Cheaters ✓

Prologue

The End of a Romance

Present
25 February 2021

Have you ever disappeared from someone's life just like that? No intimidation. No conversation. Nothing. Well, I'm going to do that. Today. In fact, in a few hours.

Since the time I woke up, I had a knot in my stomach. The ominous kind that constantly whispered that nothing would go right. I don't remember the last time I woke up with my head buzzing like this. But the good thing was I was looking ahead to a busy day. Busy days take care of whispers like these and other unnecessary thoughts. I had no time to waste but my anxiety led to an early morning smoke. I do smoke but not this early. I had my first cigarette with coffee after I reach office. But today was different. Or perhaps today was mundane but I was different. For starters, I was not going to office.

I looked out as I exhaled a puff of smoke, admiring the vivid splash of colour that was already appearing at the horizon despite the blanket of smog. The view put me at eaze. The idea of living in a concrete building only to stare at the other concrete buildings suffocated me. I'd always wanted to live in a place where I could see the horizon. Horizons!
The only time nature seems to have closure, contrary to its otherwise limitlessness. But this view my bedroom, my wardrobe, my coffee machine......I wouldn't see them ever again. The thought was exciting as it was scary. Leaving something behind always troubled me. But for the first time, I was seeking adventure in that 'trouble'.

I stubbed my cigarette and messaged him: Good morning. This was more just to check if he had woken up. Our destination was the same today. That reminded of something he once said: Doesn't matter if two individuals have the same destination. The journey is always different. I'd asked him why she thought so, and he'd replied that perspectives were always different even if the relationship was same. I guess he was right.

We generally never exchanged 'good morning' messages. In fact we were yet to exchange anything which could possibly lead to any monotony. Why seek what you are running away in the first place? The message didn't get delivered.
I chose not to waste any more time. I showered, got dressed in casual attire, ate a quick breakfast--half a bowl of cornflakes and three egg whites-- picked up the bag I'd left and left. I placed a note on the dining table under the flower vase of fresh lilies I had bought last night. Before firing up my Rover, I checked my phone again. The message had still not been delivered. I sent another one: I'm on my way. Will reach in an hour. See you.

This time the message got delivered along with the previous one. I did not think much about it and drove off.

While driving to the spot where we were supposed to meet, I felt like those kids who'd told his mother that he was going to school but was actually bunking class to watch an adult film with his friends. I was sure he felt the same. It had been -i counted in my mind- twenty-six times in six odd months since we had met, and yet we planned this like we'd known each other for years. I realized it was not about the number of meetings or the amount of time that you spent with a person, it was about how intense your feelings were for each other, how strong the bond was. Our plan was simple. We would meet at a restaurant a little far from my building where he would abandon his car and drive to the a random mall in mine. We would then leave my car in the parking lot of that mall and take a taxi to the Busan Airport. From there we would catch a flight to Santorini, Greece. Why Santorini? That's his favourite place. What would we do there? We didn't know. Till now, we both had been running after a plan in life. Not anymore. We both wanted to live like nomads. We both just wanted to belong to the present without any baggage from the past or any care for the future. Unbelievable, right? I know.

I reached the restaurant and lit a cigarette as I waited for him to either message or call me. He did neither. As the day progressed, I started getting calls from work. I took some time to sort them out. Nobody knew I was going to disappear. It was unfair to my staff and my company. But the essence of this plan was to not to think about others. It was about being selfish and living for yourself.

I'd left home around 7 a.m and now it was close to 10 a.m. I toyed with the idea of giving him a missed call. I'd never called him without his permission before. It was times like these when I missed being on social media. I could only get in touch with hir through calls and texts. He always complained about it but photographs troubled me. I finally tapped on his name in the contact list of my phone. I would've cut the call on the second ring, but he picked it up on the first, leaving me surprised.

'Reaching in two minutes,' he said and hung up. Indeed, he was there in less than two minutes.

'Where were you?' I asked. As an unsaid rule, we never hugged in public.

He got out of his car, came over and settled next to me. He turned to look at my luggage in the back seat sheepishly. I frowned.

'I'm sorry but we will have to postpone our plan,' he said. His voice seemed a litttle tense.

'Is everything alright?' I asked.

'No, but I can't tell you anything right now. I have to go now. I came here only to say this.' That was odd. He could've just messaged me.

'But you needn't have driven all this way if our plan was going to be postponed.'

'I'm not fretting over it; why are you?'

I chose to interpret his willingness to drive here all the way as his way of respecting whatever we had in between us. What did we have in between us? This question had given me sleepless nights. I wanted to ask him so many questions. Till when were we postponing our plan? We had a flight to catch later at night. What about that?

'Whatever it is, I'm always there for you, if you count on me,' I said.

'Of course I count on you. Why else would I come this far only to tell I need some more time?' It felt good to hear that. Sometimes we need reassurance

'Cancel you ticket? I'll tell you when to rebook it,' he said.

'Okay.' I didn't want to ask too many questions about the tickets. We had booked them and applied for visas separately in any case.

'Want to have some coffee before we disperse, now that we have come this far?' I asked.

He nooded. We ordered two cups of coffee and sipped them in silence. Then I walked him to his car. He sat in the driver's seat, started the engine, but then suddenly stuck her head out of the window and did something he had never done before. He kissed me in public. The suddenness of it took me by surprise but by the time I surrendered to the kiss, he pulled back.

'I'll miss everything,' he said, and before I could say something to that, he drove off. Why would he say 'everything'? I looked around. A few passersby had seen us smooch. Ignoring their glares, I got in my car and drove off. With so many questions running in my mind, I drove straight to my company. Today they'll witness their boss being late for the first time but I didn't care.

I kept checking my phone for messages from him but there were none. But the knot in my stomach eased when I got busy with my dad but came back as I lay in my bed at night and asked Alexa to play my playlist. Music was my perfect lullaby. During the third song, I felt my phone vibrate. There was a message from him. It read:

I'm sorry I couldn't meet you today. Will meet soon and discuss our plan. I have cancelled my ticket. Hope you've done it too.

I read the message again and again but still didn't understand what he's talking about. I replied: We did meet. What happened? All okay?

The message did not get delivered. Not the next morning. Not ever.

.｡.:*✧

It's a hell of a ride lomls. Buckle up!