Chapter 226

It was tiring and exhausting with so many things going at work and to add to it now she had to be a part of all the rituals as the future daughter-in-law. Sometimes she even felt suffocated and out of place left in the crowd that she was surrounded with. She felt as if she were a salt water fish in a fresh water pond and trying to adjust only alienated her even more. Between work and all this she was desperately looking for an escape, something, she was in the verge of taking anything to get out of all this. She was clearly stressed her shoulder muscles were pretty tight, she hadn't had an opportunity to catch up with her sleep, untimely food and no time to workout had added to all this and her metabolism seemed very down. If it weren’t for the express finish makeup’s she probably look awful, since they helped conceal her tiredness and her black lines near her eyes.

She was glad that Chari and Pryag had been helping her with her work stuff still it was her business and making sure everything was going on track was still a lot of work. She knew she had checked and rechecked everything, but still she felt a little unease. This was a new client and the requirements were a bit different and she had gone through that and the proposal had been reviewed and the client seemed satisfied. It was in a way here business was expanding, so there was a little tension that tagged along with her, not allowing her to relax. She excused herself and stepped out of the house to get away from all the unfamiliar voices surrounding her. Pryag looked very handsome in the traditional clothing, even though he had not recovered completely, but there was a significant improvement in all his activities.

She closed the front door behind her and stepped out and heard a beep and checked her phone. There was a message from an unknown number. She dialed in to check the voice message. "Hi! It's me Sara, I haven't heard from you in a while and I thought maybe we can meet today. Its about five thirty now and today my husband and my son are out to watch some game. If you are free meet me at the Mexican place next to Mila-no Mall. I hope you know where it is. Let me know either way. By the by this is my cell, you can call me anytime on this number. Hope you can make it. It is really boring to sit alone at a bar, you know". She couldn't help but smile after listening to the message. She knew very well how boring it is to sit alone in a bar and she was delighted to get away from everything and to meet her. She stepped in and before she could say anything, Pryag said "I know what happens if you come in with a phone in your hand. I know you too well, especially that look, don't worry; go where ever you have to go". She kissed him on the cheek and grabbed her handbag and stepped out.

Chapter 225

He stretched back on his chair with his hands behind his head and his legs criss-crossed. It felt very comfortable and he starred at the monitor in the front. His eyes slowly drifted towards the wall opposite to him and the picture that beautifully depicted the two blue birds on the branch with their noses rubbing against each other right next to their nest. It depicted the sunset, a natural backdrop highlighting the beauty of the blue birds in romance on a golden frame. He loved the painting, and he had always had it in his office, the place where he normally spends most of his time. It was not a big one, one that can comfortably fit anywhere. He remembered it like yesterday, his hands wrapped around her and she had been talking non stop. He had enjoyed every expression and gesture of hers not really paying much attention to what she was saying.

They were walking down the side walk and the painting of two beautiful birds caught his eye and he stopped right there puzzling her for a moment and the instant she looked at the painting she loved it too. He picked it up and looked at it. What he saw was not two birds sitting on a tree, but harmony, two beautiful people so much in love and so much to look forward to, he knew how he felt about her but had been contemplating whether it was love or not and somehow with her by his side and that painting, something about it captivated him, sort of telling him something, helping him realize how he realize how he felt. She had already paid for it while he was looking at the picture and ever since that picture had always taken a special place in his life.

It was like yesterday and he could fell what he felt all those years ago, the passion, the desire, the love and so much more. But this time, it was a little different, he felt it but he didn't feel her presence and her essence had somehow faded away. He had felt it all these days for so many years when ever he looked at it, but surprisingly after actually seeing her and being with her, thinking about her, he didn't quiet feel the same. He felt everything and for the very first time, it had been a reflection of his desires and wishes and it didn't really matter whom he shared it with. His thoughts were disturbed by the ring tone on his cell phone.

Chapter 224

Someone picked up the phone on the third ring. “Hilton Plaza. How may I help you?” He asked him if they had any guest staying there by the name Carissa Landri was staying. It took the receptionist a few minutes to find out and in the mean time he realized that she might have used a different name if she didn't want anyone to know about it. He knew she would have used her middle name instead but he couldn't think of what she would have used for her last name. He thought long and hard and nothing came up in his mind, even thought he didn't know much about her childhood, but he knew enough that she was betrayed by her step father and she would never use his name for anything. He didn't know his mothers maiden name even if she had used it, he thought for a moment she might have used her ex-husband's last name but she never changed her name even after getting married, so there is no way she would have used that, he was running out of ideas when the receptionist got back to him. As he had expected she had not used her real name, so he asked her if she could find out if she was staying in one of her chains and if she could find out. She had already done that and there was no one listed by that name. He asked her if she could lookup for Melissa and he didn't remember the last name, but she was reluctant to do so without speaking with her supervisor.

