Chapter One

                    

                                               
                                      1. CHAPTER ONE


 

“Oh I am so sorry!”

 Jay looked up apologizing. He hadn’t realized that he was walking right into someone, lost deep in his thoughts. 

“Oh no, It’s totally Okay! I guess I just wasn’t paying attention ahead of me anyways!”

The girl replied with a tense smile, a faint red trace spreading over her face.

Jay returned the smile. The girl seemed to be a nice one. With large deep blue eyes, so deep that one could almost feel himself to be lost in the swirls and the dark, she had a beautiful sparkle in them. She had a wonderfully elongated face with a capturing smile. She had cheeks tinged; it seemed, permanently with a beautiful shade of red. A pretty heart shaped mouth lined with pink lips dominated her lower half of the face .Her nose was straight, rounded at the bottom. Her strawberry blonde hair fell straight onto her shoulders. A few loose bangs occupied her forehead. The blue eyes behind the long lashes peered at Jay anxiously.

“Well?” She demanded apparently confused at Jay’s long and measuring gaze.

 “Oh Well! It’s nothing! I was just….. Well, I am Jay!” Jay introduced himself warmly extending out his hand.

 Her hand which was busy fumbling at the hem of her red skirt blouse, stopped for a moment and then reached for his outstretched hand. Her face too broke into a wide smile

.

 “……And everybody calls me Dawn! Doesn’t matter, does it?”She smiled. 

“No, that’s cool actually! “ Jay exclaimed. That’s when he realized, he was still holding, the girls hand and she seemed a bit….. Oh well, uncomfortable. He quickly let go and winked at her. Her cheeks tinged a pretty pink color. 

 About almost the same moment, he spotted two men casually walking towards them. One of them was his own dad. Even despite his efforts not to, Jay had to smile. His father not only had a wonderful dress sense, but also kept astonishingly up to date and dressed with a knack.  Dressed in a black suit this was not the first time he looked smart. He wore a pair of dark sunglasses that hid his green eyes. Clear green eyes. One of the many things Jay had inherited from his dad.  

 “Daddy!” Dawn squealed dancing on her toes.

 “Is the guy in blue jeans your dad? “ Jay inquired, thoroughly surprised.

 “Oh yes!” Dawn answered.

 “What were you doing here anyways?” Jay asked her. They stood just before a large hospital building.  “Everything good?”

“Oh yes! Just a routine checkup.” Dawn answered with a slight edge in her voice. Jay couldn’t help noticing, how she anxiously her eye lashes fluttered as she mentioned that. Was she hiding something?

 Jay’s dad and the other guy, in blue jeans with a grey shirt walked over to them apparently in some deep conversation.

Jay’s dad took of his glasses cleared his throat and said, “Aahhh! I see you have met Dawn already. Well Jay, this is her dad! He is an old friend of mine!”

 “That’s generous Arive! Thank you!” He stepped out and holding his hand out to Jay he said” I am Maverick. Your dad and I were great friends in high school. Remember those good old days Arive? Basketball! Training, studies, swimming……………..”

 And he seemed to have lost track of the conversation.

 “I so miss that” Arive commented.

 There was a soft smile on his face and his eyes were unfocused. His mind was probably wandering years back.

 Biting his lower lip to hide a smile, Jay turned to Dawn finding her smiling. “It seems we should be friends now since our dads know each other pretty well!” She commented lightly.

 Seeing it progress smoothly, Jay grinned and answered “Yeah probably, doesn’t matter! We became friends the moment we introduced ourselves.”

“So how old are you?” Dawn inquired.

 “I am 21. You?” Jay returned. “Hey, I am 21 too!! “ Dawn smiled and told him. 

“Seems, we could get on pretty well!!”

 Dawn was really happy. She said, “I really hope so. It’s been a long time since I had a real friend.”

 She tried to smile but Jay saw something else. Her beautiful face turned melancholy. Her eyes filled with a hoard of tears. Jay couldn’t really understand or place that expression at the moment.

Later that evening after having a lavish dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant, Jay and his dad began their long journey back home. 

“So since when do you know this Uncle Maverick?” Jay questioned his dad in a casual tone as they stopped at a stoplight.

 “Well you know I was in London almost half my life. I and Maverick were together in high school and before, the primary one. Being together always since childhood, we were bound to be great friends. One couldn’t live without the other. We lived in London for quite a while. Later I came to the States and got married. He did to but he stayed in London. I returned to London soon after and stayed at his place for a while. He wouldn’t let me stay in a hotel while he was still there. They had a daughter, and named her Dawn. I then shifted in a place of my own.” His dad paused for a while and took a breath and then continued. “A while later when my business started booming, I returned to the States. You were really young at that time & so you lived with your mother back here. With granny of course. Anyways, soon Maverick faced some dilemma and had to leave London, and moved in here. I lost contact with him over time. Today after a long time I met Maverick. And he is just as good. Though he seemed troubled. Poor guy! Anyways we are home!” His dad ended the tale and announced cutting the engine. Jay started. He had been so mesmerized that he had almost forgotten they were still traveling.

 “Oh! That escalated quickly!”He muttered to himself. “Thanks Dad!” And stepped into his home.

He was greeted by the soft and relaxing voice of his mother right from the living room.

 “Hi mom”, he answered collapsing on the couch with a large yawn. “Good day?”

 “You must be tired sweetheart! Why don’t you go up to your room and relax. You had pretty much to do today” his mom replied totally overlooking his question and looking at him with concern etched onto the lines of her face.

  “Yeah, probably” he stifled another yawn. “See you mom. Probably in the morning” he told her and got up.

 “Good night dear! Sleep tight.” Jay nodded absently and heavily climbed the stairs to his large bedroom on the first floor.

 A warm bath and then bed, he decided.  He stepped into the bathtub filled with warm water and bubbly scented liquids. The smell of his favorite bubble bath liquid lingered in the air. He softly caressed his body thinking of today. Gradually, he started feeling the exhaustion of the day draining away with the now cooling water. He stepped out of the tub; lest the water should become too cold and started drying him up with a soft, clean towel.

 He then dressed in a pair of loose trousers and an over sized white shirt and left the bathroom. A mug of warm chocolate waited for him at his bedside table, which was yet another sign of the loyalty of his dear attendant, who took care of everything for him from which clothes to wear to his mug of hot chocolate each night. Gulping it down quickly Jay snuggled into his golden bed covers and prepared to go to sleep. Slowly, lost in a deep whirl of disassembled thoughts he drifted off into glad unconsciousness.

                                         

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Dawn reached out for her hair scrunchy and pulled her hair free. The warm shower was causing her bathroom mirror to steam up. She used her hand to wipe it clean and then checked out her reflection. Her deep blue eyes sparkled in the dimly lit washroom. Her hair fell in loose bangs all over the sides of her face. Her skin glowed, a pale white ghostly color in the ceiling lamp. Behind her the showering water made a wonderful rain-like noise hitting the floor. She was just about to turn away to her shower, when she stopped. What was that?

Her eyes widened in terror. She had just got a glimpse of something….. A grey pair of eyes looking at her... A reflection from the mirror. She cautiously approached the mirror and looked in carefully. Nothing. Water condensed over its surface, trickled down in tiny streams. Apart from that, there was nothing else. Her own wide eyes, and pink cheeks stared back at her. Probably just a trick of the light, perhaps. She shook her head to get rid of the premonitions forming in her head. It was just getting worse. She tossed her head and walked back into the shower. She needed a good night’s rest.