.'

'I have spent enough time with you to know you sweetheart.'

'You even baked for me!'

'Yeah, now cut the cake, I wanna taste it. Let me tell you beforehand, I am not known for my baking skills.'

'You...I know it would be delicious.'

Amidst all candles, Jeanne lit another sparkling one. She clicked pictures, everything was perfect, despite her family not being there, Jeanne's presence compensated it quite well.

'Thank you Jeanne, I can't explain how blessed I feel to have you here.'

'This is just the beginning sweetheart, I have planned for your breakfast as well. Do you have any plans for the evening?'

'Yeah, my friends are having a party. But you know, I can't wait for your breakfast surprise and please please please, let the balloons and ribbons as is, they look so pretty.'

'Sure thing, you should go to bed now, tomorrow is gonna be a long day.'

Next morning, Alina woke up to a table full of delicacies. Everything one could imagine for an American breakfast was there. Panna cotta, souffle, pancakes, sandwiches, burritos, scrambled eggs and a lot more, everything neatly laid on the dining table.

'Wow, you made all these?'

'Yes, just for us two,' and they both giggled like school girls. Together, they had a relishing breakfast and Alina continued sharing numerous anecdotes about her family and her past birthdays.

'Open your gift,' and Jeanne passed her the gift. There was a maroon, solid knitted bodycon dress in the box, entirely different from the kind of dresses she ususally wore. It had off-shoulder styling, straight hem and cut out details near midriff, quite bold compared to her styling standards.

'I love it, what do you call...a chic-lit dress.'

'You think you can wear it tonight?'

'Hmm?'

'You said you have a party to attend tonight.'

'Yeah, but this dress is fancy and there would be people out there.'

'So? This is a party dress and would look great on you. Plus, you cannot not wear it tonight.'

'Okay, okay. But you have to help me,' she said throwing her hands into the air, surrendering to Jeanne.

'Yes, and I am not going to let you carry your usual hairstyle this time.' And they laughed together at once.