My Neighbour Girl Ch. 02

Although I did not dare to speak anything, I couldn't stop myself from staring at her beautiful face; it had a blank expression. She was constantly looking down at her feet. I noticed she was wearing a pair of blue, running shoes; they had a Nike check symbol on them. "She really has prepared for this," I thought.

I looked up, we had reached the end of the platform. A cool breeze came from nowhere. She shrunk her shoulders and folded her arms in response, and for a very brief moment the expression on her face changed. There was that old genuine smile on her face and then it was gone. Suddenly, I felt so happy from inside. Suddenly, going through all this trouble seemed worth that brief look on her face; my heart wasn't struggling between the right and wrong. "We should probably go outside. There might be some tea shops open," I said.

She looked at me in surprise, like she had noticed me walking with her just then. She tried to speak, then stopped and nodded, 'Okay'.

We started walking again, quietly, toward the exit.

'Why is it so damn hard? Did I just lose my ability to form complete a sentence?' I thought to myself. I wanted to break the silence but couldn't think of any right thing to say. I had no idea about what was going on in her mind, 'God, help me out here, please.'

'Ohh, so now, suddenly you are a believer.'

'No, but I could really use some help.'

My inner conflict was interrupted by the voice I was coveting to hear for so long. "So, your sister told you everything?" Neha asked. Despite her pleasant voice, she sounded very serious.

"Not everything, but you know she is a talker. She didn't ..."

"That bitch." She didn't let me finish.

"Heeeey, it's my sister we are talking about." I smiled to lighten the mood; it didn't work. "She was really worried about you and herself."

"So, she sent you here to bring me back?"

"Noooo, she doesn't know anything about us, or that I am here."

"Us? There is no us." She was in total offense mode.

"You know what I meant." I couldn't smile anymore. I couldn't help but think, 'She wasn't happy to see me, no even a little bit.'

"We can't go back, I know that," I said, hoping she would understand that I'm on her side.

"I said there is no we or us. I am boarding the train and you can go wherever the hell you want," she shouted in anger.

Now I too was angry, but I didn't want to say anything to make the situation worse. We walked a few steps in silence.

"Did you forget all about what just happened in the waiting room or what could have happened if I hadn't shown up?" I couldn't stop myself from saying that.

She stared at me with her angry eyes for a moment, "Well, thank you for saving my life." The sarcasm was pretty clear.

"I don't mean to take credit for that, I was just trying to..." She looked in front and walked through the exit door, jerking her backpack.

I was so waxed with her reaction that this whole thing seemed like a big mistake. Then I looked at her walking in that jeans and shoes, 'maybe I was thinking from my penis,' I thought then followed her.

I caught up with her and we walked out of the station. I looked in the direction where I left Toto with the bike. He was talking on the phone. He looked back at me and waved; I waved back and started walking toward him.

"You brought that idiot with you?" I heard her voice again, it wasn't as soothing to my ears this time.

"That idiot is my friend and if you got a problem with that, you can go back to the waiting room. I'm sure you will find wise people there." I looked back at her in anger. She stared at me with her big round eyes. She was hurt, I'm not sure if that's what I intended to do.

I started walking again, she followed.

As we reached near Toto, he ended his call.

"Hi, how are you? Heard you are running away," he asked jokingly. He clearly had no idea of the tension going on. Neha looked at him obnoxiously, she didn't say anything. Toto, then looked at me, all confused.

"Let's go for tea, shall we?" I said in a sarcastic tone. Toto looked even more confused.

We found a tea shop nearby. I ordered three teas and we sat on the stool and waited. Toto sat next to me a little closer while Neha a little far.

"What's wrong with her?" he whispered.

"Apparently, she is not delighted to see me here." My voice was still filled with anger.

"Damn, did you two have a fight already." He laughed. "How did I miss that!"

That made me smile too.

"She looks really hot, I mean, that totally justifies your stupidity, man. I forgive you for lying to me."

I punched his shoulder and smiled. "She really is, isn't she?" I looked at Neha. She was staring at something enviously. I looked in the direction she was staring in. There was a big, glass box of cupcakes and cookies. It was two in the morning and I was a little hungry too.

"Wait a minute," I said to Toto. I went and bought some of those and came back, handing them to both Neha and Toto. I took a bite myself. I turned to Neha to ask if she wanted anything else. She had already killed most of her cupcakes and she was eating the rest voraciously.

For the next minute or two, we watched her eat like an animal; she didn't even stop to take a breath. Her cheeks had crumbs of cookies on them. We were smiling at her the whole time. Then she noticed us looking at her and stopped, we started laughing aloud. Toto went and bought some chips and other stuff to eat and handed all of it to her, then laughed some more. She threw everything on the table in front of her.

After a few minutes, the tea was ready, I took two cups and walked up to Neha. I placed the cup next to her on the table. She looked at me, her eyes had a hint of tears in them but she wasn't crying.

"I'm sorry for... for... you know what, Toto is too, we really are," I said.

"You think I'm hurt because you laughed at me." She grabbed the cup.

"No, but that was pretty harsh."

"Clearly harsh has a very different meaning in your world."

"Our worlds can't be that different."

