Forget-Me-Not: Taste of Freedom

Chapter Twenty Nine

Chapter Twenty Nine

Tuesday evening, Kaira came out of the house and locked the front door. Then she realized that her dress had caught in the door-frame, and opened it again. Damn the dress; she'd already tripped once in her living room, and then again her dress had caught on the kitchen drawer handle while she was drinking water. Now that she was really outside her house, she felt like an idiot. She was dressed up, on a cold night, with no one to hang out with, while she planned to go to dinner and maybe a stroll by the sea later. Alone. Yeah; life is just sad, she told herself. Then she scowled. Why was she ruining this with her bad mood? She'd decided that tonight was about rewarding herself, not punishing.

She deserved to feel better about what she'd done.

Still, she couldn't stop her inner voice start to bring up all the mistakes she'd committed till now. The most recent mistake had been this afternoon, when she'd lied to her brother about Vidhi going to Goa with her ex. Vidhi hadn't gone with her ex-she'd gone with her best friends. But if her brother got jealous, it wouldn't do him any harm. God knew he needed some external stimulus to force him out of his denial. She'd only lied to him to help him.

That still makes you a liar.

Her high heels clicked on the pavement; Kaira wrapped her arms around her torso, feeling a slight chill. She had a jacket, of course, but it was never too cozy without someone's arms around you. She frowned. Why was she so miserable? Being alone didn't bother her. She'd been alone all her life. She knew how it felt. Tonight, however, she couldn't get in touch with the side of her that loved solitude. The gaping emptiness that was slowly taking over her from inside reared. Kaira steered her mind away from her own troubles to something else.

Abhay hadn't come home... she wondered where he was. She'd tried calling him, but his phone had been switched off. He's a big guy, she thought to herself. He'll get his wayback. And it wasn't like her to drop her plans in order to stay up for her big brother. Right.

She had been so busy trying to control her mental state that she never realized when her foot caught in a ditch. She stumbled, righted herself, then let out a deep breath. Her head instinctively turned back to see if anyone had seen her. However, the road was completely deserted.

Then she saw the silhouette of the man, and paused. He was walking towards her. He wasn't alone, either; he had a dog.

Like a balloon that explodes when too full, her emotions blasted on seeing him. She felt a sudden burst of angry energy, of longing so deep and sharp that she could hardly stop herself from shivering. This is not happening, she kept repeating to herself. It was the second time today she was seeing him. This had to be a joke. Coincidences did not happen-not so often. As he stopped before her, his face illuminated by the streetlight, Kaira fisted her hands by her side and glared up at him.

"I thought it was you," Aman said, even as Tiny sniffed at her feet and let out a big bark that made her jump. It seemed like he remembered her. Kaira stepped away from the dog, still not sure if she could speak, and managed one single blazing look at both of them.

"What are you doing here?"

"It's a free country, isn't it?" he returned.

She'd had a whole night planned out for herself, and she was standing here, arguing with the man she'd decided to see no more. Kaira didn't answer him; she turned around and began walking.

To hell with him, she thought to herself. She didn't have to do this now.

"Kaira, wait," he called after her.