1 Many roads one destination

He had his phone in his hand and he went on scrolling through the chats of all the friends and relatives he had been in touch with. One name... One chat... Selene. His world stopped! Amidst all the chaos of the traffic around him, he sat there in the back seat of an Uber on his way back home after a tiring day at work, he sunk in into the darkest depths of memory lane.

"Alfred, whatever you do, wherever you go, I'll always be yours. I love you forever!", she would always say this to him. Theirs was a different love story altogether. Although they were in their early 20s they shared an understanding of a couple married for years. So mature that they never addressed one another as 'pumpkin pie', 'sweetheart' or 'honey' like all the other love struck couples would do. It was plain Alfred and Selene. It was as raw as it could be. As pure as the drop of water from the clouds before it hits the surface. Their love was divine.

Alfred closed his eyes and saw the first time Selene walked into his life. In the middle of the lecture, the door knocks, a cute girl with messed hair walks into the class; rather say into his life. Alfred had been through a handful of relationships earlier in his life, had had heartbreaks and tears and all that could go wrong in relationships with the wrong people. While Selene walked in and sat right ahead of him, Alfred could feel that she had something in her that was special. Although he was a mad 'woman' lover; he knew she was different than the other girls he had met so far. She had eyes that would make him want to peep in till eternity. Such were her eyes, expressive, full of life. Alfred was dumbstruck. It wasn't her body that he fell for, it was her charm that got him going. He knew that he had to talk to her, to know her better.

Selene, on the other hand was focused to get her Master's degree in Business Administration and build her career. At first she didn't even notice Alfred. Selene, on the outside was a calm and composed personality. Nobody could make out what challenges she has been going through her life. Just like a magician who doesn't reveal his secret to the trick, she would chin up and sport a smile anytime of the day hiding a storm beneath. Selene was the one who had taken up the responsibility of her family. Being the elder daughter, she wanted to do good for her parents and her younger sister. Love and socialising was off the priority list when she had a heartbreak few years back. The wounds of her previous relationship were so deep that she never wanted to be in a relationship.

But life had other plans for her and Alfred.

Just as the lecture got over and even before the lecturer had left the class, the alpha male in Alfred had risen from the ashes. He knew that this was the moment he had to make a move. He tore a sheet from the back of his journal and with a confident "Hi! I am Alfred. I will be creating a Whatsapp group for the class to stay updated about lecture schedules and to share notes. So, would you write your name and number on this sheet?" and handed over the sheet and a pen over to Selene. She took the sheet and bluntly said "Sure", and didn't even care to notice that he wasn't the class representative. She wrote down her name and number and handed it back to him. Alfred was on cloud nine, talking to himself "She knows me now!! She looked at me with a smile!! She has pretty eyes!!".

"We've reached the destination, Sir." said the Uber driver, patting Alfred on the shoulder assuming him to be sleeping. Back to reality, how badly Alfred wished the ride back home to be a bit longer. He paid for the ride, picked up his bag and with a warm smile said, "Thank you!" to the driver and headed to his apartment. It was well past midnight and the irksome silence only made him sulkier with every step he took. He missed Selene, he missed her voice, her eyes, her presence. He missed her like never before!