Song of the chapter is
Liability by Lorde

-02-
-Veronica D'Rosario-
-Present-

__________

Bean Journal Cafè, Mangalore
7 November, 2030
4:03 pm

The autumn air mixed with the aroma of freshly baked butterscotch flavoured cookies lingered in the air, making me fall back in love with nostalgia.

I almost smiled to myself.

Fixing the knot of my dull grey apron, I tucked the remaining strands of my hair behind my ear and walked out the door to the kitchen. The door closed slowly behind me.

"A cold chicken salad and a caramel latte for table four." I instructed and Maria's thumbs up popped from behind the counter. I smiled.

"The evening's turning out to be good today. Lot of customers." Maria's voice echoed from behind.

"Definitely." I nodded to myself. "I'll check if there are any new orders. Make sure the order for table three is ready by ten."

"You got it." Nalin hummed softly, as he finished chopping the onions.

Pushing the door to the kitchen, I stepped out and was immediately greeted by a familiar face.

"Qais."

"Veronica."

I smiled, as I stepped closer to the counter. "Ordering your usual, I presume?"

"You know me, I'm a basic bitch."

I chuckled softly as I poured the contents of the decaf coffee into the machine.

"Busy night, huh?" He said, looking around. The soft cackle from the coffee machine reverberated off the mauve painted walls, it's noise clashing against Elvis Presley's 'If I Can Dream' playing on the vintage jukebox.

"Yep." I hummed as I carefully poured the coffee on the hand-painted mocha mug.

He gave me a soft look as I pushed the mug towards him. "Thanks."

Sipping on it, he continued, "So...did you think about my offer?"

My lips plastered on a slight smile. "You are never gonna give up on that, are you?"

His eyes twinkled with a familiar glare, as he kept the mug down, while the fog that had clouded his glasses slowly ebbed away. "How else would I find excuses to meet you?"

He did that a lot. Flirt with me. And although his advances never went beyond anything sweet, I still felt a weird entanglement everytime he did that.

"Sappy much?" I tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear.

"Only for you."

I crinkled my nose.

"On a serious note though, did you think about it?"

"There's nothing to think about, Qais." I let my weight collapse against the counter. "I'm happy with my business here."

"But if you open franchises in other places, won't that help your brand more?" He asks, refering to the city of dreams.

"Mumbai is too hectic and fast for me." I repeated the same automated response I had come up with when he had first asked me that question. "Plus, this place is quiet and has few people. And my business runs good here. Why would I want to move anywhere else?"

"Because Mumbai is Mumbai!" He insisted, emphasizing on the last word. "You'll get a better scope there."

I sighed. How could I tell him the real reason for not choosing that option without it ripping my tender heart apart?

"My answer still stands. That city isn't for me." I vouched. He pouted.

"Alright, fine." He said in response. "I guess I really can't change your mind, can I?"

"Well atleast you tried."

He placed his hands sloppily over the counter. "How will I live without seeing you everyday?"

"You're so dramatic." I laughed. "When do you have to leave?"

"In a week." He responded, sighing. "Will you miss me?"

I fake-pondered. "Mm.... debatable."

"You're so cruel." He said, placing a hand on his chest, feigning hurt. I chuckled softly.

"This is probably my last coffee here. Atleast let it be on the house." He pouted again.

"Okay, you drama queen." I rolled my eyes at him. "It's on the house."

A smile escaped his lips.

In a huff, Maria walked out of the kitchen door with the order and placed it beside me. I signalled Qais with my eyes before taking the order to table three. The old couple smiled widely as I served their food.

"You've been doing such a good job with the cafe, darling." Mrs. Sharma appreciated once I was done with the serving. I gave her a genuine smile. She was a regular at The Bean Journal. Her husband and her visited almost every weekend to have a little date of their own.

"Thanks, Mrs.Sharma."

"Don't thank us, dear. You truly are doing a wonderful job with the cafe here."

"Yeah, and especially after everything that happened with your mother, I can't believe....how well you've handled it." As she continued, my smile faltered. The faint memories came rushing back like the waves at the shore. Maintaining my composure, I responded softly, "I guess I try my best."

Because that's all I ever do. Try. Try. Try.

With a slower pace, I walked back to the counter with the tray and placed it under the shelf. Qais gave me a worried look.

"You alright?"

I nodded, snapping out of the memory lane.

As the beats to the previous song slowly drowned in the background, Elvis began once again,

' Wise men say....
only fools rush in....
but i can't help....
falling in love with you.'

