Tale of Silent Longing

43| Returning Home

When Tanya  revealed that she was speaking to her boyfriend on the phone, both Jordan  and Jahaan  were surprised to hear Tanya 's words. Food almost came out of jordan's mouth. He somehow got a grip on himself by drinking water and then replied, "Boyfriend? Tanya  you have a boyfriend and you never told us."

Before Tanya  could answer, Jahaan  intervened, "We never realized that you had a boyfriend. Yet, you hid this from us for almost a year." Jahaan  spoke in a normal tone without hinting at any emotions on his face. However, the reality was different as his heart was beating fast and loud as if something bad was happening to him.

March, on noticing everyone's reactions, started laughing out loud. "What are you two saying? Which boyfriend? I don't have a boyfriend" Tanya  replied.

"Don't lie, you just said you were speaking to your boyfriend," Jahaan  countered.

"Oh god! Let me finish what I want to say. Boyfriend is the name of my uncle's dog," Tanya replied.

Jahaan felt his heart slowing down, back to a steady beat, relieved after listening to Tanya .

"The look on your faces is hilarious, Jordan  especially yours," Illahi  said. Jordan  stopped while eating and replied, "Yeah, I thought she really has a boyfriend and she didn't even tell us. By the way, is that dog cute?"

"Yeah, he is adorable. At first he wasn't trained and used to chew stuff and bark at people. But gradually he started recognizing everyone's names and also started responding to instructions," exclaimed Tanya .

"Wow, cool!" Jordan  spoke.

After the mystery of tanya's boyfriend was solved, they got back to eating.

The four of them reached the hotel after dinner and started going towards their rooms. It was almost 11 in the night and all of them were so tired that they just wanted to sleep.

Jordan fell asleep as soon as he hit the bed.
Meanwhile, Jahaan  was thinking about his mother's words. "Mom really thought I like Tanya !", he thought.

He got up and went to change his clothes. Standing in front of the mirror in the washroom, he looked at the mark on his shoulder. The mark had faded quite a bit but was still visible. He lightly touched it and mumbled, "Is mom right? Do I really like Tanya ?"

Feeling weird he left the washroom and headed straight to the balcony. It was cold outside. Suddenly his eyes fell towards Tanya 's room and he saw her sitting on the couch.

The curtains of the room were open and Jahaan  could see Tanya  bobbing her head. It seemed she was listening to music.

"She hasn't slept yet, what is she doing?" Jahaan  thought. He waved to her and coincidently Tanya  noticed his action too.

Seeing him wave to her, tanya   instantly removed her earphones. She put on her jacket and came out.

" Jahaan , haven't you slept yet?" she called out.
"Well, yeah... but I can ask you this question too!" Jahaan  replied.

"I just couldn't sleep. This is our last night in San Diego, so I thought I should sit down and spend some time alone. By the way, thank you, Jahaan ". Tanya  responded.

"Thank you? What for?" Jahaan  asked confusingly.

"For Everything! For this trip, for all the help that you gave me, for making me sleep in your room that day, for finding me today, and for making this trip so memorable," she answered with a soft smile.

"Why are you thanking me? It was my Mom who organized this trip and Jordan  was the one to help you. I have no contribution in all this," Jahaan  replied.