The Forbidden Path

Chapter 19

Racheal walked out of the restaurant still in a daze. She was mystified by the stranger who she had bumped into. By the time she had walked into the hotel, she looked at every passer by who resembled the man she had met earlier. She was acting like a teenager in love. It felt exciting and scary at the same time. But she had fallen in love with the person she had met in the airport.She was a married woman, who had a kid and was in Delhi for her father's treatment. But her mind had somehow betrayed her making her act in a way which was beyond her comprehension. She knew she wasn't supposed to act in such a weird ways. And it wasn't her regular self either. Unfortunately Racheal had lost her heart to a stranger who she had barely met for 10seconds. She felt strange and possessed. Something that had never happened to her before. She threw the purse on the sofa and flung herself on the kingseze bed without taking off her sandals. She was scared as she didn't know what was happening. On one side she was scared of her father's health and on the other side there was a stranger who seemed to have stirred some emotions in her.It felt strangely exciting and pleasurable losing her heart to someone after years of her first crush.
It was strange but Racheal had slipped. She wasn't ready to accept the fact that her manipulative husband had broken her and she was mentally ill. She needed an escape from her reality. And the man who had caught her eye must have been the first person she felt connected to. She was in love or maybe she was hallucinating but whatever the case, she felt happier. She was floating. She was eager to meet him again but it was impossible as she neither knew his name or where he lived. What she didn't know was that, the universe was pushing her towards a forbidden path.. a path she couldn't block. A path she feared. A path which wasn't possible for a married woman. She sighed and gazed at the wall. Her mind was reeling. She was exhausted. She couldn't sleep and she was in pain.

She lay on the bed staring at the ceiling for a long time. Her head reeling and her heart palpitating. Her whole life fled in front of her as she watched the ceiling fan rotating vigorously. She had forgotten about the AC and the ceiling fan and removed the room key card from the switch. So as soon as she had entered, it started rotating with a rickety sound.

Slowly she got up and removed her shoes, got into her nite suit and crawled into the huge bed. She tossed and turned not wanting to watch the television. The face which belonged to a movie star had shaken her. She was in a denial and wasn't in a position to dig out the truth of the missing puzzle. Apparently she was just scared to dig deeper just incase there was something more to the piece than she was ready to accept.

It was already 7am when she woke up. She had overslept due to the tiredness as she generally got up at 5 am for her yoga classes. But after coming to Nepal, she had been sleeping til 7am as her mom insisted on her sleeping longer as she had nothing much to do. She got up brushed and got ready for the breakfast which was served till 10am. Her head felt heavy as she had dreamed a weird dream again. She couldn't tell whether it was reality or dream. She had undergone a long rendezvous with the man who happened to be a renowned actor. It was even more shocking because she had never been a movie buff. And the idea of being a crazy obsessive fan who drooled over an actor could easily be ruled over in her case. It had nothing to do with the celluloid obsession.