1960 London Love

Chapter 12

"I still remember that evening like yesterday. It's wound still fresh in my heart as if my body wants me to remember the pain to prevent me from falling into that trap again.

The sparrows that day chirped sadly and mourned the death of yet another lover's heart. The sky burned red with anger at the betrayal of yet another heartbreaker. The trees shook their heads at yet another broken heart and the insects prayed to God to give strength to yet another wounded soul. The sun shied away from such pain while the moon came to cool the ache.

Oblivious to the swirl of nature outside my window, I lay on my bed crying. My tears formed small puddles on the bed sheet before getting soaked into it. My binoculars lay on the floor by the window, one of its eyepiece shattered and broken, much like my heart. That evening I cried my heart out. I cried to my grandfather, my grandmother, my parents and even to God, asking them all what deed of mine has made me suffer such inconsolable pain. I wish no one such pain as I felt on my first London evening."

Meera's grey eyes that seemed steely and strengthened by all the pain she had suffered since the beginning of time, were now soft and moist. The tears in her eyes that had been holding their ground, now finally surrendered to the emotions and flowed down like a gentle stream, making their way through all the wrinkles on her face and forming a slow vortex as they did so.

Rishabh stood up from his seat and knelt down near her lap. He held her hand and looked into her eyes that were filled with tears and pain. Slowly, he lifted his hand and wiped the water that had taken the same course they had traveled many times. Meera took his hand as he waved them over her cheeks. She lightly kissed it and pressed it on her cheeks before putting it back on her lap. They silently stayed that way for some time, bonding in the sacred thread of a mother and son.

"It must have pained a lot." He finally said, almost inaudible due to the crack in his voice.

Meera nodded.
"It was like falling down a deep dark chasm, knowing about the impending doom but having no knowledge of when it will hit you. That day I realized that the heart we give to another is always made of glass. When it breaks, it's shards prick and bleed you throughout your life. The only solace to this pain is to throw a bit of the shard to the person who caused it all so that he too suffers with you, taking a bit of pain from you upon himself."

She sniffed and rubbed her nose as she continued. "That night, when a hotel staff arrived to inform me of the end of my stay, I nodded and went to wash my puffed red eyes. As the water droplets dropped from my forelocks into the sink, I took a decision and wiping my face went straight to the receptionist on the front desk.

" How may I help you, ma'am?" She asked with a smile.

"I want to increase my stay," I replied.

"Sure, ma'am." She said, " For how long may I ask."

"Two weeks," I said, finalizing the time limit to exact my revenge on the man I once loved."