A Twisted Tale

I'm Leaving

Meera's POV

I woke up and felt a pair of hands around my waist. I tried to move only to have them tighten further. I turned around and found Val looking at me lazily. He gave me one of his signature smiles before his lips met mine. "I could get used to this." He whispered against my lips and continued to nuzzle my neck. "You know what's the best way to start the day?" He asked as he continued to trail kisses along my jaw. I had a pretty good idea of what he was implying. Almost an hour later, we dragged ourselves out of the bed. While I freshened up and got busy with making breakfast, he was busy attending a few work related calls. I fed gundu first to cease his incessant barking and poured Val some coffee. I decided to take it up to his study. Though I had no intention of eavesdropping, I heard him yell in Italian. When he saw me enter, he gave me a pained smile and finished the call rather quickly. "Everything okay?" I asked. He frowned before saying "I'm not sure. Aurora went off the radar. I asked my P.I. to keep an eye on her and report if something was unusual. And he has the audacity to report this!" I calmed him down and said "Maybe she has finally learned to move on. Don't stress over it okay? Women do a lot of things post break-up. Like travel, or dye their hair, or get a killer body. She must be out doing something like that. Just relax." He gave me a doubtful look and sipped his coffee.

Later that afternoon Val received a call from Piero asking Val to get back to Milan for a couple of days. "Are you sure you don't want to come with me? Though it's been only one night, I have grown fond of the snuggles." He said kissing me on my forehead. "Get your arse back home early and you will get a lot more than just snuggles." I said seductively. He groaned before pulling me in for a kiss. After we broke apart, he asked his driver to bring the car around. He kissed me one last time and rushed out of the house.

Since it was a Sunday, I didn't have anything much to do. I quickly called up Claire and asked her if she would like to go home for lunch. Unfortunately for her, she had other plans. I thought about asking Mark if he was available but thought better of it. He wasn't the kind to miss Martha's home cooked meal on a Sunday. So I called up Martha and told her that I would be coming home for lunch.

When I reached Charles's place, I saw Mark's car parked right outside. I walked in humming a tune. It was a less typical Sunday with both Charles and Claire missing from the scene. It was just Martha, Mark and I who were there at the table. Mark cleared his throat and said "I've got something important to share with you Meera. Can you meet me in the garden after you're done?" He asked. I nodded my head and he excused himself to take a call. I asked Martha about it but she chose to remain silent. There was a sense of foreboding in the way he spoke which caused me worry a little.

After lunch, I went looking for Mark and found him seated on one of the benches with Gundu sleeping beside him. I sat beside him and pulled Gundu on to my lap. I didn't say anything because I could clearly see the struggle on his face. After almost an eternity of sitting in silence, he said "Do you remember how the two of us used to run around in the garden? This has been our place, our sanctuary for a very long time. God I'm going to miss home when I leave." I whipped my head around and looked at him in pure shock. "Leaving? What do you mean?" I asked. "I will be leaving to Denmark on the coming Wednesday. Dad wanted me to research the area for an expansion project. And now that it's a go, I have decided to oversee the project personally." I didn't say anything since I was trying to digest the information. "How long?" I asked. When he looked confused I asked him again "How long will you be gone for?" He shrugged and said "I don't know. But my guess is more than an year. Of course, I wouldn't be disappearing as such. I will still keep dropping by to annoy the hell out of you all. But I'll be missing most of the Sunday lunches." I looked at him like he lost his mind. "You're cracking a bloody joke when you bloody well know that it's not only the Sunday lunches you will be missed at! Didn't you think of even discussing this with us, with me? You are bloody leaving! I don't know about the others but like hell I'll let you go that easily! Do you know how hard it will be on your parents? Charles is a stubborn old man and probably he will never tell you this but he will miss you nevertheless. Martha isn't happy with Claire running off to God knows where in the name of work. Now you too will be gone for more than an year!" I bit out.

He looked at me rather calmly and said "Don't take offense in what I'm about to say next. I'm merely stating the truth here. You're this close to marrying Valerio. You will be living in Milan if that happens. And coming to the part of discussing things beforehand. Tell me honestly, did you discuss with us about moving in with him?" I opened my mouth in defense but he shook his head and said "I'm not arguing. Exactly like how it's your sole decision, this too is my decision alone. You're the one to talk about prioritizing career and being practical. That's what I'm doing. I'm expanding the business which will be handed over to me by my father. I will have to prove to him that I'm capable. Don't get me wrong but I've grown tired of being around you all. You have been having my back for far too long and now I really need to be able to depend on no one to get forward in my life. So don't argue or try and convince me to change my mind about this. I won't. I need to do this for myself." I didn't say a word.

Internally, there was a raging battle between my brain and my heart. My brain kept screaming that he was making the right move with respect to his future but my heart wasn't ready to accept that he was going to be far away from me. All these years things were different because we both knew that we would come back home no matter which direction we went in. But now, we were all adults. Things were panning out differently for each one of us. I knew I had to stop fighting him for the sake of his happiness.

I was lost in my thoughts when I felt a warm hand squeeze my shoulder. "Did you hear what I just said?" He asked. When I shook my head, he said "I'm throwing a party tonight at the apartment and you're going to be there. Bring Val along with you." I told him that Val had gone back to Milan for which he said "That's okay. You will be there nevertheless. Don't ditch me. It's more like a going away party. I have so many things to wind up before leaving and tonight's the only time I'll be totally free of any work pressure."

I sighed and said yes unaware that my presence would be the bomb waiting to go off for years now.