Song of the chapter is Right Where You Left Me by Taylor Swift

-08-
-Veronica D' Rosario-
-Present-

__________

Paper Lantern
11 November,  2030
8:13 pm

Time had just paused in that moment.

The sonorous noise of the wind chime, the grumble of the coffee machine, the soft hum of jazz music playing over the jukebox ——— every sound had drowned as my eyes had met his. The pulsating beats of my heart were the only thing I could hear at that moment.

My breath had hitched in my throat, refusing to be let out. My cold hands until then had now started sweating profusely. My mind couldn't decipher the sight in front of me.

Moose... my Moose....was standing right in front of me.

Eleven years had passed and yet he still looked like the thirteen year old boy that I had fell in love with. His soft brown curls were a bit darker now, his sweet caramel infused green eyes still the same. The celeste blue shirt that he was wearing had one button undone and it stood in stark contrast to the usual flannels that he used to wear when he was seventeen. It seemed like after all these years the only thing that had changed about him was his fashion sense.

I didn't realise how long we stood like that until Zoya ran up to me and engulfed me in a warm embrace. I chuckled softly as her body hit mine with an impact.

"You absolute fucking bitch!" She grinned as she parted from me. "So many years and not one text from you!"

A faltered smile etched on my face.

"Yeah I know. I have a lot of apologising to do, don't I?"

From my peripheral vision, I could see Moose shifting in his place.

"That you do." Zoya voiced. "But I'm very glad you made it to the reunion."

I darted my eyes at Moose and then back at Zoya. "Yeah, me too."

She gave me a wide smile and locked her arm with mine. "Come on." She led me to the booth where her and Moose were sitting earlier and sat down next to him. I took a seat opposite to them. Moose shifted uncomfortably in his seat as he took a sip of his drink.

He avoided meeting my eyes.

"Should we order something? I am kind of craving for milkshake and fries." Zoya chimed and looked at me for assistance.

"Uh... I'll just get pasta I guess. I'm kind of hungry from the journey."

"Alright." Zoya uttered as she called one of the waitresses that was serving one of the other tables. As she came and stood in front of our booth, Zoya narrated her order to her and stopped to look at me.

"What kind of pasta do you want?"

"Uh...wh-"

"White sause pasta."

I darted my eyes at Moose in surprise as he finished my sentence.

He looked away as soon as he met my eyes and said, "It's her..... favourite."

Zoya nodded in the most sheepish way I could ever imagine and asked the waitress to get our orders. The waitresses told us customarily that she'll get us our orders soon and left. Once she was out of eyeshot, I finally settled my gaze on the salt shaker kept on the table.

How could I ever look at him now, without the imploding guilt consuming and ripping me apart from inside?

He still remembered.

"So V, where are you living as of now?" Zoya broke the ice. "Still in Kerela?"

"No, I actually... I moved to Mangalore two years back." I said, looking up at her.

"I thought you had settled down well in Kerela." Zoya said, putting her face in her palm. "Any special reason as to why you moved?"

I pulled on the hem of my top. I could feel Moose's gaze on me. "Uh...I..."

Fortunately, for me, at that very precise moment, Zoya's phone rang. Checking the caller id, she said, "Uh..guys I have to take this. Excuse me for a moment."

Saying that, she slid out of the booth and walked out of the diner, leaving me and Moose all by ourselves.

The universe must really hate me.

For a while, we just sat there like that, both avoiding each other's eyes like the plague. But then he decided to break the silence, "So.....how have you been?"

I took a moment to register the fact that he was indeed speaking to me.

"Okay-ish.... I guess."

He took a sip out of his drink and nodded. "I honestly didn't think you'd show up."

His tone said enough. I knew why he was choosing those words in that tone and projecting it towards me. And the guilt in my chest was returning with a burning rage.

"Me.... neither... honestly."

I hated how feeble my voice sounded at that moment.

"So what made you decide to turn up?"

His words, so piercing. I could feel them in my bones, travelling up my nerves, churning my mind into putti.

"I don't know..... I uh...guess it was the prospect of seeing my... friends after so long."

He scoffed, looking away.

"Friends. Right."

I looked down at my feet. What had I expected really? That he would just forget everything that went down two years back and everything would just magically be alright between us again?

"Anyways,... it's good to see you, Veronica." He said, finishing the last bit of his drink.

I looked up and gathering all the courage left in me, said,

"It's good to see you too,... Moose."

A sudden flicker in his eyes happened. It was as though they were surprised —— how had I been so brazen as to call him that again?

"Sorry guys, that took a while!" Zoya huffed as she came and slid back into the booth in front of me. "So what are you guys talking about?"

I simply looked away, pretending to brush something off my pants.

"Oh nothing," I heard Himanshu say. "Just some old ‘friends’.... catching up."

I remained silent.

"Anyways, as much as I would like to stay a little longer, I have somewhere to be." Himanshu said. "I think I'll get going."

"So soon?" Zoya asked, as I looked back up.

"Uh..yeah... sorry." Himanshu said. "But I'll see you around, k?"