"Clearly, you have no idea."

"Well, maybe we can share our worlds with each other."

"No, we can't."

"We can't or you don't want to?" I couldn't stop myself from asking.

She completely ignored my question and threw couple of her own. "Why did you come after me? What were you expecting?"

"That was too direct and kind of answers the question I was wondering about." I thought. "I don't know," I replied looking straight into her eyes. She waited for me to explain. "To be honest, I didn't expect anything, I didn't even think about something like that."

She kept staring at me. It wasn't a pleasant look. "I mean, last when we... we 'met'," I did an air quote with my fingers, "you were...not in a very good place." I was struggling to find the right words. "And, when you left, I still remember it very vividly. It felt like you were going to do something... something about the situation you were in, but I had no idea what would that be."

The expression on her face changed, like she was remembering the time we had together. "I couldn't stop thinking about it," I continued. "Wherever I was, whatever I was doing, in the back of my head, I always wondered, what was it that you didn't tell me? Where are you right now? And if I'm being honest, I missed you. I wanted to see you but I had no way of finding out how you were doing. I could not even talk to anyone about it."

"And two months later, my sister tells me that you are running away. I was aghast. I never imagined it was that bad that you would go to such an extreme. But then I thought, at least you will be free from whatever family shit you were dealing with." She looked down as soon as I mentioned the word 'family'.

"So I guess I came after you because I wanted to see you for one last time."

"We slept together once and you think we share some kind of special bond? You left a job interview so you could see me? I can't believe you are that stupid."

"Who told you about the job interview?"

"Like you said, your sister talks." There was a brief smile on her face.

"That bitch!"

"Hey, it's my best friend we are talking about." We both burst into laughter. After a few seconds she stopped, her face went back to the serious look she had before. I stopped laughing too. I kept looking at her eyes, they still had the glow in them. Then my eyes moved to her lips and back at the eyes. She looked away from me.

"Let me go with you," I said out of nowhere. She looked at me in awe. "I should go with you, it would be safer," I rephrased.

She stared at me for a moment without saying anything. I was not sure if she was surprised or angry. Then she spoke and clearly, it was the latter.

"You want to come with me to protect me?" Her voice was strong and demanding.

"Yeah," suddenly I was finding it hard to speak.

"And how long do you think you can do that? Protect me? Because the chances are, I will be running my whole life from him, that is unless I don't get caught. Will you stay with me my whole life?" She was dead serious.

"I don't know, we will figure it out." I was already regretting my offering to help.

"What about your family? Wouldn't they want you to have a normal life, get a job, marry a nice girl? What about you, don't you want all that for yourself?

"Fuck all that. Right now I want to help you. Why are you making it so hard?" I said irritably.

"That's because right now it's convenient for you to help me, maybe it's an adventure for you. What if later you got bored of this adventure and decided to leave me or even worse you want to leave me but you are stuck with me because you are too nice of a guy. I wouldn't want that on my conscience."

"That's bullshit. And what about my conscience, if I let you go alone, knowing I could have helped you. And what part of this sounds convenient for me, coming here leaving my job interview or listening to you berating me for trying to help you."

"I don't need your help. I am boarding that train and you..." She looked up in front.

"It seems you two are getting along well," Toto said smiling. "Looks like your train won't be coming today. It got delayed for two more hours," Toto said looking at his wristwatch.

Neha checked her phone, Toto was right. She grabbed her forehead in frustration.

Three of us sat there across the table; there was a deep silence. I was thinking about what she had said earlier, over and over. She was right and I did not have answers to her questions, but it hurt a lot.

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The horn of the train shook the platform, woke some passengers up who was dozing off on the waiting chairs. The train was about to leave. Neha was standing by the door. I was standing close to her on the platform.

"At least, give me your phone number so I can check on you from time to time," I said to her looking at her beautiful face, probably for the last time.

"I don't want you to be hung up on me, I want you to move on. Find a nice girl..."

"I take that as a 'No'," I interrupted her.

She smiled. Her eyes had that same look which they had when she was leaving last time.

The train started moving. "I guess it's a 'Goodbye' then." I couldn't hide the pain in my voice.

"Yes, it is," she said, smiling. She went inside and after a few moments, she was gone, forever out of my reach.

I was trying to convince myself, "You made the right decision by letting her go."

"Except, I did not make that decision. She made that for me."

"Where am I gonna go now? I can't go back home. Everyone thinks I'm in Delhi. Of course going to Delhi is pointless now. Should have gone with her, wherever she is going."

"I really should stop talking to myself."

I was feeling a bit sleepy by then, so I walked into the waiting room. It was totally empty. I looked at the chair on which Neha was sitting earlier. I walked to it and sat down and closed my eyes.

It would have been a few seconds since I closed my eyes. I heard the door slam open. I looked at the door in shock. I could not believe my eyes. It was her, it was Neha standing in the doorway, looking at me. There were tears in her eyes but her face was lit with joy.

I stood up. "What are you doing here?" I said softly.

She threw her backpack in the corner of the room and ran toward me. She jumped on me. I am not sure what met first, our bodies or our lips. She wrapped her arm around my neck. I grabbed her by her waist. We were kissing each other voraciously. I fell back into the chair.

