In Honour of the Heart

Chapter 10 : Where will you go?

 "Love is a disease no one wants to get rid of. Those who catch it never try to get better, and those who suffer do not wish to be cured."

 ~ Paulo Coelho.

He took out his spectacles, closed his eyes for a minute and breathed deeply. After a minute or so, he opened his eyes, wiped the specs and put it back on his eyes. His tired muscles were screaming for the rest. He put his feet up, rubbed a sore muscle and stretched a bit.  It was a long night. He was on his feet most of the time, mingling with guests, circulating, making new contacts. It was part and parcel of his work and he had to respect it. While he enjoyed his work passionately, he was uncomfortable around his fake admirers who did not know a thing about art but still acted as if they knew everything. He was not a man who belonged to crowd. Company of his canvas was more preferable compared to them.

How many times, he had longed to be alone that night but it was impossible.
Finally Ethan was glad that his ordeal was over and he was home.

Where was his phone? His hand went to the pockets of his night dress.  No, it was not there. He would have loved to check it often but he could not. He scratched his head and started to search for the mobile again. Once he got his mobile, he was a happy man but his patience was running thin now. Isabelle had enough reasons to not talk but why was she refusing to even listen to him?  If she did not reply this time, he was going to be at her door step, knock it politely and request that she meet him. Actually he wanted to bang his fist on the door and demand that she meet him although he knew he had no rights.

With a hopeful but weary heart, he dared to look at the Facebook screen.

There was indeed Isabella's message. Oh! Was there a faint chance that she might have waited for him?  A shiver ran down his spine at the thought. Had he missed that? She had no idea how closely he had wrapped himself around her heart. Suddenly he was scared. There was no denying that his chat with her was not going to be easy.

With a certain determination, he sat on his couch anxiously. Was the night going to prove lucky finally? He looked at the watch and mentally calculated the time difference. Will it be too early there? Even then also, he was not in the mood to stop tonight.

With nervous fingers, he started typing, “Isa, I am online. Are you there?”

His middle finger automatically went across another as he crossed it superstitiously.

He did not know how many minutes passed before the message from the other end flashed on his screen.

“Hi, Ethan. I am. Tell me.”

He thanked his fortune as the echo of his racing heartbeat started to vibrate in his throat. He got up and poured himself stiff rum. This was going to be one of the difficult conversations. Was she also that excited at other end? He would have done anything to know that.

“How are you?” He had to know.

“How I will be Ethan? Can't you understand that? Why are you chasing me now?”

“I am sorry, Isa but I have few things to tell. I will go away once I do that. I just want to know if you are happy.”

“Of course I am but who are you to ask that? First of all, stop calling me Isa. I am Isabelle. I have moved on. I have my family; a loving husband, a cute daughter.”

“Yes, I know. Does that mean you have forgotten everything?”

“That means I have accepted what life threw at me and continued living. Forget all these, Ethan. Let the past be past only.”