The dream.

He sat there and smiled at her. She blushed, and flushed red. He said, “Marié, You are so beautiful”. She replied, “Yes, yes, rub it in”, saying thus she made a face at him. At this, both of them burst in fits of laughter. A few eyebrows were raised in the otherwise silent café. They became quiet soon, but the giggles didn’t cease.

Marié and Adrian had been together for nearly one year now. They were one lively couple, always having fun and hanging out in cafes and parks. The townsfolk only knew them too well. The old folks reminisced their young days, the teenagers anticipated their future love lives watching these two. It was a regular sight to see them hand in hand walking down the street, playfully lost in their own world. But good things only last for a short time. This was no different.

It was almost the end of summer. The bright afternoon was almost at an end. Adrian was still in his room. Suddenly the mail arrived. Apart from the regular bills there was another letter. Somehow it caused him quiet distress when he read it. He simply read and re read it. Finally he threw the letter into the fireplace and went to call Marié. He picked up her phone and dialled the number, just as it began to ring on the other side, something rang in his mind and he slammed the phone down. And he began to pace the room. For almost an hour he kept pacing the room restlessly.

The dusk soon descended upon his surroundings. He had a date that night with Marié. Tired, he was but he managed to get dressed up and reach at the park in time. Mariéwas sitting there, as usual before time. After a few greetings they moved out. Walking side by side on the pavement, they were quiet, reveling in each other’s presence. She moved close to him and rested her head on his shoulder and hung from his arm. He looked at her and smiled, and continued to walk on. Suddenly he said, Marié, I might have to leave soon”.

Marié stopped walking. And then slowly spoke to him, “oh...” and then added, “So you got a new job.”

He replied, “Yeah, kind of.”

“So, when you will leave?”

“Soon enough, I guess”

“Hmm… when will you come back?”

“Erm….I am not sure, actually”

“I see”, she added thoughtfully, “Doesn’t matter, I will wait for you for ever and ever”. Smiling she went up to him and hugged him tight.

In a worried voice, he replied, “Yeah, I know you will…I love you, Marié.”

She looked at him in a puzzled manner, “You don’t seem too happy about it?”

He started, “What? Not happy about what?”

She playfully replied, “Maybe your job, maybe about me”, she winked.

“Why you little...” saying this he tried to grab her, but she was too quick and she ran off along the pavement with him huffing and puffing behind him. Thus the evening moved on again. That night they had a great time. They had more fun they ever had had on any other date. The went to the movie, played around with the popcorn. Then in the restaurant they ordered all sorts of unknown foreign dishes and had fun guessing what stuff were they eating. Finally, exhausted they returned to the park, lying down on the wet grass, they stared into the star studded night. She asked him, “What sort of job, are you going to do?”

Taken aback, he replied slowly, “Nothing very satisfactory”.

“Oh, ok”.

After a few moments again, he asked, "Marié, what would you do, if I got married there with someone else?”

She didn’t bat an eyelid, “I’d still wait for you”, she said to the sky.

He could not reply. He felt hit by a feeling somewhere deep inside, titling her head to him, she said “Adrian, I love you, that’s all I want.”

He moved closer and kissed her deeply. The sky seemed to turn blue in front of her eyes. She closed her eyes and kissed him back. The kiss seemed to last for hours, the night seemed to last forever.

It was almost midnight, when they finally returned. He dropped her at her home, and returned to him rooms, with a heavy feeling like a load of lead in his stomach. Somehow, he did not feel well. He fell into a troubled sleep immediately.

* * *

He woke up to a cloudy morning. Things were weighing upon his head. He went to wash himself; he saw a horrified face in the mirror. He couldn’t believe he looked so tensed. He could not go in front of Marié with such a face. He just could not. Maybe his departure was causing him more problems than he imagined. Suddenly, he smiled at the mirror looking like a fool. After getting dressed, he went to the banks and offices where he had to finish some minor tasks. He closed his bank account, said goodbye to his friends and to his acquaintances. He had to leave soon. Still then, he could not bring himself to say bye to Marié. Somehow, he felt an empty feeling in his chest whenever he thought about it.

