It happened one night

chapter 19

He kept his distance from her. Yet he watched her from his perch on a tree, deep inside the forest. The girl visited the villa for two days continiously, spending hours. It irritated him to hide and stay away from the villa but he found himself eagerly waiting for her to come again on the third day.

When she didnt turn up that day, it confused him.

However, she returned the next day alongwith two boys. They had well-built athletic bodies. He wondered if they were by any chance into football games. He initially felt happy to see her but gradually he grew more and more annoyed when he realised that they were cleaning the upstair rooms of the villa. He couldnt figure out as to where he would spend the days, now that the rooms were going to be under scrutiny, he wouldnt dare to step in there for fear of being discovered.

He spent that night in an empty store room behind the hall, grudgingly.

The following day the girl returned with two other friends; another girl with long black hair and a tall boy with short curly hair. They bounced about inside the rooms and their noises increased with time considerably; till at the end, both the petit girl (whose name he came to know was Cath) and the boy, Sam.. were practically screaming each other deaf.

He noticed that her two friends were stark opposites. While Sam was a stupid guy with a loud mouth constantly trying to scare Cath or play jokes on her, the other girl whose name he couldnt quite make out from their conversations was a brooding and silent girl.

He saw her walking down the garden, lost in her own memories with her eyes glazed over. She walked to the edge of the garden where the forest begins, and stooped down to pick up a dandelion seed. She closed her eyes.. her lips moving silently and then she blew it away, smiling as it floated up and out of her sight. He found her intriguing.

But most of all he liked watching Cath. The girl with blue hair and a carefree attitude. Something about her made him want to become her close friend. The way she talked to her friends, the way she stood head to head with the other guys while quarrelling and the way she almost strangled Sam.. awakened in him desires he had never felt before.

And thats what troubled him.

He couldnt tell why he had grown so accustomed to watching her shift furnitures, put things in order, clean the hall in the villa, tend the garden while singing random songs or whistling a tune. Or just sit on that porch drinking Monster drinks listlessly. He would observe her smiling at nothing in particular and then recording things on her camera while speaking to it animatedly about the garden and the villa.

When it became afternoon and he still didnt hear the light footstep on the road or the creaking sound of the door opening, he wondered if she would visit the villa today at all.

He stood near the window looking at the garden below. He didnt understand why he wanted her to come. And he didnt like not being in control of his own feelings. Having unknown feelings made him uncomfortable. He pressed his palm over his forehead and breathed in slowly.

Mia

As soon as it came to his mind, his hand fell by his side and his eyes shot open.

That name sent a jolt through his body. He needed to be strong. To be prepared. He knew the time was running out.

He decided to go for a run and have some drinks before the night was over.

As he started running through the forest, the wind played with his hair and he could feel his muscles stretching and bunching in his arms and thighs at a rhythmic manner.

His eyes narrowed in concentration as he picked up his speed further.

Suddenly he caught the smell in the air. It was fresh and an unrestricted flow. His balance wavered for a few minutes before he tore through the forest wilderness in the new direction.