The seventies evergreen song played on a tape recorder. Someone had just increased the volume and now it was echoing in the entire room of the star hotel.
'Raymond, what the hell are you doing?' Leo asked his friend who was dressed in a white suit. Raymond increased the volume of the song. Leo pushed the stop button.
'You want this?' he asked offering a chocolate cake to him.
'I'm serious Raymond' he took the plate from his table and kept it aside. He pulled a chair and sat beside him.
'Raymond answer me what are you doing? What do you want to prove by marrying Jasmine?' he asked again looking into Raymond's eyes 'Raymond you are spoiling three lives yours, Jasmine's and Melanie's, and not only that, even Clara is getting affected by all this' he added 'Don't do this Raymond don't do this'
'You know this very well Leo' he got up from his chair, again started the player, and sat down with the piece of dark chocolate cake.
'I am doing this all for Melanie so that she moves on' he said.
'You think that she would move on if you get married to someone else?' he said 'Come on Raymond even you know that even after knowing that you are married to someone else she won't move on her trust in love will shatter. She would be in much more pain than she is now. Why do you want to punish her Raymond, for no reason?' he argued.
'That's not true Leo, I am just giving her reason to-to move on'
'And what about Jasmine, is this any justice to her?' he asked, Raymond, looked away from him 'and what about you? would you be able to forget Melanie?' he continued
Raymond again took the bite of the cake and answered 'I'll try'
'Don't lie to yourself Raymond, even you know that you can never forget her, and that's why even now you are listening to this particular track that too, on Melanie's tape recorder, eating this stupid truffle cake, remembering her because it was her favorite. Whom are you fooling Raymond?' he asked.
Raymond's eyes filled with tears as he remembered Melanie. He fell silent to any of his questions. It was not Leo who was asking these questions but it was his inner soul asking the same questions to him.
'Raymond, it's still not late...you can go back to her and...' before he could say anything further, Leo received a phone call. It was his wife Rita. He answered the call.
'Yes, Rita... No, the function has not started yet, what happened? Why haven't you reached here?' he asked.
'Leo I am sorry I wanted to attend Raymond's wedding but what can I do there's an emergency in the hospital' she replied.
'Oh! It's Okay Rita, take your time dear, it's okay'.
'Leo that's not for what I've called you Leo...' she paused. 'I think the emergency is someone related to you or Raymond, I mean I haven't met the patient yet but I think I saw Shonali in the corridor, and a little girl along with her maybe probably of four years, a while back when Dr. Wadhva paged me about the emergency'
'What? Are you sure? I mean what's the case can you tell me clearly' he asked his voice carried anxiousness.
'There's a woman who jumped off her floor and she is damn serious, I am reading her file the name is ...yes... it is Melanie Miranda' she said flipping through the pages of the case file.
'What?' Leo panicked. He was stunned to hear her name from her mouth, rest whatever she kept saying was unheard.
'We are coming there' he whispered and disconnected the phone call. He turned to Raymond and walked up to him.
'Congratulations! Mr. Raymond Acosta, you have received an awesome wedding gift on your engagement and that too from Melanie' he sighed 'she tried killing herself' he whispered.
'What? What are you saying, Leo? What do you mean?' he panicked, his heart raced when he heard what Leo had just said.
'Tell me what happened to my Melanie' he asked shrugging his shoulders. 'What happened to Melanie, Leo?'
'Melanie jumped off her building. She is in the hospital, fighting for life' he replied looking down. Raymond's lips went dry when he heard this. His heartbeat went faster. He left the room as fast as he could. Leo followed him and both of them left for the hospital.
Various thoughts crossed Raymond's mind when they were on the way. Drops of sweat emerged on his forehead, even in the highly air-conditioned car. All he wanted was to see Melanie. Leo had called Rita's assistant to ask where the patient was and he took them to the ICU where she was being treated.
Raymond's heart ached when he saw her with all the life-saving equipment attached to her and the team of doctors around her, operating her. Tears swam in his eyes when he saw his 'love' in that condition. He felt as if he would lose everything in his life if he lost her, he couldn't afford such a big loss. He couldn't lose the person whom he loved the most. Everything blurred before his eyes. He held his head, memories of Melanie crossed his head.