Saturday 18 April 2015

Photograph

The phone buzzed. Without even thinking, Nandhini answered the call, and almost immediately regretted it.

Etienne. 

She was not ready to speak to him but now it was too late.

"Finally!" Etienne sounded relieved. 

Nandhini asked him how he was doing. She realised that she missed him a lot more than she thought she had.

Etienne wanted to meet her. He apologised again and said he would explain everything to her when they met.

Reluctantly, Nandhini agreed to meet him, but only for a short while. After work, she took the train down to Paragon Mall. She was surprised to see Etienne there, waiting with a huge bouquet of pink roses. A smile slowly crept onto her face. 

Etienne passed her the flowers, then kissed her. That alone was enough to melt Nandhini. They walked towards their favourite quiet cafe around the corner of the building.

The waitress recognised them. " The usual order?" she asked with a smile. Both nodded. After ordering, Etienne looked at Nandhini. He looked a little nervous.

He took out a photograph. 

Nandhini recognised the girl in the picture. It was Swetha. She kept quiet and looked at Etienne with a blank expression.

"This is Swetha."
"She was the girl I dated for a few months when I was in India."

He paused, waiting for a reaction from Nandhini. Nothing.

He continued to tell her about Swetha and how they were and what kind of girl Swetha was. He certainly was mesmerised with Swetha, Nandhini thought, a little jealous.

Then, he began to tear. Nandhini, reacheed out to him and held his hand. She felt awful for putting him through this.

Etienne continued. "She died. My Swetha died.."

"Oh baby, you don't have to do this. It's alright I don't need to know. "
She got up and stood next to him, hugging him and planting a kiss on the top of his head.

The photograph lay on the table. She looked at the innocent face staring back at her. As much as she wanted to know what had happened to Swetha, she decided it was best to leave the past alone - at least for now.






1 comment:

  1. Sometimes it is better for few things to be unsaid...
    keep going

    http://serendipityofdreams.blogspot.in/

    ReplyDelete