Dedicated to MousumiKar & Gunjun for rereading the edited version and letting me know you views ,it was much appreciated .

Future Series (Part 1)

5th February 2017

Swara Bose stood in the dance floor as her feet moved impatiently waiting for her boyfriend to call it a night .

When she first met him ,she fell for his charm or as one would say the way he flirted with everyone even her . A year younger to him in college she had a huge crush on him .

Being raised by a strong woman like her mom and dida made her daring to go after everything she wanted in life , and sadly she did the same in her attempt to gain his attention.

She followed him around, stalked him to the point of endangering her safety and refused to give up when he treated her no more familiar than an acquaintance .

Until that day when she foolishly went to his club alone in hopes of wishing him birthday at 12. It was her most romantic plan and she hoped by her actions, he would see her and fall in love with her

The plan got derailed when he wasn't in the club ,all her stalking had told her it was where he was going to spend the night and yet he was missing .

She realized her plan failed and hence decided to head back to her friends house, she couldn't sneak out of her home to go to club and so stayed at her friends house that day and thankfully her mom and dida  were visiting some friends and it felt like a perfect plan .

She tried to hail a auto when she saw them , two drunken man walking up to her . She looked around hoping she chance upon any security but her hopes were dashed when no living soul except the two remained with in her line of sight .

She tried to run but her heels made her slow ,so she removed them and ran even when her legs began to  bleed, but they were gaining on her . She tried calling out for help but no one could have possibly heard her in the midst of the music.

She blamed herself for running further away from the club than towards it until she stumbled right into him ,Vivek the man who saved her and yes it was that night she fell hopelessly in love with him .

It was on  that day, he took notice of her ,he liked being a hero in her eyes and he also liked when she retold everyone of his bravery and when he asked her out on a date , swara had began to plan her wedding .

It has been more than 2 years since they have started dating and swara started to feel maybe he will never settle down with her. She loved him and accepted his partying and drinking as his way of having fun.

She hoped he would settle down once he graduated which didn't happen and she once again hoped he would take her seriously after she graduated but that didn't happen either ,she was young but still she didn't know if her life was meant to be with him

As the initial crush faded and the hero adoration ceased ,swara grew up and realized she had fallen for a man she couldn't really admire anymore . Yet she loved him and it had to be enough .

Then her eyes landed on the mysterious stranger. She had nicknamed him the brooding guy . The guy she was fascinated with, Not in an romantic way but everything about him intrigued her .

She was fascinated with him because of his attitude , She had seen him in the club many times in the past two years. And each time he had seen how much the girls in the club fawn over him. Yet he hadn't looked at any one of them, not even once , which made her way too curious about him.

Today maybe she was too bored or too daring. She decided to talk with the stranger while her boyfriend was busy getting drunk. His voice spoke up even before she reached near him.

" Not interested, Don't waste your time " the same lines he told every other girl who got near him ,swara wanted to laugh at his misconception but decided to be polite instead .

" Well I would be interested but I already have an boyfriend. His name is Vivek. You and him are the most loyal customers of this bar , So you can relax. I am not going to flirt with you or bother you,  " She answered back, which made him glance at her .

" You are already bothering me , Leave,  " he answered back , which irked her a bit .

" Do you have any death wish, " she spoke up, trying to rile him up

" No ,At least not yet,"he answered back .

" Then you should stop drinking every day. If you want to live,  " she spoke up not sure why she was offering unsolicited advice to him

" Convince your boyfriend to stop , And leave me alone. "he answered back , as if she never tried to do it before ,every time vivek would just smile and say if not now when will we have fun

" Does drinking actually helps. I am curious ,I tried twice. I couldn't get past one glass. So I stopped trying,  " she spoke up ,somehow talking to him made her happy .

" It helps , And what doesn't help is an stranger ruining my time. So leave,  "he snapped at her,  and she realized he was right and blamed herself for disturbing him

" Fine ,Sorry if I was that much of an bother. I just was curious to know why you looked like you were in too much pain, " she answered back , because it was what intrigued her about him ,he didn't drink to have fun ,he drank to drown his sorrows .

" You think I would share my life story because you were curious, Fine tell me why you are still dating your boyfriend, who drinks too much as you said and who haven't come to check up on his girlfriend yet, " he spoke up ,the longest sentence she got from him in this conversation even when his words stung .

" Because I love him,  " she answered back , as it was the truth ,the only reason she held on to this relationship .

" A word of advice ,if a girl I loved talked with a stranger for this long ,I would have made myself known to him ,either your boyfriend trust you so much or he doesn't care about you ,I think it the latter ,so don't waste your love on a guy like him , " his words,  made her angry at the same time confused as well that she turned to walk away then decided if he had rights to give advice then she can as well

" What do you know about being in love ,it about accepting the person you love with their faults , " she lashed back, and felt a flicker of doubt at her words as his face darkened .

" I know everything about love ,it kills you when you lose them and no drink is ever enough,  " he answered back ,and swara took a step back at the anguish in his voice .

" I am so sorry ,you lost her,  " she answered back,  as her heart went out for him .

" Do you want to hear a funny story , I thought a accident stole her from me then I found out it wasn't a accident , want to know the irony of that , it was my uncle you see who had her killed because she loved me , so yeah I don't have a death wish until I have my revenge , " his words , indicated he crossed his limit but also considering what he just said swara understood his darker mood

" What are you going to do , Don't you think you should be 100% sure before you take revenge and all,  " she spoke up, and the images of him in jail made her sad .

" I don't think we are that close for me to share my revenge plan with you,  " he answered back,  regaining his composure and momentary slip of tongue .

" Are you going to kill him, " she asked again,  and wondered what made her daring

" And do you think I would answer that if I really intend too. But no I won't kill him. If I wanted to do just that. I would have done it instead of drinking tonight , After all we live in the same house,  " he spoke up ,leaving her worried about him .

" Well now that you know why I drink , Can you leave me alone. So I can continue drowning my sorrows,  "he spoke up again , when she remained silent for awhile .

" Again you want me to leave. I thought we were becoming friends,  " she answered back, with a charming smile of her own

" Friends, We are far from that ,You don't want to be friends with me. Tomorrow I might not even remember you, "his words , hurt a little as she didn't think she could ever forget him .

" Well if you remembered me. Then we are friends okay, "she spoke up with a smile 

" Do you go around offering friendship to everyone in this club,  " he asked sarcastically,  but she detected a small teasing smile in his face which gave her the courage to speak up

" I just wanted to be your friend because time flies away when I am with you , Let meet tomorrow. Vivek is calling me. I got to go,  "she answered back , and left him with a smile on her face .

Swara didn't meet him for over two months. She missed him. She didn't even know his name. He had that pull over her, His love for his dead girlfriend. His pain over his family betrayal. She just wanted to be his friend. And she didn't get to meet him until that day. The day that changed everything.

P. S:" That it for now. Let me know your thoughts. Hit the votes if you liked it ".

Juanita Reid