While eating the last piece of his pizza Tervey said to Rhyme, "Won't you ask about Jay?"
Oh crap, how did he know Rhyme was thinking about Jay at that moment?
The atmosphere around the pair changed in an instant. The air around them became cold all of a sudden.
"I don't want to talk about him. I've forgotten about him long ago. Please do not mention him in front of me again." Her lips trembled as she spoke. Her face darkened. A drop of sweat appeared on her forehead inspite of the air conditioning present in the pizza outlet.
She had a really mysterious expression spread over her face at the mention of Jay. Wrinkles appeared on her forehead. Jay was her only friend from high school other than Tervey.
Rhyme looked like she was angry and sad at the same time. It was as if the worst memories of her life were brought back to her at that moment.
They finished the rest of their meals in awkward silence, except the voice of kids making noise on a neighbouring table.
"Let's do for a walk around the town.", said Tervey to change the topic.
"I don't know when I would be free. It has been really hectic since the moment I stepped in New York. Life is taking sharp turns every now and then."
"Call me whenever you are free. I will come to pick you up for a ride around the town."
"Sure"
Rhyme's phone began to ring as soon as she stepped out of the pizza place. It was an unknown number. She picked it up anyways.
"Ms. Rhyme, do you keep your phone I silent mode or find it difficult to reply to phone calls?" said a heavy voice in a cold tone.
After a few microseconds, it struck to her where she heard this voice before.
"I'm really sorry Mr. Robert, I won't repeat this mistake "
"This is your last warning. You would have to pay for it if this happens again. Every second of my schedule is important, you better not mess it up again!"
"I'm really sorry" Rhyme didn't expect this much anger on not picking up a call.
"Now, listen carefully. The first trial of our experiment is set to take place tomorrow evening near Central park's gate number 2 after the morning's meeting. You are supposed to bring the briefcase you got last time. And you are not supposed to bring anyone along with you."
"But I still do not know the details of the experiment. At least give me a brief description of the aim of this mission"
"For now think of it as something similar to time travel" . He spoke so indifferently as if it was as common as brushing your teeth.
"Whaaat???!!! What did you just say?!"
" What you heard is the truth. The experiment is related to time travel"
"What happened ? Is there a problem? Do you need my help with something?"
Rhyme quickly changed her expressions and with a straight face, keeping a hand on the microphone of her mobile, said, "No it's nothing serious. I'll talk to you later. Good bye!"
Tervey held a blank face for a while before walking back to his home.
"I'll be ready" said Rhyme as Tervey was at a safe distance from her.
"Do not forget to bring your briefcase, it is very important. And better not put me on voice mail next time, or it won't be very pleasant for any one of us!"
He hung up the phone immediately.
Rhyme never imagined that someone like Mr. Robert can be so cold and rude. She then went back home.
Rhyme hadn't slept well in last 24 hours, so she fell asleep in no time as soon as she reached home, despite of the various thoughts hovering around in her mind. She thought about that chilling nightmare too before falling asleep.
A quick introduction to their pasts:
The trio was very popular among the students in high school as the most brilliant in their school. They were the ideal type of students whom everyone wished to be like. They topped the scores in their respective subjects and were the ones who represented their school at really important events like inter state quizzes, science fairs, educational fairs etc.
Rhyme was the one with highest IQ among the three. She loved studying maths and physics in her school and ended up mastering the subjects. She was the most desirable girl in her school, after all, who cannot like a beauty with brains!
Tervey was very kind, timid but a goofy type of person. He was always seen taking care of others and loved healing people. He wanted to use his talent to heal others and ended up becoming a doctor. He got immense peace on healing others wounds.
Jay was the one with a really amazing persuasive power. It was like God's own gift. Along with his handsome face, anyone can fall victim to his schemes. He proceeded to become a businessman as people would easily trusted him and invested all their savings in buying his company's shares. It wasn't that those people's money would be a waste, but Jay also had the brains which he used to grow his business, and managed to become India's one of the top businessman.
Rhyme and Tervey were like very chill with each other. They were such buddies who could read one another's minds. Tervey and Jay's relationship was equivalent to two lost brothers. Others used to call the pair : Brothers from different mothers.
On the other hand, Rhyme and Jay's relationship was weird, full of ups and downs. At first, Jay was attracted to Rhyme, but since they were friends for a long time, he hesitated to confess his feelings. He got flustered every time he saw Rhyme and others thought it was weird. People started gossiping that they were dating. It continued to be this way for a long time. Then something happened between Rhyme and Jay, and they started ignoring each other all the time. Even Tervey didn't knew what happened. No one other than Rhyme and Jay knows what happened with them.
Tervey tried very hard to find out what happened. By all means, and by that I mean, asking them directly, bribing them, through others, but failed. Both Rhyme and Jay would stop speaking to him and act like ghosts the whole day if he dare ask them what happened. Rhyme would even burst into tears from time to time. No one else saw anything happen between them, so no one had any idea what was going on.
Jay also suffered from a very severe fracture in his arm around that time, so eventually they stopped talking at all.
Tervey tried a lot to patch them up but who was he to persuade the scheming lord into doing something he decided won't do his whole life!
***
In a dimly lit corner of a dormitory, where there were no other noises except for the slow creaking of the fan and the unstable flickering bulb;
"Leave me alone then! I don't want to see your face anymore! Stay away from me!"
"But what did I do wrong? Why are you venting your anger at me!"
"You were the one who made the first move! And now you are doing a 180° flip ! How mean" *Spat*
"Fine. You won't see my face again. I too do not wish to see your filthy face! I am so done with you ! " Rhyme smashed the door hard on his face and left. But she didn't knew one thing, that she smashed the door on Jay's arm!
Rhyme woke up with a jerk and sat up straight on her bed. Drops of sweat were trickling down her face and neck. Her hands were trembling. Tears started dwelling up in her eyes.
It was a long time ago that she used to have this nightmare, but it stopped in recent years. The past has come back hunting Rhyme in her almost perfect present. She felt very guilty to be the reason for hurting Jay. After all she still loved him.