Never Meant to Be (12 page)

“What lies beyond that horizon? Have you gone there?”He asked me with his eyes stuck to the horizon. Those eyes were filled with dreams.

“No,” I said, confused.

I didn’t know what he was talking about, because I was too busy thinking of how to tell him that it could be our last meeting. But as I looked at the horizon, I started to really think about whether I had gone there or not. My parents did own a private jet, but I had never gone beyond the horizon. How was that possible? I started to wonder, but then I remembered I had to tell him.

“Today is my last day, Johnny.”  

“Last day? What do you mean by last day?” He sounded confused.

“My parents want me out of here. They think that I'm getting spoiled and not being trained hard enough for the future. I have to look after a company when I grow up, so they want me to leave.”

He remained silent for a few seconds. The ice-cream in his hand was melting and there was sadness in his face. His small eyes pleaded at me: Don’t go. Don’t go.

I looked at him.

“Are you crying?”  

I was shocked to see Johnny with tears in his eyes. The tough and rough Johnny, the boy who dared, was crying just for me. I had never seen him crying, no matter how hard the situation, but he was crying that day.

"Are you crying, Johnny?"

“No, I'm not. Who says I'm crying? This ice-cream is bad!" He wiped his eyes furiously.

The truth was, I wanted to cry, too, because the next day we would be back in our lonely worlds, struggling to smile. He wouldn't have anyone to walk around with him, to show off his skills or to think he was smart and a hero. We would both be alone again.

“You can have my ice cream, but don’t cry.” I tried to comfort him.

“I'm not crying.”

The more he tried to hide it, the more tears came out, and he was near sobbing. For me, it was nice to finally see him crying. Crying for me.

“Why are you smiling?” He scolded me, and then I unzipped my bag and gave him something to cheer him up. It was a nicely wrapped gift.

Johnny stopped crying. He had never received a gift before, he told me, and suddenly his whole attention shifted to the gift. He shook it.

“What’s in there?” He asked excitedly.

“Just open it.”

He slowly unwrapped the paper, his first time peeling wrapping paper off of his first gift. Right away, I could tell that he liked it.

“It’s a Tom and Jerry digital wrist-watch!"

There was a tiny mouse teasing a cat and their perfectly recorded moment was embedded in the face, which could be flipped to see the time inside. It also beeped every three hours.

"Keep this with you so that you don’t forget me until I come back next summer.”

I took the watch and strapped it around his wrist. He raised his hand in the air like he was invincible with that watch. He hugged me tightly, and didn't let go.

“And Johnny, here's my piggy bank. Don’t steal any more. It's bad, but just promise you won't be hungry, as well. Okay?”

He took the heavy piggy bank in his small hands.

“I don’t have anything like this to give you. But if you come closer, I would like to give you something.”

I leaned towards him, and with his small lips he planted a kiss on my cheek. That was my first kiss. I blushed. He blushed, too.

“One day, when I grow big and grow wings, I'll take you to that horizon. Until then, wait for me, Esther.”  

***

“Ma’am, we have to go,” Mr. Brad interrupted my thoughts. I wiped my eyes.

All the board members were already there, including that bitch. They were all sitting around the table, murmuring and chatting with each other, creating a buzz that radiated around the room. I knew something was going on. Mr. Brad began.

“Well, now we know that our organization is facing a tough time. In one of our factories, a female worker committed suicide, but we have managed to portray it as an accident. However, we just found out that the manager was brutally attacked and now is in a coma. There is an impending revolt and uprising. Workers are protesting because they claim that Maria, the one who died, was being sexually abused by the manager and they are demanding that their wages are underpaid. Now this has led to the resurrection of the construction project case.”

“Why don’t you show us the man behind the revolt, please,” Katherine said in her nauseating voice. I thought I could see a hint of a smile on her face.

Mr. Brad hesitated.

"We have gathered our information, and one man in particular seems to be the driving force behind this. He managed to gather the workers together and is probably the one who attacked the manager."

Mr. Brad tossed some photos on table. My coffee mug slipped from my hand.

There was Johnny in his usual long, black jacket.

“Shit, I'm sorry.”

I quickly picked up the mug and wiped at the spill as I stared at the pictures. 

Mr. Brad continued.

"Now we have to deal with this situation. The media is hyperactive and it’s been creating bad publicity for us. I need your suggestions."

The board members started interjecting.

  "We have politicians in our pockets, and what’s that for? If we can buy off some of the media, we can move the current in the opposite direction. We have Esther. She can distract them with her plans for her life with Aadish. The media would eat that up."

Several members nodded.

"First this guy exposes our pharmaceutical deal, and now this? We need to do something...bribe the police or take matters into our own hands."

 Then Katherine opened her filthy mouth.

“I agree. We have to be deal with this guy. We need to destroy him man and his image, show him that he's nothing but another drug addict who's just angry at himself and wants to create a public disturbance. We can hire some old cops who can take care of him, just like we've done in the past. Trust me, no one will notice his corpse lying there rotten in the gutter.  

I wanted to scream. I stared angrily at Katherine.
Will somebody please shut her up? She's trying to kill Johnny!

The other board members seemed to agree.