"I watched you go away," I took a brief pause from her lips to catch a breath.

"I jumped from the train," she said breathing heavily, then she started kissing me again.

I had waited for this for so long. Hell, I had imagined kissing her so many times, it almost felt unreal.

I sucked her lower lips between mine; she bit my upper lips. Then I felt her tongue on my lips, I opened my mouth and she pressed it inside. I massaged her warm, smooth tongue into my mouth.

"What about the thing you said?" I pulled back realizing we were sitting in a public place. I was breathing deeply.

"About what?" she whispered and went back to kissing my lips.

"About living in different worlds and stuff," I said while my tongue was inside her throat.

She grabbed my face between her palms and pushed back to look into my eyes. She had a hint of a smile on her lips, her eyes were lit like a bulb. "Fuck all the worlds," she said and pressed her lips back on mine.

I was getting an erection already. She was sitting on top of me with her knees beside my hips. She could feel my penis on her pelvis. She looked into my eyes passionately and started grinding her pelvis on my fully erect penis. I wrapped my arms around her back and started kissing her neck.

I wanted to throw her clothes off, but we were sitting in the waiting room, any minute someone could walk in.

I buried my face into her tender and warm breasts over her t-shirt. She had her finger inside my hair. She pulled my hair to make me look up at her face. I looked into her mesmerizing eyes a few inches away from mine.

She was grinding on my penis faster and faster. I could not believe I was about to cum in my pants.

I closed my eyes and started kissing her lips. To my surprise, she pushed me and started shaking my shoulders. I was a bit confused. She shook my shoulders again, this time a little harder. I opened my eyes in confusion.

It was Toto trying to wake me up. I stood up suddenly in shock and embarrassment.

"Man, it's hard to wake you up."

"How long was I asleep," I asked. I was still breathing heavily, not sure due to the shock or arousal.

"Maybe five, six minutes tops," he replied. "You look like you haven't slept in days."

"Yeah," I said, taking a deep breath. "And maybe, I will never sleep ever again," I thought to myself.

It took me a minute to come back to reality. We were still at the tea shop. It almost felt like morning. I turned me to see Neha, she was sleeping in the chair in the corner, with her head bolstered by her backpack.

"The shopkeeper asked us to leave, he is closing the shop." Toto interrupted my reboot. I heard him clearly, every word but it took me a few seconds to comprehend what he was saying.

"Yeah, ok... what time is it?" I responded. "Did we miss the train?" It was more of a wish than a question.

"No. There are still fifteen minutes before its arrival; it's 3:30 am," he replied. "You should wake her up." Toto padded my shoulder.

I walked up the chair in which Naha was sleeping. I looked at her face. It was so calm and peaceful as contrary to the argument we were having, the hurtful things she said, true but hurtful nonetheless. There was a hint of a smile on her face. I wondered what she was dreaming about. I almost didn't want to wake her up, to disturb the pleasant world she was in.

"Dude," Toto shouted irritably. "What are you doing. We need to get out of the shop. Do you want to get locked inside?"

"That was a good idea actually, to make her stay." I thought to myself.

I shook her shoulder gently. Unlike me, she was awake almost instantly; she looked at me and smiled. I responded with a smile, involuntarily. I would fall for that smile anytime, I guess she knew that.

"Hey, we need to leave. It's time," I almost whispered to her.

"Time," she said with an annoyed face, "I hate time."

I had ten responses to that, but I was in no mood to talk, so I totally ignored it and turned to leave. She took out a bottle of water and took a sip, then she followed us out of the shop.

-----------------------

We reached in front of the railway station. I heard the sound of the horn coming from inside and suddenly the whole dream seemed to be turning into reality. I had already watched her leave, even in the dream it was so painful and heartbreaking. Only this time, she was not coming back. The thought froze my legs. I didn't want to watch her go, again.

Toto and Neha looked back. "What happened dude?" Toto asked.

"I don't want to go inside. She can go by herself, she is a big girl," I said it strongly, almost like I was trying to convince myself.

Neha looked surprised at my reaction, tears formed in her eyes. Her face was full of anger, disappointment and a hint of sadness.

"You have come this far, what's a few steps further? Let's just drop her off to the train and it will be over." Toto insisted.

"You can go if you want," I said without moving.

"That's so mature of you. You two just stay here, I know my way," Neha yelled at me with her heavy voice. She was about to cry. She pulled her backpack over her shoulder and almost ran toward the entry door.

I turned away and started walking, I had no idea what I was going to do.

"That was so wrong at so many levels," Toto shouted at me from behind.

"I don't care," I replied without looking back. I pulled my phone out of my pocket, involuntarily. There were five missed calls from Jaya. It was almost morning. She must have been calling me the whole night. She has a habit of calling me when I am traveling. I called her back.

After a few rings, she picked up. "Hey, what up? Didn't you sleep last night?"

"They found out, they know everything." She sounded terrified. It felt like she had been crying.

"What are you talking about?" I was totally confused.

She took a deep breath. "They know about the train she is taking. They are going to catch her. They are going to catch Neha."

To be continued...