He knew he didn't have much of a choice so he cooked up a story saying that his aunt had been admitted in the hospital and he was trying to reach his cousin and since he couldn't he was trying to reach his ex-wife and he was not sure about her name, especially which one was her fist and middle name and he was not sure if she had reverted back to her maiden name and he didn't know that in a extremely polite tone that had an urgency and a mountain of sadness surrounding it. As he had expected it had done the trick and she obliged to his request and got back to him with the information after ten minutes. She had five occupants with the name Melissa. "Melissa Jones, Melissa R Fasmer, Melissa and Jacob Warner, Melissa Francis and Melissa Abraham.”Francis", he remembered it was her father's name, he had completely forgotten about that. He appreciated her for all her help and got the details for Melissa Francis and thanked her once more and hung up the phone. He read the information on the paper once more, "Melissa Francis, Hilton Plaza, and Room 261".

Chapter 223

He had been on the internet for hours as if he was obsessed with her, but he didn’t realize all that and he was not happy with what he found. He got some bits and pieces of information but nothing concrete; he was not sure why he was felt compelled to find out more about her; she was like a puzzle he was trying to solve and a couple of pieces doesn’t see to fit. He found out that there were a couple of fans, who had stocked her before and one had been arrested and her ex-husband had a restraining order against him. The other guy was practically in live with her. He had his won blog where he posted all her pictures and wrote poetry about her. That was the guy who did give some bits and pieces of information and were like another puzzle. He copied the information from different articles and compiled into one and was going through that. He went over the dates and times these articles was posted and the dates they referred to. Only one article dated back to the time he was with her, just an article saying that she among other models visited the United States and that she got sick and the shooting had to be rescheduled and eventually another model had to fill in for her.

He went through all of them and he noticed that she had made a trip to the United States once a year after that. He surfed through the materials that talked about her trip to the United States and they were all mostly about photo shoots and at least one of the visits was to Chicago. He read all the articles once more and checked the pictures and he didn’t find much anywhere. After an hours worth of time, when he was about to give up, he noticed something, someone tried to get an autograph from her and she had refused by saying that she was not who she they thought she was and police had to intervene and she refused to press any charges. Since it was identified as a mistaken identity this didn’t get to the hands of the press. The article also gave the location where she was spotted and described her attire. Bham! It hit him, he knew where she was staying, he had a guess about what was going on in her life, especially about her health but he was not sure. He turned around and dialed the number.

Chapter 222

More than a week had passed by and he had not heard from Carissa. He had been so busy with his work, with new mergers coming up in the main branch and with his manager not available due to personal and health reasons on extended vacation; he didn't get a chance to call her either even though he had wanted to. He had been working over the weekend to get all the documents in place that were needed to get things going. He had received an approval for hiring a couple of more employees based on the quote he had sent earlier and he had not excepted that it would turn up to be his job to hire them in addition to his word. He had spent the weekend reviewing the responses which were surprisingly more than what he had expected. He had also been caught up with his niece since she had fallen from the stairs and had twisted her ankle and being her favorite uncle he couldn't say no to her when she had asked him to spend the night at their house.

One of the candidates profile indicated that he had worked for a hospital in Chicago. Even though the candidate was not a perfect match, with not a lot of experience in the area he was looking for, his resume seemed quiet impressive. So he sent an email asking him to come in for an interview the following week. He also checked out the Hospital details online and he stumbled across something he had not expected to see and that completely distracted him and stopped his official work and opened up a browser and typed "Carissa Landri" in the browser. The listings spanned across pages as she was an International celebrity ranging from her modeling photos to her interviews and her designer gowns to her divorce. He was not interested in not all of them but one of the site, a fan site with poetries written by her fans to angry fans bad-mouthing about her. He came across one picture that was posted by a fan after hours of searching titled "Is this Carissa?” The post was about the picture, a women adjusting her wig and trying to hide it inside a cap and it was dated quiet recently just a couple of months back. He started reading more on the article and each and every post that was posted by that user.

Chapter 221

She was exhausted when she reached her room after her visit to the doctor. She didn't bother to remove her makeup and went straight to bed. She wasn't sleepy but felt tired and she knew that things were not going to get any better how much she wanted them to. She closed her eyes and her thoughts went way back, all those years back and how things have changed over the years. She remembered her mother’s death, her pain if only she had known what she was going through; maybe she would have tried to help her in some way. She had been naive and innocent, especially with her step-father and how he had exploited her. In spite of all that she had lived her dream, she was living her dream, one of her dreams since the other was destroyed - her chance to have a child with the man she loved. She turned around and looked at the picture in her wallet, the picture of a child from Somalia on one side, she had adopted that child, well she was the child's sponsor and care taker who doesn't have to be physically present and she had also adopted a couple of dogs and cats that were brutally hurt or ill-treated and her money was taking care of it. She reached into a secret compartment in her wallet and pulled something out, hidden and almost invisible to the normal eye was the picture of Akshar.

