Forever Yours (Stay With Me Sequel)

Chapter 3

One week later

8,044 kilometers. That is the distance between Calcutta and Manchester. The more I pondered upon it, the more I realized the intensity of hardships in my relationship with Niall. My heart and body was so used to being under the protective shield of his warmth and affection that going frenzy was all I could do. His absence made me feel loneliness in the most bitter and real sense of the word.

The distance also served as a tester of my loyalty towards him. I had the opportunity to lie to him and not keep my promise of shifting apartments because hell, he wasn’t here to verify. But, I didn’t. Keeping him in the dark knowingly seemed not only wrong but hurtful. And I could not imagine hurting Niall hence; after a week full of search and tries, I finally shifted to a new apartment.

It was situated in North Calcutta at Dum Dum which was an enormous sacrifice for me being born and brought up in South Calcutta throughout my life. However thinking how glad Niall would be after learning about my shift, I could very easily put the pessimism at bay. The apartment wasn’t bad in anyway except for the rent which was 6250 rupees. It had two rooms, one bathroom, an open-kitchen and a big drawing and dining area. I sold my computer and its table along with the dressing table and the wardrobe. With the money that I got, I bought a laptop and a smaller wardrobe that had a mirror fastened to it exactly like the one Niall had in his apartment. Rita and Mrs. Gandhi expectedly didn’t back my decision. Rita might have been bumped about me dumping his brother and Mrs. Gandhi like always never liked Niall. However, with due respect of what they did for me before Niall came into my life and even after that; I knew following my heart is the right call. I knew both of us had the will to flourish our love thus no Rita, no Mrs. Gandhi could ruin it.

I took a glance at the wall-clock as it struck 4.00 Pm. I sighed thinking about the assignments that were awaiting me. Taking slow and reluctant steps, I reached my room to grab the laptop and the dongle. On coming back to the living room, I sat on the couch and stretched my legs on the centre table before turning the laptop on and inserting the dongle in. I logged into my gmail account and received four work assignments, all written. With irritation spurting through my veins, I commenced to type.

Anyway, at about 8.30 Pm I submitted the work assignments to my editor. I stretched my arms in the air to break my fatigue when out of the blue, I thought to check timesjob.com once where I opened an account long before in order to look for new jobs. Surprisingly, I got a series of new notifications from the site offering me jobs that matched my profile. Most were from advertising agencies wanting copy-writers. This reminded of the time when I went out for dinner with Aarav and expressed my desire of working in an ad-agency. My eyes lit up and lips curled into a smile as I sensed the possibility of getting a new job. I browsed through the options until my eyes fell on one job offer. It was from an advertising agency situated in Jadavpur (South Calcutta) namely Orient Advertising. They showed interest to recruit freshers and paid 18,000 rupees a month. My eyes grew wider and lips parted as I wasted no time in applying for the job. I quickly sent them the resume that Niall made for me along with a small introductory passage about how I found the job and why I am interested. I didn’t forget to mention the urgency of my situation in an attempt to compel them reply faster.

I couldn’t wait to tell this to Niall…….He’ll be very delighted.

The happiness level dropped by a considerable amount when I remembered about making dinner for myself. Even though I didn’t need to go to college like a few weeks back and all I did the whole day was watch television, listen to music or watch movies online, I stayed exhausted. Such was the dominance of boredom on me. I somehow assembled the energy to pull myself up from the couch after placing the laptop on the centre table and stroll towards the refrigerator. Piles of organic vegetables that I picked up from the grocery store while shifting lied on the racks. I knew that all the ingredients no matter what I want to cook are present except my drive. On closing the door, I walked inside the kitchen to open the upper cabinet. I plucked out a big packet of instant noodles and closed it. I put a cooking bowl on the stove and lit it after filling the former with water.  My hands worked as fast as the rapid movements of my eye-lashes blinking. Due to this within minutes, I saw myself serving the hot and yummy noodles inside a yellow colored eating bowl with a fork and spoon dipped into it. Grabbing the bowl I moved to the couch again to enjoy my dinner. I grasped the remote and flipped through channels. The dongle was still inserted inside the laptop which reminded me to check for any new notifications in my Facebook profile. Yes, I finally opened one account. Any communication that helped in bringing me closer to Niall was to be utilized. I rolled some noodles in the fork as I logged into my profile.