ANIKA

Anika hung up the call angrily, leaving me mid-sentence. It was our fourth call this month, and fourth fight too. Yeah, we always had something to argue about. It was usually her though, being irrationally insecure. She thought I was having fun with other women here. Huh, like for real, what’s the chance of me cheating on her? She thought because I rarely called, I was ignoring her. I already told her I had very limited data.

image courtesy of Njij at Freedigitalphotos

I tried to call her again, she rejected. Great! I then sent a text, “Calm down babe, see you next month.”

I saw the double blue ticks right away. I waited for five minutes, no reply, so I decided to turn off my data. I only had 5 MB left for that month.

I took a deep long breath and put my phone back into my pocket. I then walked back to my stateroom. I lay on the bed, closing my eyes. Flashbacks took me back to the first day I met Anika. She was wearing a yellow salwar kameez and a matching dupatta. She let her long dark hair down, allowing naughty winds to blow it beautifully. If love at first sight was real, I think that was what happened to me. I couldn’t stop staring at her. It’s like my eyes were glued on her. It took her a few minutes to finally notice me. Our eyes met, she looked so shy and turned away quickly. I wasn’t a brave type of a guy. I usually kept my feelings for myself, but that time, I knew that I had to do something.

It wasn’t an easy job to convince Anika to accept my feelings. It took hundred of days, hundreds of phone calls, and a few bouquet of red roses, her favorite flower. I couldn’t express how happy I was when she finally said yes when I asked her to be my girlfriend. I was like the happiest man alive. I could finally call that gorgeous girl mine! Anika was mine!

Not long after that I got an acceptance letter, saying that I was qualified for a cruise ship company sponsorship. I was so happy that my dream to work in a cruise ship was one step closer. And what made me happier was Anika gave me her full support, even though that meant we would be away for a long time, “I’ll always wait for you, babe.” She said and then gave me a kiss.

I shared this small room with a roommate, another third mate officer, from Japan. His English was quite hard to understand, so we didn’t talk much during our journey in this ship for the last five months. But now suddenly I wanted to talk to him. I needed a human interaction to get Anika off my mind.

I sat back up and started the conversation, “Sinosuke, do you have a girlfriend?”

I looked at him, he looked taken aback with my out-of-nowhere question.

He cleared his throat, “Hai, I do. We’re engaged actually.” He answered in a strong accent. I noticed him playing with a ring on his finger.

“Wow, really? Congratulations!”

“Thank you, Vishnu-san. What about you?”

“I have a girlfriend back in India, but now we’re fighting. She doesn’t trust me.”

And just like that, we kept on talking all night. I talked to him in order to distract myself from Anika, but I ended up talking about her, and Sakura, Sinosuke’s fiancée.

I tried to call Anika a few more times after that, but she never picked up. This time, her anger lasted a bit longer. Usually she would text me right away saying sorry, promising not to be childish again. Since she didn’t take my calls, I sent her a few texts. Basically, saying I missed her and couldn’t wait to see her again. I then spent the rest of data calling my parents, telling them I’d be home soon.

It felt so good to finally set foot on land again. Especially in my homeland. India wasn’t my favorite country, but I loved it to be back here. My parents picked me up at the airport, and not only them, my whole family was there. Ammumma couldn’t stop complaining about my body, she said I looked so skinny and then started blabbering about all the food she’d cooked for me. I smiled and said thank you, but I wasn’t thinking about the food at all, I was thinking of my Anika.

As much as I wanted to meet her right away, my family kept me hostage. I couldn’t go anywhere until I finished the grand lunch Ammumma and Amma prepared for me. They wouldn’t let me go until I ate everything, and I meant everything!

When I was finally done, I sat on my bed, the bed that I  shared with Anika a few times.  Thinking of her made me blush. I then took my phone and called her, “Please pick up, babe!” I talked to the phone. Still, she didn’t pick up.

I then texted her, saying I was home and I wanted to meet. A few seconds later she called. I picked it up right away, “Hi Babe!”

“Hi.” She said, her voice was as cute as ever.

“I’m home.”

“Good. How are you?”

“I’m good babe, can we meet tonight? I have something to tell you. I miss you sooo much.”

“Yeah, I have something to tell you too.”

“Great, I’ll pick you up, ok? 7 p.m.?”

“Hmm Vishnu, let’s meet at the usual place?”

“Ohh, okay then. See you babe.”

I then took a short nap because I was still a bit jetlagged.

6.30 p.m. I was set to go. I dressed up as gentlemanly as possible. I wanted to look good for our first meeting in 6 months. I used my favorite cologne that Anika said she loved so much. I made sure my hair looked perfectly combed. I put my right hand in my pants pocket and a smile came to my lips.

Our usual place was a coffee shop in a nearby city. We’re both crazy about coffee, so that’s where most of our dates were spent. I sat in a corner, our usual spot. We liked it there because it’s quite hidden and we could steal kisses sometimes. I smiled thinking of that. Oh Anika.

After waiting for like 10 minutes, I finally spotted her. Oh God, she’s breathtakingly beautiful! She was wearing a black dress, her hair was longer than the last time we met, “Hey..” I said, standing up.

She smiled, “Hi.”

“I wanna tell you something.” We both said in unison.

“You first.” We said at the same time again.

“Okay, I’ll say it first.” She said, still standing, “I don’t know how to say this, but, hmm, I have a new boyfriend.” She looked back, at a guy I didn’t notice was there, “This is Rohit. We’ll get engaged soon.”

I was too dumbfounded to say anything.

“I’m so sorry.” She said, not looking sorry at all.

“This is a joke, right?” I finally said something.

She shook her head, “Sorry Vishnu, I can’t do this any longer. I can’t stand long distance relationship. I hate being insecure all the time.”

“But you said it’s ok? You said it’s ok if you meet me just for 6 months a year?”

“I thought it’s okay, I was wrong. Sorry. I hope you’re happy.” She noticed a bouquet of red roses on the table, gave a sad smile, and then walked away with that guy.

I sat back to my chair, that was too much for my mind to process. I felt the left side of my chest hurt. It hurt, a lot. I took something out of my pants pocket, a ring, a ring that I wanted to put on her finger after she said yes. Damn it!