Today is gonna be a day of surprises. This is the precursor to it. Have a good time anticipating.

The days passed by like falling leaves, inconspicuous and unremarkable. Like a ripple on the steady waters, he and his presence in my life faded out to oblivion. With no possibility of future meetings, my heart yearned for him like a thirst unquenched. He slowly but surely started to melt into the background of other things that poured into my life thereafter. But meeting him had such an impact on me that it left a huge dent in my heart. Like a comet landing on a barren land to hollow out a huge space and open its contact. When I was not consciously trying to fantasize about meeting him in some fairytale-like fashion, I was left spacing out and dreaming about his dreamy eyes. But even so, with all the dreaming, he was soon getting lost in yesterdays.

In the week that followed and some, I had time to get used to the new city. I had become a regular customer of the little coffee shop that Nadia had introduced to me. I had also discovered that apart from their magical coffees they also had bombastic sub-sandwiches that cured all illnesses. I took the time to explore the locality and discovered an amazing dessert shop at the corner shop of the seventh alley. Little surprises along my exploration slowly but surely made me fall in love with the city.

But that did not mean that everything was sunshine and roses. My work was far from the easy glide I had assumed. The bad first impression I had made on my boss had him questioning my abilities. Within a week of formally joining the consulate, I had been assigned to 10 different cases to do all sorts of research. If it hadn't been for the fact that my boss crosschecked every file I had submitted, I would have thought that he was bullying me. Nadia assured me that this rigorous training was something that every new joiner had to undergo to prove their work, irrespective of their positions it was said to be the unique way of our boss welcoming new people. I had reasons to believe that I had satisfactorily passed mine because yesterday my boss said that the file I had presented was exemplary and should be taken as reference by the interns. Oh! How my lungs burst with joy.

My house took longer than necessary before it was ready for me to live in it. The 3-day hotel stay that I had assumed previously was now extended to about 8 days. I would be moving into the house tomorrow but moving in itself was a job so exhaustive that all my enthusiasm had dried up. And moving twice in less than a month was killing me.

But the worst mishappening of all was my inability to meet him again. The case of Abhimanyu was personally taken up by my boss and he had been mad3 to collect the parcel from the office of immigration. I had no idea what I would possibly do if I met him again. I didn't want to talk with him, didn't want to see him nor did I want to hear him. His mere existence was putting a strain too big on my mental consciousness. But like a moth yearning for a destructive fire, I was yearning to meet him.

It was nearly seven thirty as I was walking down to my hotel for the last time. Tomorrow was a weekend so I had ample time to take detours and stop at every little trinket that caught my eye. One thing that I had to get used to after coming to Italy was the late sunsets. It was nearly eight and the sun was yet to completely disappear. Bathed in the golden hour, everything in sight was looking alluring.

I took my time to reach my hotel. As I reached the lobby of my hotel I was greeted with the sight of Diego talking with his criminal-looking friend, who he had introduced as Max.

In all honesty, my first impression of this Max guy was not very good and I had wanted to talk to Diego about it out of my concern. But as the week passed my impression of Max went down several notches. For one, this guy liked to hide around in unnoticed corners and pop up at unexpected times which scared me out of my wits once.

For three days after meeting him, I had found him lurking around on my floor. Generally, when you meet a friend of a friend you are polite enough to exchange pleasantry but Max had such an unapproachable air around him that he scared me to almost run. Once when I gathered enough courage to make eye contact, he immediately moved away and went down the elevator.

I was confused and asked the receptionist if any guy named Max was living on my floor. The receptionist being the kind lady she was, told me no such guy was living there. I had seen Max come out of a room from one of the floors below mine. This made me question why I was meeting him so often and why was he lingering around my floor.

As if Max knew I was asking around for him, the day after I asked the receptionist Max was never found on my floor again. I was scared shitless by the possibility that he was stalking me. I was alert to the max and double-locked all my doors every day at night.

The other thing that had me avoiding him was my instinct. Something about him made my sixth sense go haywire like I was being chased by phantoms. He had not done anything to possibly endanger me I just genuinely didn't feel safe around me. I was pretty determined to talk with Diego to talk less with such people.

After having my mind made up, walked towards them. The max guy saw me approaching and informed Diego about it. Diego turned towards me, and I swear I saw a flicker of irritation in his eyes which instantly flashed by.

This made me question my whole decision again. When all is said and done, Diego is just a teenager that I had met a few days ago. I probably should not meddle in his affairs too much.

Before I could overthink my decision Diego started walking towards me with his usual big smile. It made me feel as if the irritation I saw earlier was completely imaginary. His sweet smile built up my confidence again to help this sunny guy. Anyway, I was just warning him, what to do with it was his choice.

Diego stood in front of me and extended his hands for a handshake." It is a pleasant surprise to meet you again Maya. I came today determined to take you out for dinner. You are not allowed to say no to me. "He told me.

His eyes were twinkling with anticipation, and I could not think of breaking his heart. Putting my hand in his hand for a shake I assured him," Of course, we will go out for dinner. I was planning for the same thing anyway." I squinted my eyes and told him," But the dinner will be a treat from me. You are still a kid, where are you going around treating others?"

Diego's face lit up after hearing my confirmation. He giggled a little after hearing my statement and was positive that he would just be a passive part of this treat. I turned around to see if the max guy was still there; to my surprise, he had already left the hotel lobby at some point.

"What are you looking at Maya?" Diego asked.

"Nothing," I said shaking my head and facing me." Tell me more about this jaw-dropping food court you were talking about, we will have dinner there today."

Diego delightedly started talking about food again. I didn't know if he noticed the disappearance of his friend or if he was used to it, he didn't comment anything on it. So I also didn't ask about it.

We continued our talks and took a taxi to the food court a couple of kilometers away. It was more like a night food street with a variety of commodities being sold on both sides of the street. The smell of delicacies was wafting in the air, and for a moment, I was stuck in amazement.

Diego happily pulled me to one of his favorite stalls and sat us down in an empty seat. He confirmed my allergies and then ordered all the food that he claimed was the best in the whole town. I giggled at his childish confession and allowed him to take over the order.

After our food arrived we started to wolf down. Midway through the food I thought of asking him about his friend. I tried to be as subtle as possible to not hurt his feelings.

"Diego, I know it may come as a little intrusive from someone you have just known for a couple of days, but I think your friend Max is not a good guy. I mean he hasn't done anything offensive to me but there is just something about him that puts me off-kilter. Look I am not judging you or your friend; I am trying to look out for you. Please don't take it otherwise."

Diego lifted his head from his plate, and his face changed into entirely something else. Gone was the gentle sunny boy who evoked protective feelings in me. It was replaced by a intimidated looking predator staring down at every move of his prey. His usual delight-filled eyes were filled with a coldness that sent chills down my spine.

He lifted his lips in a half smile and asked me," Maya is so concerned about Diego's safety?" 

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Heloo peeps

HOw did you feel about Maya longing to meet her crush?Thoughts?

How was D-I-E-G-O??????????????How did he turn to a wolf dog from a puppy?

so scary!!!!!!!!!What will happen next???

Vote and comment to express your opinions and support.

_aBHIRA