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I saw her for the last time when I was in a grocery store.
It's funny how Destiny works sometimes. I had gone all my life believing that Karma was a bitch, but in reality, it was Destiny who should have taken all the credit. For if it wasn't for my Destiny, I would have never seen Beth again.
I was wandering through the vegetables aisle in a grocery store which was near to my house. I was in New York, but this time it wasn't to visit my family. It was because I had shifted to the city a few years ago.
I still wrote books sometimes but they were far from being on the Bestseller's List. It took me around five years to realise that I wasn't as great a writer as I thought I was. So instead of wasting more time and my savings on writing novels that would end up covering dust in the library shelves, I had taken up a job as an English professor in a nearby school.
My sister, Carla, had been staying with me for the past couple of weeks. The last two years had been rough for her. She had gotten married and had a miscarriage in the same year. The unfortunate accident crippled her marriage and soon enough, she had gotten a divorce.
I offered her to stay with me till she could get back on her feet, which was proving to be harder than I thought. Between paying for her therapy bills and making sure she doesn't end up choking on her vomit after getting wasted, I barely had any time left for myself. My regular trips to the grocery store were the only times I could be alone and really enjoy myself.
It was tough being thirty three.
The moment I had shifted to New York, I had thought of Beth. I had been curious to know if I'll ever meet her again and maybe, just maybe, finally grow the balls to ask her out. But I never saw her again after our last encounter in the bar.
Until today.
I had two tomatoes in my hands and I was carefully examining both of them. At a single glance, they looked exactly the same but by looking closely, one could spot the tiny yellow spots on the left one which indicated that it was still unripe. I kept it back on the rack and picked another one to examine it. My inspection was broken when an amused voice spoke from behind me. It had been four years since I saw her, but somehow I instantly knew who it was.
"Have you always been this picky?"
I exhaled a breath and felt my heart quicken its pace as I turned around.
And then I saw her.
Her hair was grown this time and the smile on her face told me that she had recognised me. Nothing had really changed about Beth in all these years except for a few worry lines beneath her dark brown eyes where her skin had darkened a bit to show sleep deprivation. She looked beautiful.
She was wearing a thin cardigan and faded blue jeans. Somehow, even without not changing at all, everything about Beth had changed. She wasn't loud and sassy like the first time I met her, or lovesick and girly like the second. This time, she looked calm yet tired. Like someone who had gone through a lot and was done with whatever life had thrown their way.
