Kyle, Emma, and the Mystery of love

By Keyur Patil

As he touched her hand-- ever so gently-- he realized that his 'yesterday' was five years go. They were both now 27; she was just as magnificent- even more magnificent, he thought. The only change, he noticed, was that she looked prettier than she did the last time they saw each other. He could remember the rain before, and the rainbow after they had broken up. How ironic!

In contrast to her, he thought; he had lost his charm. His once appealing eyes were now forgettable. He had put on, and at last his hair; he remembered her favorite thing about him was his hair. Once his raven black hair-- smooth and silky and prominent-- had caught her in a spell; but now not much remained

of them, he thought. Strikes of grey had spoiled the charisma.

For him, time had stopped. He was judging her beauty. As if it could ever be judged by a mortal man, he said to himself. Her long, open, and free hair was the center of attention. Her pearly eyes never decieved for they, fully and at all times, expressed her feelings; they would light up when she smiled. That smile; he felt lucky enough to see it once again. He remembered sometimes he would get lost in her smile and would not pay any attention to whatever she was saying. It was happening again, then he suddenly came back to reality.

“Hii,” She said, her eyes showing every bit of excitement she felt. He was delighted to hear her speak again.

“Hey,” He responded matching her excitement.

There was an awkward silence as both of them felt an apparent loss of words. Tomorrow would have been their 11th? No, 12th anniversary, he reminded himself; but didn't mention it. Neither did she.

“How have you been?” She finally spoke.

“Doing well, what about you?” He asked in return.

“Can't say I'm doing bad!” She answered.

They caught up in a french cafe' named 'Porte Quinze.' Why were they meeting? He wondered. After a while he remembered that there was no reason for their meeting, they had bumped into each other- in Paris. Why was he in Paris? Oh yes, he remembered- the business trip. He was bewildered, and he was in a trance. She was the trance.

What are we but the prisoners of the past? He sighed remembering 'them'- two happy and stupid and young individuals, so in love. Why did they ever break up?

After catching up he found out that her reason of being in Paris was a part of her bucket list. She was on vacation. He also found out that she was now an archeologist- something she always wanted to be.

He was the keeper of memories- a photographer. She was the only memory of his life that he wanted to make a reality.

His eyes hovered around at her hands that rested comfortably on the table. He was looking for a wedding ring-- he couldn't find one.

“Emma.” He quietly whispered as she left the cafe. She assured him that she wanted to meet again.

He would call her, 'the first thing tomorrow.' He sighed happily.

2. EMMA.....

She walked into the brisk and lovefilled streets of Paris with nothing but memories in her handbag- they were pictures. Pictures a certain professional photographer had clicked.

She saw a familiar face across the street- was it him? She asked herself. It was! Her feet quickly dribbled their way past the crowd and her smile greeted him.

Her hand was touched by him ever so gently, she thought. And as he kissed her hand, all the memories came flooding back. He too is now 27, she thought to herself and found herself daydreaming.

Prince, she thought. If only he belonged to the centuries of kings and queens, she wondered. His charm was inescapable. He looked just as handsome, even more handsome, she thought.

In contrast to him, she thought; she had lost her beauty. Age had been unkind to her. Too many weddings and trips and occasions had ensured an increase in weight- the food, all the food, she sighed. Her hair in the past would've outnumbered her hair now- they weren't as graceful as they were before, she cried to herself. She smiled uncontrollably and suddenly became conscious of it as she remembered it was his favorite thing about her. She thought her smile had lost it's potency, and she now started smiling controllably and consciously in front of him.

For her, time had stopped. Why is he here if he belongs in paradise? She thought. His hair danced blissfully with the wind. She was mesmerized. His smile made her gasp with pleasure. It was all she could wish for-- for him to smile all day. His dark and inviting and appealing eyes. She loved his eyes.

They reminded her of the stars, the galaxies, the universe, and love. She was getting lost in his great eyes again, when she suddenly came back to reality.

“Hi,” She said, her uncontrolable smile was back again; she quickly hid it. “Hey,” He responded, she was delighted to her his voice again.

