Zoe's Veer

Chapter 3

Present time:
Around evening on the same day, I decided to take a stroll around the house into the valley.
I badly wanted to distract my mind from her.
I got up ,put up my hoodie ,took my cell phone and started to walk around.
There was a small stream of water at 250 meters from my home.
Himachal was a lovely state and Shimla , cherry on top .
It had beautiful valleys, snow clad mountains, little streams of water on them .
Fruit Laden trees by the banks .
Not to forget a variety of flowering plants with a variety of colourful butterflies .
And to live in a house surrounding all of ,that is like living in a paradise .
A lonely paradise.
I reached the  stream .
The water was crystal clear.
I removed my slippers , sat on a rock and let my feet meet the Ice cold water.
It was like a thousand pins poking you at first ,
but after a while it was fine .
I kind of liked the pain .
I enjoyed it.
It reminded me of that painful sleepless night when I dropped Zoe at Raghu's place.

One and half year before:

It was 9:00 a.m. in the morning and I hadn't slept the entire night.
It was like the more I kept riding away from her ,the more she was filling in my chest.
Lots of turning and tossing on the bed didn't help either .
It wasn't a very good feeling.
Is this love? I am in love ?
I have seen and read about this so called love many a times,
but what I am feeling is none of what I have had an idea of .
I have heard people say "it is a wonderful feeling" ,
"you feel butterflies in the heart",
" suddenly everything turns beautiful"  and things like that .
But what I am feeling is nothing, but constant echoing of a voice saying
"bye Veeer .....",
A strong ache in my waist where she held me,  anger at myself for leaving her there ,
and a little irritation at her for making me go through all of these.
Even that little irritation disappeared,
when the image of those vulnearable eyes with smudged mascara flashed in my mind.
I needed to know if she was fine.
I needed to know if she had something for the hangover.
I needed to know if she remembered me .
I needed to see those eyes assure myself that last night was indeed real .
I needed to hear her voice to tell myself that I was indeed sane.

So I got up, grabbed my bike keys and sped off ,not bothering to answer my mother when she asked where I was going.
She was back from the hospital by then.
Within no time ,I was standing a little distant from where I dropped her yesterday .
I din't want to show up before her all of a sudden and be registered in her mind forever as a creep .

As for now ,a glimpse of her was all I needed.
I waited with a little hope to see her around today.
Since it was almost 3.00 a.m. when I dropped her yesterday and given that she was drunk ,I guessed she wouldn't be up by now .
I hope I was thinking right.
And I was indeed right .
She showed up at the balcony in a pretty pink night suit , holding a cup in her left hand- might be something for the hangover.
It felt better to see her.
My ache in the chest  disappeared , as I let out a long breath I didn't realise I was holding .
As I was looking at her from a distance, she was looking at something from the balcony across the road, a furious expression plastered all over her face.
I wondered what made her so angry and looked around .
There was a man around fifties ,pestering of woman of forties. They were carrying something which looked like a cloth bundle.
I guessed they must be the dhobi's of that residential area ,and they seemed like a married couple.
After arguing and troubling the woman for around 10 minutes the man grabed some money from her and left from there.
The woman was controlling her tears from falling down.
I felt sorry for the woman and ashamed of that man .
I could say Zoe was very furious .
She was fuming and her face had gone red .
She went inside hurried, came out after a few minutes, got down the stairs .
By then ,the woman had reached zoe's doorstep.
The woman started sobbing after seeing Zoe.
She gave the  devastated woman a warm hug, told her something with a straight face  and gave her some money.
The woman refused it at first ,But Zoe forced the money into her palms.
By the looks of it I was sure she was scolding the woman for putting up with her husband.
It seemed like Zoe knew that woman very well.
After talking to Zoe for some more time, the woman left hugging her one more time.
I felt like hugging her too..
Why wouldn't I??
I have had found my human..
My missing piece which have been searching all my life.
With that sense of satisfaction, I returned back to my home thinking of all possible ways to make myself to be known to her.