The Smiling Faces

He pushed the glass towards her as the waiter filled it with champagne.
She seems lost, he thought.
She looked up, only to find him staring at her. “To you,” he said and raised his glass. She picked up the glass and smiled.
A sad smile.

He expected to be called inside as he stood at her doorstep. They had been dating for over a month but that day had been special. She had been offered a partnership in the company and so they had gone out to celebrate. The dinner had been lavish and the ambience perfect. He stood. She kissed him on the cheek, never looking in his eyes, and bid him good night.
He stood.
“She doesn’t seem to be in the best of spirits,” he tried to expain to himself as he drove out fifteen minutes later.

She lay in the tub, the hot water easing her muscles. She stretched. She picked up her mobile kept beside the headrest.

Menu — Messages — Text Messages — Saved Messages

She stopped for a minute, staring at the number highlighted. She had never saved his number. She didn’t need to, she knew it by heart. The light of the mobile dimmed. She quickly pressed a button to light up the screen again.
It is such a beautiful number, so lovable,, she thought.
Her hands trembled as she opened the message.
“I can’t continue like this.”
She kept staring at it before moving to another message. After reading some twenty messages or so, she came to the last one. The words stared her in the face. “I Luv u.”
With an unnatural power, against all her will, her eyes filled and overflowed. She cried silently, never trying to stop the flow of those salted lakes.

The phone rang. She quitened it hurriedly, never wanting to listen to the loud music. The name Pedro kept flashing on the screen.
I’ll tell him I was away.
The phone went dead again. She kept it away. As she reached for the scrubber, it rang again. She silenced it again. Five minutes later it rang again. She was irritated, she picked up quickly.
“Hello,” she said. No answer came.
“Hello, Pedro?” she said. The phone went dead.
“I’ll call him as soon as I get out,” she murmured.

The phone dropped from her hand as she saw the received calls list. The number, the unsaved number, looked her eye to eye. She was petrified, too afraid to move. Only when the phone rang did she move slowly, and picked it up, to receive the call from the unsaved number, again.

Two days later.

He pushed the glass towards her, who was constantly looking at him with loving eyes. He smiled at her. She smiled too.

A happy smile.