Forrest cut the call and looked at the mess he calls his desk. He really needs certain someone to manage all this mess maybe hiring Reva Mathur was not a bad idea at all. All he got now was one major problem though.
He still didn't get closer to solving the mystery as to who had sabotaged his car and for what reason. Now that fingerprint reports are there, no one was a match, not even Kelly, who was now out somewhere and she is not in her senses. He needed to work faster and find her.
Also, she had the answer, the answer to his question who had sabotaged his car. Someone wanted him dead and it was not Kelly. Then who can do such a thing? He picked up his things and decided that the first thing he will do tomorrow morning is hire and private investigator on this case. He needed to find out, the time is very much limited and he didn't want more bad things to happen to his friends. Not just friends they are his family.
He walked into his lonely apartment and looked at the picture on his nightstand. Once he had dreams. Once he had wished and now, he has nothing, just an empty house and waits. And they call him the heart specialist, sadly no one is here to understand his heart, to look into his soul which is filled with darkness and guilt.
He slept on his bed clutching the pillow tightly. He couldn't sleep no matter what he did. He simply couldn't sleep at all. All he can do was think about all the events that had thus occurred in his life.
He could have lost his best friend; he could have lost his sister or his niece. He could have lost yet another person that mattered to him just because he was late. "I am never going to be this much careless again, I promise Pia, Chris. I promise I will not let myself get carried away again ever." He took a pill and swallowed it.
Maybe now he will not have another nightmare. He didn't wish to relieve that event again. He was so tired of it. He was so tired of reliving the nightmares each and every night.
Reva looked at her dress that she had selected to wear on her first day of Woodlands. She cannot believe that she finally is going to work closely with the man of her dreams. Forrest Arthur Lyte, the heart specialist. Mia and Disha knocked at the door. Reva opened it.
"So, how are you going to impress the heart specialist tomorrow Miss Mathur?" Reva looked down blushing. "I... am... not..." "Oh hush, I can see how you look at him. Like he is your childhood dream, the prince charming you were waiting for Princess Reva. It is like we are back at school and Reva here fell for every next handsome face."
She was like that, but she never had the courage and talk to anyone. She was just her, plain old Reva with thick-rimmed glasses and a ponytail no one noticed the girl who always was engrossed in books. "I didn't do that; I didn't fell for every handsome guy in high school." She complained. "Oh, you didn't, what his name was?" Mia paused
"yes I remember..." And then they became tormenting her again. Reva only wished that someone can see that underneath all her new façade, she was that girl who loved to wear those glasses and satisfy her curiosity through the books while wearing a ponytail and her oversized sweatshirt. The girl no one noticed. But will Forrest notice her? The real her?
The next morning Reva was awake early. Her friends left late and she couldn't get much sleep. The rush about tomorrow and more than that the fear was keeping her awake. She got dressed and took her things, her coat, and the name tag provided by Woodlands. She knew her friends would be asleep.
Now, she needs to leave before they begin to torment her again. She knew she had a crush on Forrest and that was way before she had seen him. What to say she always was a romantic at heart. No matter how she presents herself in front of everyone she always was waiting for that fairy tale romance, something that can be found only in the books.
She entered Woodlands as the clock strike eight. She was on time, but still, she was very much nervous it was not just about her career, it was more than that, it was about her future in more than one aspect. She asked for the direction of Forrest Cabin. As many times as she had been in woodlands never, she dared to venture in that place.
His cabin always was something inaccessible to her. Something she can only reach only when the time is right. She took a deep breath and knocked at his cabin door and stood away. Her palms were sweating she was so nervous that she could faint any moment.
For a while, no one answered and she only is faced with more disappointment. But then, the door opened. Forrest appeared in the doorway. "Reva, I was waiting for you." Reva only heard that phrase he was waiting for her, what were the odds he would do that? She really felt like a school girl stealing glances at her crush.
"I..." She was rooted to the floor. And then she felt it. His hand on her. She felt her heart leap and it is like it would come out any moment it was beating wildly. She felt shivers run down her body. Her face turned little red with embarrassment. All she wanted to do was run and hide somewhere but Forrest was pulling her in towards the cabin.
Forrest saw little red coating her cheeks. And a smile broke onto his face. Someone was embarrassed. "Miss Mathur," He said she looked up instantly regretting again as her breath quicken seeing how close he was. Reva tried to look away.
But she couldn't and it didn't help that he still was holding her hand. It looked like he didn't go to let go for a while now. His phone rang suddenly breaking the silence of the room and he finally let go of her hand walking towards his desk. It looked more of a mess than a desk.
"Lyte" He answered and then his expression turned a little grim. "Nothing still? Are you sure?" he asks the man on the other end of the line? And then he got another grim answer "I understand, It is not your fault you are doing your best." And then he put the phone down. He settled down thinking something hard. Reva noticed how stiff and tensed he looked.