She kissed his picture and held it in her palm and tear droplets rolled down her cheeks smudging even her waterproof eyeliner proving that tears that comes from the bottom of the heart do mean something. She hugged his picture and closed her eyes and he totally occupied her thoughts and if it were him instead of the picture he could here how fast her heart was beating and how much pain she was in and maybe, maybe he could make all the pain disappear. She remember their conversations, how much he loved her, how wonderful their life was, how hard it had been for her to make the decision and break up with him and how much she had thought about it and cried over it, but she knew that was the right decision to do she couldn't let him go through that with her, especially destroy his dreams of having kids and have a family. She knew how much he wanted to have a child of his own and all the things he wanted to do as a father, she couldn't control her emotions she turned over and poured her heart out on the pillow neither did she hear her cell phone ring nor did she hear the knocking on the door by room service - the food she had ordered earlier.

Chapter 220

He got out of the pool, grabbed his towel and dried himself up. He eased himself into the slippers he had left right below the towel rack and walked towards the exit door, right next to it was the magazine rack, usually stacked with magazines for the members. He walked straight to it, with his long gray Turkish towel around his shoulders hiding his biceps and his chest even then it was quiet evident that he works out with outlining a muscle toned upper body. His swim shorts slowly dripped a few drops onto the floor while his left hand rubbed his hair, sort of messing it up in an elegant way. He leaned on his side to pick up the magazine with Carissa's picture on it, the towel fell to the floor reveling his bear but strong, well built athletic upper body and the tiny sapphire from his bracelet twinkled from the sunlight that peered through the window next to it. He did not notice how many eyes around there had caught him and enjoyed the sight of him and envied him; all his concentration was on the magazine and he grabbed it and walked towards the men's locker room nor realizing his towel had fallen off of his shoulders.

The room had two sections; the one on the right had all the lockers mounted on the wall with a couple of wooden tables in the middle for its members to use. Few of the lockers were wide open indicating they were not occupied and some had locks on them and there were a couple of men chatting and laughing. The other section had the bathrooms and toilets and some sinks, especially the one on the right was dripping since someone didn't close it properly. He walked in completely immersed in the magazine, sat on one of the wooden benches and continued reading. It was a gossip magazine, and he was not a guy who would be interested in anything like that, but the title somehow caught his eye, "Carissa's American Secret". The article talked about her achievements and that she has been regularly making a trip to the United States recently and posed so many answers they had received from her colleagues and rivals and other in the industry. No names were revealed by it went on saying that most in the industry feel that she needs a break after her divorce and some expected that was bound to happen and some felt sympathy towards her. He was not interested in it, bit there was something in him that kept him going, he raced through the article and stopped at a statement, "a trusted source says she was seen in Chicago twice in the last couple of months and was staying in the Hilton".

Chapter 219

It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining beautifully, it looked a bit orange and a little yellow with beautiful white clouds spread across the sky. Even though it was sunny and all the last snow for the season from last week had completely melted it was just a bit cold and one can’t really out without layering up. He appeared at the parking lot in an Argentina blue/black mock neck collar pull on with racing stripes down the shoulders and arms, an embroidered logo at chest and a clima-lite screen-print logo at back neckline, indicating their specialty in designing outdoor active wear to flawlessly control the body's temperature. It was paired with Polo by Ralph Lauren Solid Mesh Pull on Track Pant - Classic-fitting track pant that had a drawstring elastic waist and side-seam pockets with pieced racing stripes at the legs and concealed zip ankle vents. It also had a Polo RL signature and Mercury’s foot patch at the hip.

Akshar carried a back pack on his left and opened the trunk of his green Toyota Camry and dropped his back pack in and walked over and started the car. It had a fresh look as if it just went for detailing, or was it a new car? He gave it a kick start and it glided on the smooth road down the street and merged on with the ongoing traffic. He turned on the radio to make sure to listen to the latest news and nothing was really interesting. He tuned on to 96.3 and the music was honey to his ears. They were playing the Mozart, even though he wasn’t sure who the player was, it was wonderful and was followed by “The ruins of Athens”, and his lips started humming the tunes as he reached the gym’s parking lot.

He walked and swiped his membership card and walked into the gym and through the back door and in a few minutes he was at the pool in his red swim shorts with white stripes at the sides and checked the timing. It showed 3.30 PM. It was adult swim time and he can use the pool for about hour or so and he got into the bigger pool. As he had expected there were not too many at eleven feet, he was hoping for that. In about five minutes he was joined by a couple of women, one of them he knew for a fact was quiet interested in him. She introduced him to her friend and it seemed a little odd to shake hands with someone when you are in a pool so he smiled and continued on with his swimming. When he reached the other end of the pool, the magazine with Carissa’s picture and the headline caught his eye.