In Honour of the Heart

chapter 43 : Everything I do I do it for you.

Six months later, Mauritius.

Isabelle sighed as she kept her bag on the side table and removed her pumps. Her feet were tired after standing for few hours at a stretch. She just stretched it and lifted the coffee to her lips. Suzan was playing with her friend in the nearby room. Isabelle was happy that it was Friday and she was going to have the entire weekend to herself. There were few things to buy. Christmas was coming and she had just started to add things to the shopping list.

Life was peaceful at last. Her parents and Nicole had supported her decision. And they had visited her too. Dealing with Suzan was still painful at times but somehow the little girl was more resilient than Isabelle had imagined. Colour had returned on her cheek and she had made many new friends too. Isabelle was finally relieved to see things falling back on place but there was still one thing which didn't fit - Ethan. The guy had almost disappeared from the earth. She did receive occasional messages. Once or twice there were calls too but that was all. Isabelle couldn't pinpoint it but she sensed in her heart that something was wrong. Ethan had his own life and work but she missed him. Many nights as she had gazed at the dazzling stars, Isabelle had wondered if Ethan was also looking at the star studded sky at that time and remembering her. Did he even realize what it was to lie awake in bed with his thoughts to haunt her every night? She was glad to fall asleep knowing that at least she will be able to keep him far at that time but that was also becoming an impossible task.

Little by little the words had started to dry between them. Ethan didn't try to keep in touch and Isabelle was also very hesitant to try. He had done his best and supported her at her worst time. What else she could expect from him? But even if she didn't want to confess to herself Isabelle concluded one thing. Ethan had loved her when she couldn't love herself. Wasn't it enough to love and to be loved once? She didn't want to ask anything more. But as she convinces her head about it, her heart already knew that she was lying. Were they going to be like sun and moon who seldom met even-though they existed in the same sky?

Isabelle kept the empty cup back and closed her eyes as she sat around and remembered about the fire in his eyes. Why that amazing man had to come again and complicate her life more? She was happy when she didn't have much dealing with him. Now it was impossible to not contact him when he was breathing and living on the very same planet where she lived. The fire of those eyes had reached her soul and she was burning from within. Will this pain ever go away? Isabelle thought not. She opened her eyes. Was there any way to go out of her mind and forget Ethan for few minutes?

She grabbed local newspaper and checked the weekend events section. Oh! What was this? Was she reading right? She rubbed her eyes and picked up her reading glasses. Her eyes became wide as she read the headlines again and again. No. She was not dreaming. Why had Ethan not told her that he was having exhibition in Mauritius itself? For a minute, her mind went blank. If Ethan was coming to the same country, why had he not contacted her? This didn't make sense. Isabelle got more and more confused as she thought it. Minutes passed as her thoughts carried her to faraway places at a higher speed than the plane which had taken Ethan away. And still she had not ended up with a satisfactory answer.

Her cheeks wet as she wiped tears from her face. All of a sudden her heart felt heavy. And she didn't even fathom the reason. Isabelle got up and switched on her favorite music, thinking it will calm her down and uplift her mood. She lost herself in the lyrics sinking deep in the music. But as she tried to find that lost piece of puzzle, Ethan again tip toed across her mind. In her heart, she had always assumed that Ethan would wait for her forever but had she left him to wait too long?

There was only one way to understand and Isabelle was going to do that. It was her life. Now or never. She was not going to live forever. It was better to live when she was still alive.