I looked around me, amazed at what I was seeing. All the luxury cars and big mansions were dirty secrets. They all turned to see my reaction.

Katherine was enjoying the dilemma on my face.

“I don’t think we should do anything foolish. As we all know, the media is waiting for us to make the wrong move. Why don’t we just let it simmer down a little bit?”

“But it's hampering our image in the market every day! You don’t understand. Elections are coming. There may be changes in the cabinet, and we won’t have the same politicians in our pocket anymore. They might take action against us because of public pressure.” Katherine persisted.

“No what are we? Businessmen or butchers?" I tried to keep the emotion out of my voice. "And it was our fault that we were trading medicine illegally, and it’s good that it came out. You were hiding things from me. That’s what happens.” I tried to defend Johnny.

“Honey, this is not the first time we've taken care of something like this. I know a few cops who are very good at this sort of thing.” I hated how she spoke to me.

“What do you mean by not our first time?”

“Now we don’t want to go into details. Are you still living in the delusion that your father was a saint? Everybody has some dark secrets. You wouldn't believe it, I'm sure--he's your father and I don’t blame you."

What was she talking about? Before I could protest, she continued.

"Okay, let’s vote.”

“This is ridiculous! We're voting for killing an innocent man. I'm not taking part in this!”

“Even if you don’t take part, we all will. It’s one low-life scum for a multi-million dollar company. The decision has to be made, right or wrong.”

I slammed my hand on the table.

“If you dare touch him, if any of you dare to touch him, then you will see what I am capable of.”

I stormed out of the room in anger.  

***

“Are the rumors true that you are having an affair?”

The camera was on me. All eyes were on me. The live audience all eagerly awaited my answer, my critical answer. The rumors of my affair with a mystery man had been spreading like wildfire through the media. A lot depended upon my answer.  

“No,” Mr. Brad whispered encouragingly from behind the camera.

With every second of silence that passed, the doubts, questions, and eyebrow-raising increased. The host asked the question again, trying to cope with the awkward silence.

“Are the rumors true?”

My soul was screaming
yes, yes they all are true,
but what do you care?
But I couldn't bring myself to say it.  My lips trembled, and I finally responded.

"No."

The host then directed a question to Aadish.

“Do you think it’s all part of bad publicity that they are trying to create around your campaign?”

I felt relieved that the camera was off me, but I knew that somewhere on a street corner, Johnny must be watching. No matter how I felt, I had to maintain my image. The fairytale engagement was selling.

What I didn’t realize was that it was the beginning of a chain reaction.

***

Johnny’s Diary

At last, my fears were true. She chewed me and threw me out like a piece of chewing gum. I should have known better.

I was a betrayed waif, back on the streets. I was being hunted down by her company dogs for screwing up their deal, and when she should have protected me, she was busy parading around on another man's arm. After all, she carried the same blood. I should have taken my revenge when I had the chance.

The pain was so strong that even rum was ineffective. No drugs were able to make me forget her for even one second. And yet I still had feelings for her.

God, I love her...I love her... I can’t let her escape like this. Tomorrow, it ends.

***

Esther’s Dairy

Aadish was addressing the people with an imposing speech about change. The emotions and power were clearly surging on his face. We were in an open rally and I was standing next to him to support him and continue the "perfect couple" image. It was warm feeling to see so many gathered just hoping that he could bring the necessary change. We were just scheduled for a brief speech..

What I didn’t know was that Johnny was also there. As I looked at the crowd, I spotted his flat hat and jacket. He also noticed that I had spotted him, but as he moved forward towards the podium I saw that he had a gun in his hand.

In no time, my heartbeat climbed from fast to panic button. I moved closer to Aadish, who had no idea that he had been marked.

What if security sees Johnny and shoots him because he poses a direct threat to Aadish? What if he gets killed in this chaos?
All sorts of possibilities ran through my mind.

I slowly shook my head, trying to signal Johnny not to do anything stupid. But his eyes had strong emotions shining like a mirror in them. We both stared at each other, exchanging intense glares and trying to gauge each other’s will. I knew there was no point in arguing with him, so my eyes just begged him not to do anything stupid.

But Johnny didn't listen. He slowly raised his gun.

I grabbed Aadish’s hand tightly, moving as close to him as possible. I started to sweat. My nerves contracted. But then I realized that he was pointing at me.

I looked at Johnny straight in the eyes.

Do it, do it if you think I have betrayed you. Do it and make it easier for me.
I begged.

I saw his hands trembling and shaking. After a few seconds, he lowered the gun.

I felt relieved, but Johnny was as stubborn as a child, and he wanted to make a statement.               Then he lifted the gun right up to his own chest, aiming directly at his heart. Now I was more nervous than before.

In the heat of the moment, I clutched Aadish’s hand too tightly and caught his attention. He looked at me, smiled, and continued with his speech.

Johnny and I exchanged bullets of stares. Our emotions fired through our eyes as we tried communicating with each other without words.

Don’t you dare Johnny, don’t you dare pull that trigger,
I mouthed.

I love you
, he mouthed back.

I love you, too. Please don’t do that.

Nobody else in the crowd knew what was going on. The fighting continued and there seemed to be no end in sight. We were both passionate and we were both idiots. Johnny slowly moved his finger towards the trigger.