I never liked my business trips. They only bore me and make me tired. But this time, I'm being impatient for a different reason. Staying so far away from Stella makes me feel so lonely. Yeah I know I can call her, I can video chat with her but communicating through this mechanical bearer, does not give you the full satisfaction.
Just like yesterday, I was attending the meeting. I had a little lunch time break so I called on Stella's phone. Sadly she didn't picked it up. Maybe she's doing work or busy some where else. My free time was over soon and I had to continue the meeting. Few minutes later I received a text on my phone. It was on vibration mode so, I opened to see who had sent it. The message was from Stella.
* I'm sorry I couldn't pick your call. Are you free now?*
I quickly typed the reply and send it to her. It's better to let her know or else she'll be thinking about this.
* It's fine. I'm in meeting I'll call you later* As soon I hit the send button, another reply came from her.
* Ok*
When my meeting finished, it was around the evening time. I can finally call Stella and have a good chat. I was about to call her but someone else had called me which was from Neil.
" What's up Neil?"
"Bro, listen, I'm following my sister right now and she's with Ray." Every time I hear the name Ray it makes my body itch. But I have decided that I'm not gonna be jealous or act stupid.
" Okay? Umm why are following them?"
" You are asking me this? Didn't you guys had a fight because of Ray? Besides I'm rooting for you now so, I won't let Ray do anything fishy." When Neil was staying at my house I had told him everything that has happened with me and Stella. Surprisingly Neil knew Ray liked his sister.
Every time Ray tried to take Stella on a date she would call her friends or take Neil with her. She always thought that it was a friendly gathering. Ray never had the balls to confess his feelings to Stella and that's why he never got the chance. He thought he will ruin his friendship with her.
" That's great. You can just go there and tag along with them."
" Hell no! I'm not gonna meet with that moron."
" Seriously Neil? You too? You guys are way older than your behaviour. Just talk to your sis and sort it out." I pleaded him to stop being a kid.
" I'll do it some other time. Right now, I'm just gonna keep an eye on them till something happens. Jeez! I can't believe Ray is still trying so hard to gain my sister's affection. There's no way my sis will love him."
"Let him do what he wants. I don't even care."
" Yeah. Anyway I'm sure my sis won't ever think of him more than her friend. I mean they knew each other for such a long time but still he couldn't change their relationship."
" I also think that. No matter what scheme he will play, I won't let it bother me."
" Exactly! I mean he had all this time to meet up with my sister but he specifically chose this time when you are out. Besides if it was for the sake of the friendly gathering, he could have called everyone too."
" Good thing is you're there. Make sure nothing bad happens."
" Don't worry brother-in-law. I'm here to help you, so just chill." It made chuckle when he called me 'brother-in-law'.
" Okay then. Good luck." I hung up the phone and I started to have so many questions on my head. More like worries and tension bring piled up inside my head.
What's his plan now? I thought that he will stop his stupidity after the fight he had with Stella. But he's again planning and plotting against me. Just one more day Stella. Please don't let something bad happen again.
I came back to my hotel room. Taking a cold water bath made me feel little bit calmed. Wearing a bath robe, I began to wipe my hair with the towel. My phone was laying on the bed. I picked it up and opened Stella's contact number. She was just one tap away from me. I was not sure if I should call her or not. Is she asleep now? Having dinner? Or doing some work? I don't know. My eyes stayed focused on the phone screen. There was another question which was making me feel uneasy. I'd rather not even speak of it.
What if she's with Ray?
Yes, I won't do the same mistake ever again. Being jealous will only bring the evil out of me. I don't want to become savage. I want to stay quiet and deal with it calmly. Even if I call her, I'm afraid that I can't ask her about her time with Ray. Oh I can ask Neil about that. It will be better to ask him what happened. My phone was still in the palm of my hand. When I decided to call Neil, My phone rang up.
It was from Stella. As soon the name of Stella came on my phone screen I got startled. The phone fell off on my face. Yes, I was holding the phone while laying down on my bed. Damn. It hit hard when the phone smashed my face. I never thought that having my phone fell over face would hurt this much. The phone was still ringing. I didn't had any time to waste on my pain. Grabbing it quickly I picked the call.
" Hey." Her voice sounded bit dull this time.
" You okay?"
" Yeah. I'm good..... how was your day?"
" Fine and your?"
" Nothing special. I went out with Ray." I didn't thought she will say it by herself. But why does she sound so sad? It's like she's kinda depressed.
" Oh. You had fun?" I wanted to act calm and not seemed bother by it. She knows that I got jealous of Ray, she was telling me thing beforehand so that I won't get mad with it. That's really thoughtful of her.
" Hmm." There was a pause but then she spoke those words which made me shocked. My stomach felt twisted and I cannot explain what I felt that time.
" I miss you." Those three words, they were filled with emotion even I can feel it hearing it from my phone. I am sure that she was upset that I'm absent from her life.
" I miss you too." My mouth has shaped into a deep smile, sadly she won't know it or feel it.
" I hope you get home soon."
" Of course."
I didn't hung up or looked at my phone to see if she had ended the call. I knew she was holding the call, staying quite. The silence was too much but yet we both were holding our phone, waiting for someone to say a word.
But none of us said anything. Too awkward perhaps? The phone was cut off by her. Why was she sad? Is it because of me? Or something that has happened today? I have no clue to guess.
It's the time for me to take some rather unusual decision. I hope it will not disappoint me.
~ to be continued