In the end, he gave up and called Marié‘s best friend over. Her name was Jane. She was Mairé‘s bosom friend and she knew all about Adrian and Mariétoo. She came over in the evening to Adrian’s room. After the initial greetings, they settled down.

She asked,” Is there a problem, Adrian?”

He looked troubled, he was playing with a piece of paper in his hands, “No, nothing really”

She was suspicious, something was wrong, “I think you are hiding something”

He looked at her with red eyes, “No, it’s just that I can’t say goodbye to Marié

He expression softened, “oh, is that all”, she came closer and sat beside him. She put a friendly hand over his shoulders.

Patting him on his back lightly, she said spoke, “Don’t worry Adrian, she wont mind. She told me all about it. I just hope you finish your job soon and come back soon. She loves you a lot, she will wait for you.”

He looked at her again with bloodshot eyes, a pained expression on his face, spoke almost inaudibly, “I know…she loves me too much”, loudly he said, “I love her too. I love her a lot, that’s why I can’t ...” his voice broke off.

She hugged him closely. She could feel warm tears on her chest. He kept repeating, under his breath, “I love Marié , I love Marié ...I love...”

Suddenly, he overthrew Jane. She too was taken aback by this sudden movement, and fell on her back on the hard floor. He pinned her down with his hands and feet, and with an insane expression on his face began to move closer to Jane’s neck.

Jane cried out “Adrian, what are you doing?” She looked around frantically for some help, she pleaded again, “Adrian, please…no...” But he was overtaken by the devil it seemed, he kissed her on the neck and made to move lower, she gave an earsplitting scream, he slapped her tight and she fell silent. But some passersby had heard the sound of her scram and came rushing up to his room. They stormed his door open.

Finding Adrian in such a state, they tried to beat him up. But he proved too quick for them and ran out of his room, leaving behind a sobbing Jane and a couple of stunned strangers.

Outside, he kept running and running until he reached the park where his legs gave way and his fell head first into the grass and fell unconscious. When he opened his eyes again, it was morning the bright sunlight stung his eyes. His picked himself up and moved on to the nearest public fountain and washed his face. Sitting down on the bench, he recollected last night’s events. A smile tried to creep up the corners of his mouth. He stood up with a new energy, and rummaged in his pockets for some change.

With the change held tightly in is fist he moved to the nearest telephone booth and dialled Marié’s number carefully. The phone rang thrice, before someone picked up.

“Hello, whose there”, said a tired voice. It seemed like the person had been crying for hours.

“Marié, it’s me”

Silence.

“Marié, it’s me Adrian. Are you there?”

“No”

“Marié, are you alright?”

“No”

“Marié, I am sorry. Please listen...”

“No”

“Marié, it’s not what you…”

“No” she cut him off

She slammed the phone down.

He could hear the mechanical beep in the headpiece of the phone, he spoke into it,

“I love you, Marié…I love you”

Hanging up the phone, he walked outside. A wide smile spread across his face, although tears continued to trickle down his cheeks…

He went to the bus stand, and took the first bus out of town. Sitting beside the window, the wind ruffling his hair, he reminisced the beautiful moments he had with Marié. Soon the wind lulled him to sleep.

* * *

Epilogue

Two years later, Marié got married to a wealthy business who was well known to her parents. She had almost forgotten Adrian by now. One day, rummaging in the old cabinets she came across newspapers mentioning, reporting the crime of Adrian two years back. She looked at it with disgust. Then threw it into the dustbin, then she found under the pile another old fading newspaper, dated one month later than the previous one.

It had a heading that proclaimed, “Lucky Marié”

Interested she sat down to read it.

“This comes across as not only a bizarre but also a very touching incident of the modern times. Recently, a seemingly love struck fellow had come to this town. No one knew his name; he had neither friends nor relatives in this town. But he was a beautiful singer. He sang lovely songs on the side streets, all of them very touching and most of them praising some unknown lady called Marié. Seems like this person had been hit hard by his lady love Marié. He lived on the offerings of the onlookers. Sadly, however he passed away yesterday. Sources say, he was suffering from blood cancer and was in the last stage of the disease. However all we have to say is that, whoever Marié was, she was one lucky lady to have such a lover.”

Below the report was a photograph of hers, faded and almost five years old, reportedly it was taken from his wallet.