He stood outside watching the little girl before he entered the classroom. The beautiful little girl filled his heart with joy. He forgot all the hardships of his life when he held her, made her sit on his lap and listened to her little talks. The talks made no sense at all but the way she talked warmed his heart. He had joined this school as a teacher for a reason – to get close to this little girl.
As he entered the classroom, all the kids stopped doing what they were doing and looked at him. He was their favourite. He told them stories that made them laugh. All the kids went home to their parents and talked about him. The parents made sure to visit the school and see him personally; they wanted to meet the teacher who was such a big influence on their little kids. They all loved him. All parents except the parents of the little girl had met him personally. The little girl’s mother had come to visit but he had avoided meeting her. The little girl was special and he did not want anything or anyone to ruin the connection he had with the little girl.
A couple of times the headmistress had visited his classroom while he was teaching to see how he interacted with the kids. He behaved normally in her presence. Doing what he did every day. He told stories, he played with the kids, he shook hands and he role-played with them. The little girl was the princess and he was the king; therefore, when he made her sit on his lap and kissed her cheek it seemed pretty normal.
~ ~
She had heard about this teacher in her daughter’s school who was the favourite of all the kids of her daughter’s class and was also liked by all the parents. She knew all the parents thought about the safety of their kids and had met him face to face to make sure he was not a pervert. She wanted to meet him, too. When her daughter praised him every day after returning home from school, she could not help but feel a little scared of the closeness of her daughter with the man. Her daughter was desperate for a father figure in her life and now, to see that her daughter was getting close to some man really worried her. She wanted to meet the man in person and talk to him, request him to stay away from her daughter. True that he did not have ill intentions; that’s what all the parents and the headmistress had already confirmed, but still his closeness to her daughter worried her. She had taken time from her day job especially to meet with this teacher; but she was told that he had just left school for some personal matter.
She tried a couple times more and missed him each time. This time however, she made sure she met with him. She checked her daughter’s schedule, called the school to find out whether he was in school and took time off from her job. She drove to the school praying all the time that she get to meet this teacher.
She parked the car in the parking lot of the school and took a deep breath before stepping out of her car. She walked hurriedly towards the school as if she would miss meeting the man if she was a minute late. Agreed, it was a coincidence that each time she reached the school only to find out that he had just left minutes ago; but a little voice in her head made her doubt that maybe it was not a coincidence after all.
This time it was out of question for him to not be available because he was in his class, teaching the kids, or telling them stories – like how her daughter had said.
She reached the classroom, took a deep breath and peeked through the glass in the door of the classroom and saw him. Her little girl was sitting on his lap, he had wrapped his arms around her and was whispering something in her ear. She was about to push open the door and storm inside, that’s when he looked up towards the other children and she saw his face. She froze.
~ ~
She lived a monotonous life, until she met him. He was the owner of one of the bungalows her parents worked at, as caretakers when he and his parents were away and as maid and cook when they visited each summer. The first time she had seen him was when she went to talk to her mother. He was sitting at the swimming pool, wearing shorts. His tanned muscular skin glowing in the sun. He wore sunglasses so she did not know whether he had seen her or not. But she could not take her eyes off of him. It was only after her mother cleared her throat that she looked away.
A couple of days later she saw him again. This time at the beach. He was sun-bathing. She tried her best to hide from him, rather hide her skinny body from him. Unlike her friends, she was uncomfortable being seen in the two-piece bikini she was wearing. Her body, unlike her friends’, was not filled adequately at places where it should have been; one of the reasons she did not like wearing two-piece bikini. One of the reasons, she did not like wearing bikinis. Period. It was why she did not like staying at this place and had preferred staying with her aunt for her studies and she was here visiting her parents for the summer.
Her fair skin was proof enough that she was non-believer of tanning. Not that she did not want to get tanned, she just did not want to get tanned in the presence of so many people. People who would laugh at her flat chest and butt. She was not going to give them the pleasure. Unfortunately, she had chosen this day to finally give in to the constant pestering of her friends and come to the beach wearing this stupid two-piece.
She was deep in thoughts when she heard a voice behind her that made her jump out of her skin.