Qais looked up from his mug and smiled to himself. "Have you been going through a romantic ballad phase recently?"

"The song choices aren't mine. Maria chooses them." I responded honestly.

"Thought so. You don't come off as the romantic type at all." He surmised.

My lips etched into a thin line. "I don't have the time for romance, Qais."

"Nah. That's not it." He objected. "I think you do want some romance in your life."

"Care to elaborate on that, professor?" I leaned towards him.

Mirroring my movements, he began, "You want someone to love you like you're the only person that's there on earth, Veronica. I can see that. And even if you try to covet that all the time, it's pretty visible."

Sucking in a sharp breath, I leaned back, my mind graced with zero thoughts. He had read me well.

But how could I be loved? I was too broken to be loved whole --- to be loved at all.

I was agony. I was despair. I was alone. And so I was left alone.

However, at the same time, it was also true that I had been loved at one point in my life. By someone who saw every flaw of mine and yet had agreed to love me still. Unconditionally. Irrevocably. Madly.

A lump formed in my throat.

For the past eleven years, all I did was try and make my heart ache a little less at the thought of him. But how could I succeed when he was etched in my soul like a tattoo kiss? He was etched in every cardigan I kept in my closet that I had possessed since I was thirteen. He was etched in every canvas I spilt my ink on. He was etched in the pages of every book I read, especially his own. He had so casually drawn stars around my scars that for a moment I had forgotten that I wasn't just as broken as I was.

And now I was a museum of things I could never forget.

__________________

The past lived inside me, like this city does, every streetlight a sun, every shore a flood, every change a heartache. It lived inside me like a child. It demanded like a child.

But it never let me in. The shadows of each memory settling in place, my mind troubled by a profound emptiness. The disembodied noise of the past beckoned me everywhere. I could never escape it.

As I stared at the message on my cellphone for the seventh time, my mind was clouded with a myriad of thoughts. The closed sign at the door fluttered from the slight breeze from the A.C above it. Maria and Nalin had gone home half an hour ago, leaving me by myself at the empty establishment.

I checked the time. It was almost 10:45 at night.

The message had arrived an hour ago but I had only seen it when I had been cleaning the counter fifteen minutes back. And when my eyes had graced it, my limbs had felt numb. My mind had gone blank. My lips had dried up.

Now the only noise was from the rattling of the glass door from the breeze outside and the million thoughts fogging my mind.

' From : Delmore High School

Delmore High cordially invites the graduating class of 2020 till this day to their ten year reunion at the school on the 14th of November. All alumnis are requested to be present. RSVP to confirm your presence. ', the message had read.

I inhaled a sharp breath.

Before questioning myself whether I was ready to go back to the town that bad plagued my life for seventeen years of my existence, I asked myself another question. Had I ever been able to escape the town in the first place?

I may had moved cities twice after leaving that town, but had I really escaped that place? It lived in me like a growing parasite, living, moving, breathing as I existed. And after everything that had happened eleven years back, it was like I could never put that town behind me. Neither the haunting memories, nor the scars. And nor the people either.

The people.....

His face swam in front of my eyes again. My eyes glistened. Would he be there? Would I get to meet him if I went?

Would he want to see me?

After everything that had went down two years back, I doubted he even wanted to see my face. He probably despised me even more than he did two years back. And the fact that I had done nothing to make things right didn't make things better either.

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I skimmed my eyes through the message again.

There was nothing left for me to loose. Not anymore. So what was the harm in taking the risk?

A car headlight brightened outside before dimming down and leaving. The clock finally struck 11.

There were several reasons for me to not go. But there were also many reasons for me to be there. I could get to see all of my friends again after so long. Zoya, Siya, Kartik, Saina..... I wondered how each of them were doing.

And it was only just a weekend. Just one weekend.

Inhaling sharply, I thus typed, 'Will be there.'

And if not anything else, I'd atleast get to see my Moose again.

And that's all that mattered.

_______________________

ouch, do we sense incoming heartache and angst in the way? yes we do, yes we do, yes we do.

just so we are all clear, I'm writing eleven years because the incidents took place in 2019 and the current year is 2030. the gang was 17 at the time and except for Veronica, they all completed their high school one year later, i.e, in 2020. that's why the school reunion is their ten year reunion.

so much has gone down in these ten years, you can't even begin to imagine-

anywho, i wanna know your thoughts on this one. like i had already said, the first six chapters will provide you a backstory, the next six will provide you a happy time, and then the chaos will begin. so bear with me :)

please vote, comment and share the book as much as possible! let's aim for 40 votes!

love,
Bosedisha