She could feel the awkward silence. 12th anniversary! Tomorrow! This was all she could think about, but she did not mention it. Neither did he. She wondered what 'Porte Quinze' meant. Whatever it did, she was thankful for that cafe and for it's wonderfully romantic ambience.

She was more than glad that she bumped into him. What was he doing in Paris? She wondered and upon casually asking him she found out. Business trip. She remembered she had pictures of a professional photographer in her handbag. Would it be weird if I show him that I carry these? She debated with herself and quickly supressed the idea after labelling it as 'weird.'

She was a collector and an admirer of the past- an archeologist. But he was the only treasure from her past that she had lost, that she couldn't keep.

Why did they break up? She reminisced. If they were so in love, then what went wrong? If love was their test, then they had surely failed, she regretted.

She quickly searched his hands for a wedding ring, she couldn't find one.

“Kyle.” She silently whispered as she saw him from the window outside the cafe. She told him she would love to meet again, and he assured her that calling her would be the first thing he would do, tomorrow.

3. The Mystery Of Love

The sun noticed that both Kyle and Emma had gotten up before it. Kyle panicked. He paced up and down the room. Emma had changed her number; he did not have her new number. How do I call her now? He worried. He tried calling all their mutual friends, or anybody who possibly could have her number- they did not have it. How! He exclaimed. He tried to contact her through her social media- she did not respond.

His attempts were unsuccessfull.

Emma cried in the morning, she waited for him to call. It took her long enough to realise that he did not have her new number. How could I not give him my number? She cursed herself. She turned on her internet, which she had forgotten was off, and she cried again because of what she saw. He had left her numerous messages. The first thing she did, without even reading the messages, was that she called him. To her surprise, another shocking news, she learned that he had left his phone in the hotel room-- which was answered by a bellboy-- and had left the hotel.

Her attempts were unsucessfull.

He was not too worried after he sent her a text- Porte Quinze, 7:00pm? It read. And so he left the hotel to attend to his business, he had a wedding to capture- the reason behind his business trip. The wedding was beautiful. The only thing that constantly ran through his mind was Emma. Why did we ever break up? What could she be doing right now? Has she read my texts? Has she responded? He tried to reach out for his phone but,

How could I do this! He scolded his silly self. He had no time to go back to

his hotel and get it back, he decided to leave it for now, hoping Emma had read those texts.

She read Kyle's texts with intense excitement and at 5pm left the hotel to buy a new dress. Was buying a new dress too much? No, she thought. After buying the dress, on the way to the hotel she saw a crowd. What could this be about? She wondered. Emma was always appreciative of beauty, and this wedding was beautiful. A park was gorgeously decorated, flowers and fountains filled the venue. People's eyes shimmered with joy; except for one person.

A lady seemed to be in distress. At first it did not seem like a big deal to Emma but then the distressed lady started walking towards her. “Hii.” Said the lady in distress. “Hii.” Emma responded. “I'm Emma.” She added. “Groom's side?” The lady questioned.

“Oh no no, I was just passing by and I stopped to adore these decorations.” It turned out that the lady wanted some help, she did not really care about why Emma had stopped by. The bridesmaids had set up some sort of performance; a little one. But one of the bridesmaids had pulled out- upset stomach. Hence the lady asked Emma if it wasn't too much trouble if she could fit in as 'all the other ladies' had 'other duties' to attend to.

Emma immediately agreed and was shown to the bridesmaids who happily helped her through with the performance.

Kyle did his job spectacularly. He was present at the wedding since noon, capturing the preparations was something the clients wanted. Now the hour hand was one hour away from 7pm and so he decided to leave, putting his collegues in charge. He did not regret that he was missing the most important part of a wedding ceremony- the wedding itself. He went back to the hotel to get his phone, he read Emma's reply. She gave him her number and another text read, 'Sure, see you soon, with a smiling emoji.' He too smiled. And left for Porte Quinze. He reached at 6:45 and waited for his dearest Emma.