Zoya nodded before moving aside to let him out. As he shimmied his way out and stood in front of the table, he finally looked at me again.

"See you around."

Before I could say anything back, he walked past me when suddenly, I felt a slight jerk on my wrist. I moved my gaze to look at it and found one of the strings of his guitar charm bracelet tangled up in my watch.

I stood up and met his gaze.

For a split second, it was like I saw my old Moose in those eyes. I saw the boy who used to make me laugh at his knock knock jokes, who used to love my art when everyone else considered it weird, who used to hold so much love for me that I didn't even deserve.

For a split second, it was like we were seventeen again.

He broke the eye contact first and tried to untangle his bracelet string. I watched him as he inched closer with precision, muttering a low huffing sound under his breath. Once he was done with the untangling, he moved back again.

I watched as he breathed a soft sigh. I watched as he swallowed a lump forming in his throat. I watched as he twisted the silver ring on his ring finger and looked away.

Somewhere deep in my chest, I felt a knife twist in the same manner.

Without a word, he then walked away. And I stood there, like a girl who got frozen.

____________

"So do you...or do you not want me to address the elephant in the room?" Asked Zoya, leaning towards me.

I paused my train of thoughts to give her my full attention. "Uh..sorry... what?"

"Hello! The fact that you've been M.I.A for the past.... I don't know, seven...eight years?" Zoya asked in an obvious tone.

I sighed, looking down at my hands. "It's a long story."

"Well, I don't have anything better to do other than going back to Delmore Inn and passing out until morning." She responded, leaning back.

"Wait... you're staying at the Delmore Inn?" I asked genuinely.

"Yeah, well my parents sold the house five years back, so there's no 'home' to go back to." Zoya answered. "Don't change the topic, V."

I raised my hands in mock surrender. "Wasn't my intention."

"Well, then tell me." Zoya said, leaning forward on the table. 

I licked my lips and intertwined my fingers together. "I'm sorry, Zoya. I really am. I wanted to keep in touch, I swear I did. But for the past few years....my mental health wasn't the best. My career wasn't flailing, I had lost all ambition, and everything was just a shit show."

Zoya gently placed her hand atop mine.

"I'm truly sorry for not keeping in touch. I know I should've." I apologized, looking at her. "I mean...you guys were my first real friends after all."

She gave me a warm smile. "Yeah....some more than others though."

A faltered smile etched on my face. "Yeah....but I don't think that's alive anymore..."

"What do you mean?"

I bit the inside of my cheeks. "I think...he hates me."

"What? What made you think that?"

I sucked in a deep breath, trying hard to keep my composure. "I just.... I can sense it. In his words, in his tone. I just...know that he hates me."

Zoya didn't say anything in response but a second later, she chimed, "Not possible."

I simply looked at her.

"Himanshu might be capable of hating a lot of people." She stated in a matter of fact way. "But not you. Never you."

I wanted to tell her she was wrong. That indeed it was possible for Moose to hate me after what had happened all those years back. But I decided to stay quiet instead.

"You know," I began, composing myself a bit more. "That... he's engaged, right?"

A solemn expression crossed Zoya's face as she gave me a slight nod. "Yeah... I heard about it last year. I think it was with some Delhite model. Sooo not his type!"

I knew she wanted to make me feel better with her words. But something had stirred in me when I had watched him twist that ring of his.

"I knew about it too." I stated honestly. I had read about it on a magazine that Maria had brought into the cafe on one fine Saturday morning. I remembered spotting his name as soon as I had caught a glimpse of it on one of the gossip pages. It was hard not to.

"For the longest time.... I just made myself believe that it wasn't...true. That one day he would call bullshit on these gossip articles. But today....when I saw him....with that ring on his finger...."

"Oh honey..." Zoya took my hand in hers and softly pressed her thumb against the crevice of my palm. "It's going to be okay."

I could feel the onslaught of tears burning at the back of my eyes.

"Sometimes....some things in life are just not meant to be."

I knew. I had learnt that the hard way.

"Think of it as a bandaid, okay?" She said. "When you rip it off, it's painful. It hurts. But once you're done, the pain...it goes away."

I nodded, trying to keep my tear ducts in check. I did not wanna seem vulnerable in front of her.

"Rip that bandaid off this weekend."

I nodded again.

"And anyways, once this stupid reunion is over, you'll go your seperate ways. Then you won't have to see him ever again." She finished.

And even though I nodded to that as well, I had a feeling deep down that this reunion wasn't going to be the last time that we'd see each other.

_______________

oof that was...tiring.

for those of you lacking context, basically i had to rewrite this chapter again yesterday because this app apparently didn't save my last update which i had done on the fourteenth of this month!

phew!

anyways, as we can see, my angsty babies are back and they are angst-ier than ever! ooh don't we love to see our favourite characters suffering?

so what do we think of this chapter? do we like the dynamic between our lovebirds or do we not? and what do you think went down between them all those years back?

safe to say, you better tune in to find out! till the next update, make sure to vote, comment and share the book!

love,
Bosedisha