Happiness. An emotion that we all strive to feel. It's why we do everything. The ultimate motive. Some would argue that the ultimate motive is money, but why do we bother earning money? For our happiness or for someone else's. We work towards happiness.
Among all the emotions I felt at that moment, happiness shone through them all.
If only you had waited a minute longer to ask me how I felt?
I couldn't believe what I just heard. I felt inexplicable joy. She had effectively left me speechless.
"I felt exactly the same as you did, if not more. Why do you think I let myself even get a transfer here. It was hard to find you since you had gone as far as to change your name. When I finally did find you, I was glad to see you were doing so well. I thought you would've forgotten all about me. But seeing the way you acted that day, and the way you are acting today.."
She paused, looked down and smiled for a moment.
"...would I be wrong in assuming you still feel the same?"
At that moment, nothing else mattered. I wanted to scream. I wanted to yell. I hadn't felt this... energetic in so many years.
"Ye- yes. I - I mean no. I mean yes I still feel the same. I can't believe this. I can't believe any of this. Am I dreaming? This is a dream right? I'm going to wake up any minute."
She laughed. God, I would never get tired of that laugh.
"Let's have lunch shall we?"
We had lunch. She laughed when I told her I hated salmon.
"Then why on earth would you order it?"
We talked about how the last 7 years went by. She told me how long she had tried to reach me before giving up quite a long time ago. Then around 2 years back, she got a chance to move to New York. She took the chance, even thought it meant living behind her perfectly comfortable life in London. I was so glad she came but at the same time I was sad she had to struggle so much for me.
I was really a pain in the neck. I was still having trouble believing what was happening. This was a dream come true.
"So, do you wanna go somewhere?"
"As much as I would love that, I have to get back to work. This has been lovely though. I'll call you."
"I'll look forward to it."
I left feeling like a new man. This was the dream. This was the moment I had waited for every day since the last 7 years.
I went back to work. My employees were extremely surprised with this new version of me. Work went well that day. It was turning out to be the perfect day.
However, life isn't always fair is it?
I was sitting at my couch waiting for her to call. My phone rang and I picked up.
"Hello Zavian."
I could hear noises. She was outside?
"Hey Jewel, are you outside?"
"Oh I was just entering-"
I heard a car coming to a screeching halt and-
And I heard her scream.
No no no no no. This can't be happening. I quickly called for an ambulance. I rushed to the hospital as fast as I could go.
There was a traffic block on the road. I couldn't take this. I banged my horn. I didn't know what to do. I was screaming inside.
My insides felt like someone had scraped a chainsaw through them. My heart felt like a 1000 weights had been placed on it. I was so angry at myself. If she hadn't met me, maybe she wouldn't have ended up in this scenario.
Why is life so unfair? Why does this happen? I rushed to the doctor as soon as I got to the hospital.
The doctor told me she was lucky to be alive. She had suffered multiple injuries and still hadn't regained consciousness. I was slowly breaking apart hearing all this. The doctor told me that the hospital was nearing closing hours and I could go and come back tomorrow.
I didn't know where to go. I couldn't go home. I sat in my car all night long. I couldn't sleep. I just waited until it was visiting hours and went straight back in.
The doctor had some good news for me. She had opened her eyes, but she still wasn't talking. The doctor said it was a good sign. He gave me a list of medications to buy.
Hours later, I was sitting at the reception waiting for some positive news. I had called into work to inform them I'd be taking a few days off. I couldn't go into work knowing she's here with no one by her side.
I talked to her parents over the phone. They were glad I was here. They couldn't do much from halfway across the world, and they didn't have a visa so they couldn't fly over at the moment. So they asked me to make sure I kept them updated.
Her friends had come and gone. It had been 3 days. I hadn't gone home even for a single day. I had entered the ICU a couple of times. She wasn't very responsive, however the doctors said that she's making excellent progress. They went as far as to say she'd make a full recovery in a few months, albeit, they had mentioned something that had slightly worried me.
They moved her to a room that day. She still wasn't talking but she had made excellent progress. The physiotherapist said she could probably start walking by the end of the month.
It was the 5th day after the accident. I was reading the sign about maintaining physical fitness for the 12th time in an effort to keep me distracted when the nurse came over to tell me she had started talking.
I rushed over to her room. The happiness that came over me when I heard that news was incomprehensible. I couldn't wait to hear her voice. I ran into her room asking her how she felt, almost tripping.
She didn't say anything.
"Jewel?"
•
"I'm sorry, do I know you?"