And then she walked towards him slowly begin cleaning his desk. "Reva, you need not do that, I can do it in my spare time." She turned around and looked at him holding her waist with one hand. "What spare time? I can see how much spare time you have Mr. Lyte." And it made Forrest chuckle.
"Fine then Miss Mathur, be my guest but I am warning you once you start spoiling me you cannot stop it. I love being pampered. What to say I am a spoilt kid." And he placed his hand over the desk and his head over it watching her. "Sure, Mr. Lyte. You are my friend and one shall always spoil their friends"
"In that case, you will not mind me spoiling you Miss Mathur, from what I have been told you love shopping." She laughed again. And now Reva was at ease. "Do you wish to get bankrupt on my first day of Woodlands?" Reva asked.
He stood up and walked up to her taking the things from her hand and helping her clean. "You doubt my talents even if you buy the entire Chanel store it would not put a dent in my pocket." He said looking into her beautiful chocolate shade eyes. Those eyes were so innocent and it seems Forrest had a strange protectiveness towards this girl.
He did not understand the same as why it was like that. Why did he feel so much protective of her? He barely even knows her. "I rather not let you go bankrupt just yet Mr. Lyte, or your future wife and kids will come after me with guns."
"They rather not harm you, little birdie, because I would cover you in bulletproof clothing from head to toe. I rather not like to see you with holes all over your body thought you rock that style too with a Chanel." Reva rolled her eyes. "Are you rolling your eyes at your mentor missy?" He asked. "You are less of a mentor more of a goofball and Chris was right about you all along,"
Reva said putting the pens and markers in the box arranging them neatly. And then she started with the files placing them in neat order. One after another by alphabetical order. For a while, she didn't hear Forrest behind her. And then she looked around to find him sleeping on his couch. A smile spread across her lips. "He must be tired." She concluded.
She looked for something to put on him but found nothing so at last she took off her jacket and put it over him. "Sleep well, my Prince." She said looking at him and then she began tidying up again. When the final thing was done, she looked at her work. It looked better than before, arranged and clean.
"Finally, a place where he can work perfectly." Her eyes landed on medicines. She saw it was anti- depressants. And it has his name over it. That made Reva confused. Why he needs them? She looked at his serene face. "Why you need Antidepressants Forrest? What is troubling you? What are you hiding from everyone?" She asked herself but as usual, she got no answer to her query.
She heard him move and kept the pills where she had found them closing the cabinet. His eyes opened and the first thing he saw was her. She was sitting over his chair looking through the files which she neatly kept in three separate rows lined new cases, old cases, and on-going cases. And she was reading some case files.
He fell asleep and he didn't know when. Maybe all those sleepless nights taking a toll on him finally. But not a single nightmare had plagued him. He was surprised and that was the least of it. He felt peaceful. And he didn't have to pretend to be someone in front of her.
He was just looking at her and there was something peeking from her back. He unknowingly touched that little mark and she almost jumped. And then she looked at him. "Oh, you are awake. I didn't want to wake you up, you looked like you needed some sleep." She didn't mention the pills once.
"Yes, I was just tired with the fights between Pia and Chris, and I have to play the constant mediator between them, it was tiring." Reva knew exactly what he is talking about. In fact, the same thing had also worried her a lot. She didn't know how to convince Pia otherwise.
"You look so sad," Forrest said. "Why little birdie" " I am just worried about my friend, Pia always was so good at hiding things, and she thinks I am just childish but I can tell when she is sad. And she seems so sad nowadays. Also, I haven't seen her around much lately as much as I used to before. It worries me too much about her." She looked into his dark eyes "We have our parents to support us, Forrest, Pia wasn't very much blessed in that department, all she has is us, and Chris. She now is pushing everyone away again."
Forrest sat beside her and again she felt the effects of close proximity. "Do not worry little birdie, my friend didn't learn to give up this easily. I have faith in him, you should too trust Pia to make their own decision.
We cannot always interfere in their relationship and influence their decision. It is not our place to do so. Not always Little birdie, we shall never try and influence someone's decision according to our opinion." She smiled "You really are a heart specialist" And that made Forrest laugh.
"That I am, did my words gave me away? Or my nameplate did?" It was Reva's turn to get some smart comment. "Only your overly positive attitude gave you away Dr. Lyte. You always try and see positive things in all the wrong situations. And you don't even try and complain about anything at all. You are the ultimate dream of the girls, one who can understand their all unsaid wishes. Apart from that, you are well off." He turned silent and then looked at her.
"And what turns you on more Miss Mathur, my good looks, or my wealth?" He came closer and whispered "Or it is something else altogether? Something inside that wild heart of yours longed to be fulfilled?" She looked into his eyes with again blush coating her cheeks.
And then Forrest begins to laugh "You look so cute while you are embarrassed little birdie. Welcome to Woodlands Officially. And I hope I find more and more moments to embarrass you" And then after few moments they laughed. And for the first time in years his cabin actually fill with echoes of two laughter, it was so precious to him, more than she can ever know.
Wor Count: 2300 words