Time seemed to have slipped out of Emma's mind, she was getting late. Her performance in the wedding was incredible and people even wondered who this 'beautiful lady' was. She was approached by a french gentlemen but she

politely declined as she had a 'prince' waiting for her. When the ceremony was over, she looked at her phone and realised that her prince really had been waiting for a long time. It was 8:00pm.

Kyle waited until 8 and then gave up. He escaped the pitiful eyes of the cafe waiters who knew he had been stood up. His phone was dead. He too felt like he was dead, and aimlessly wandered around the streets of Paris untill he stumbled upon the gracefull Eiffel Tower. He sat on a bench, crying to himself. He remembered the wedding ceremony he had left, the fountains and the flowers, he sighed. He imagined if he and Emma could ever end up together.

Emma found herself outside of Porte Quinze around 8:30, she was recognized by one of the waiters as he had seen her yesterday. He informed her that the man, her man, had left half an hour ago. She was devastated to hear this and she too started wandering off on the streets of Paris.

She yearned for a future with Kyle and again asked herself, why did we break up? Then she remembered, they had a fight about their future. That they would have to stay away from each other if they wished to pursue their careers. Leaving for university, the thought of staying away did not bode well with them. “What a stupid reason! What idiotic behaviour was that! Why? Why? Why?” She cursed and yelled angrily.

They had been together since 16, and 6 years later, had parted ways at twenty two. They did not like the thought of staying apart and had made a stupid mistake of parting ways. They also were under a lot of pressure from their families who did not like the thought of them together. Kyle wanted to settle down in Sweden and Emma never wanted to settle down, she wanted to roam and explore.

But after their break up, she often found herself in Sweden whereas he found himself roaming around the world.

Kyle saw a man on the bench next to him, he too seemed melancholic. Both men had nothing better to do and decided to help each other by talking. Kyle was suddenly delighted and somewhat devastated too. He talked with the melancholic stranger and found out that his date was running late. Her name was Emma.

Before Kyle could say anything, the stranger's phone buzzed. It was a text from Emma. The stranger was now happy as his date had made it to the

tower. Kyle on the other hand cried to find out that Emma was going out with someone else, but he was kind of glad that he would now get to see her.

“Can I join you?” Kyle asked the stranger.

“What do you mean?” The stranger vigourously reacted.

“I don't mean to interrupt but Emma is an old friend, we were supposed to meet today but, long story. I just want to greet her that's all.” Kyle assured. “Ohh, sure, come on.” The stranger welcomed. And they left.

Kyle saw a woman from a distance, he immediately recognized her, he could always recognize her. The stranger accompanied Kyle as he hurried past people to reach the woman. It was Emma.

As they got closer, the stranger said, “That's not her.” To which Kyle reacted with, “It is!”

Emma heard someone call her name, she turned around to see Kyle. They hugged, without a thought in their head, they hugged each other tightly. She started talking and she couldn't stop, she told him how she was late because of this wedding. She found out that he too was at the same wedding. They smiled at each other uncontrollably.

“This is not the Emma I am going out with,” Said the stranger. “She is waiting near the gate.” He added.

What a coincidence! Thought Kyle. A miracle, he was sure. This day was a miracle, Emma was a miracle- his miracle. The stars glittered, a sweet breeze zoomed through the land. Kyle had everything he could ask for. Emma had everything she ever wanted.

He dreamed of a road trip with her. She dreamed of settling down in Sweden with him. He leaned in. So did she. And from that moment, he was hers and she was his. They kissed.

“Why did we ever break up?” Kyle asked.

He was reminded by Emma who said, “Let's not make that mistake again, okay?”

“Okay, never.”

They were finally together, again.

“I love you Kyle.”

“I love you too Emma.”

“I should go now, my date is waiting.” Said the stranger, who was watching in tears.

“I never did ask for your name sir.” Kyle asked the man.

“It's Kyle, same as you.” The man smiled. Kyle and Emma smiled back uncontrollably

He left as Kyle and Emma got lost into each others eyes and started kissing again.

“The mystery of love.” He whispered.

By Keyur Patil