The Car Talk...

Mia was walking down the path towards her dorms, lost in her thoughts.

'Ray….You are back….You are back after two long years…..After all that happened…After what I did to you…..'

The evening, two years back, when all this had happened, Ray's face, everything was revolving before her eyes. The feeling of guiltiness was so overwhelming that before she could understand anything, tears started streaming down her cheeks.

The warm steams coming out from her mouth was dispersing in the cold dry air.

'….I don't know how to face you now….I really don't…..I'm not worth it…..I'm a very bad person….A very bad person who did that to you….If you had just told me once, if I would have known that you also had feelings for me...then….Then I would have ..I would have.….'

As she was thinking this she heard a car stopping on the road beside her.

With teary eyes she looked at it and she found that it was the same car from earlier.

With widened eyes she kept staring at the door. And within a second it opened.

The person put out his legs and slowly got out from the car.

For no surprise, it was Ray.

Mia was just standing there like an idiot, staring at him.

He came closer.

But still she didn't move.

"Mia?" He said softly.

"Huh?" That sweet and gentle call of her name from his mouth after all these years broke the flow of tears from her eyes. And she was crying again.

"R-Ray?" She said somehow. "I…I…"

"It's okay. First get into the car. I'll drop you to your dorm." He said as he held both of her shoulders and directed her towards the car.

"B-But…" She was hesitating.

"No. Don't say anything and just listen to me. Get into the car."

"…"

"It's really cold out here Mia. Come on. Get in."

Sobbing she walked towards the car. He opened the door and she got inside. Closing the door he went towards the other side of the car and got inside.

The car started. Everything was so silent. No one was talking anything; just a little sobbing sound was coming out from Mia's mouth.

Ray was looking out from the window. Every streetlight passing by was evident of passing the time so fast.

His hands quietly went towards the inner pocket of his jacket and he brought out a tissue.

"Here." He said without looking at her.

"…" She looked up at him. He was looking out from the window. She took the tissue in her hands and wiped her eyes.

Then again; no one said anything for a couple of minutes.

Mia's head was down at the ground. She didn't know what to say and what to do. She couldn't even look up at him again.

"Mia?" The same voice with the same intensity of sweetness made Mia lift up her head.

"Please…Will you look at me?" Ray said. "I know what I did was really wrong. I went away without telling anyone; didn't contact you or any other people from our group. But please don't avoid me like that…"

Mia quickly said, "No. No. I'm not avoiding you…."

"…Then? Why aren't you looking at me?"

"…"

"And when I came to the café, you were more shocked than happy."

"….It's not like that…"

"Then?"

"…I….I just didn't know what to do? How to face you? What to say to you?"

"A cheerful "Hi!" with that bright and beautiful smile of yours would have been perfect! Don't you think?"

"…."

"Huhh…" He sighed loud. "Let me tell you one thing Mia."

She looked up at him with her tear filled eyes.

"Just forget. Forget about everything which has happened two years back."

"Huh?"

"Yeah. I don't want that dark past to affect our present and future ahead."

"…" She couldn't believe he was saying that. He was the one who was hurt the most but he was telling her to forget about it.

"I want to start everything with a new and fresh start. So just let the past go. It doesn't matter to me anymore."

"…..Really?"

"Yes. Really." He gave her an assuring smile. "So now let's start from the very beginning. Okay?"

Giving a firm nod she smiled at him.

"Oh god!" He exclaimed.

"What? What happened?" She asked confused.

"Nothing. It's just that….It's been ages since I've seen that smile of yours." He said and scratched back of his head.

She smiled even wider. 'Oh Ray…' She thought. 'You haven't changed at all.….So positive and bright just like before….Though that incident has affected you, you have overcome it and you are standing strong. You don't know how happy I am to see you like this.'

"So?" His voice brought her back from her thoughts.

"Huh?" She looked at him expecting he'd be smiling at her.

But he wasn't. His face was so serious all of a sudden.

As Mia was just thinking about it, he said something extremely unexpected,

"From today, we are dating!"

"!!!"