‘Hi’ he said again when he had her attention. She’d lost her voice. She tried her best not to look at his bare chest and made sure to keep looking into his eyes. It was not difficult, those deep blue eyes were mesmerizing. He stared back at her, looking deep into her eyes. Suddenly she was not conscious about her body because he was not looking at it. He was looking at her.
‘I have seen you before. You’d come home a couple of days ago.’ He said and then he asked for an introduction. That was the beginning of something wonderful. They met almost every day after that day. They ate lunch together. He invited her home for breakfast one day. She was not sure whether she should visit. She confirmed the same with her mother who said there was no harm in visiting for breakfast if she made sure she did not get too involved.
‘He’ll be going back home after the summer’ her mother warned her. As if she did not know it herself. The thought had been bothering her for a while.
She visited his house for breakfast, met with his parents who welcomed her. They were not snobby rich people like her friends had said they were. His parents were different. They made her feel comfortable, they talked to her – asked her about her plans for future.
After breakfast, when they walked out of the house together, they held hands. It felt good. They went to the beach, they continued walking hand in hand, finding their way through the tourists enjoying themselves. She was about to thank him for breakfast when he suddenly turned towards her and kissed her on the lips. His warm and moist lips felt good against her dry lips. She responded to his kiss and within no time they were kissing passionately; oblivious to the people around them. When they stopped kissing she could feel her heart in her throat. She stared at his deep blue eyes, unable to look away.
~ ~
The same blue eyes were now staring back at her. He had seen her watching him. He stood up and walked towards the door and opened it. She could not breathe. Another teacher came and stood at the door, waiting for him to step out. He excused himself and walked back to the classroom to collect his bag, the other teacher walked in as he stepped out. She could not move, she stood frozen. He put his bag over his shoulder and cleared his throat. She looked at him, too shocked to speak. The deep blue eyes inviting her to drown in them.
‘Mommy’ her daughter’s voice made her look away. Her daughter had seen her standing outside the classroom. The teacher was trying to get the kids to sit quietly so that she could begin the class. Her daughter waved to her and she waved back. The deep blue eyes of her daughter continued looking at her as the teacher began to close the door.
‘Let’s walk’ he said and she followed him as if in trance. They walked towards the playground and sat on one of the benches. There was years of silence to be filled but neither of them could speak a word.
~ ~
They met whenever they got the chance; they kissed each time they met and one day she told him she loved him and he told her he loved her too. They decided to take the relationship further and they found their own secret place where they would meet and make love.
‘He’ll be going back home after the summer.” Her mother’s voice echoed in her ears as they lay in each other’s arms after passionate love-making.
The summer was over and they both were meant to leave the place to go where they had come from. They promised to keep in touch. They did. They wrote letters. Met whenever they could. She stayed over at his bachelor-pad whenever she was in his city and he stayed over at her apartment whenever he visited her.
One night, he said he had something important to tell her and she said the same. He told her he was going away for further studies and she told him she was happy for him. When he asked what she wanted to tell him, she lied. That night she said she did not want to make love; she just wanted him to hold her close to him, wrap his arms around her and hold her. She told him she wanted to feel his heart over hers, she told him she wanted to be enveloped in his warmth. What she did not tell him was that they had already made something wonderful together.
Before he went away he promised her he would write to her whenever he got the chance. He did. He wrote letters. She read and replied. Her pregnancy showed. She went back to her parents. She left a forwarding address. The letters did not come, or so she thought. Her mother intercepted the letters. Made her promise that she would forget the boy. Made her promise that she would marry someone who would take care of her. She promised. She married the man her mother chose for her.
~ ~
He looked at her, she looked beautiful. Just the way she always looked. He looked at her left hand. He could see the mark of a wedding band but there was no ring. She saw him observing her. She looked at his left hand, no sign of a ring.
‘You did not write back.’ He said. She did not reply. She had suddenly realized that he had continued writing to her.
‘You did not tell me you were pregnant.’ He said
A single tear dropped from her eye.
‘I know she is my daughter.’ He said and she nodded.
‘I came here for her.’ He continued. She panicked. Was he going to take her daughter away from her?
‘I just wanted to spend time with her.’ He said as he felt her panic.
He was here for his daughter, she thought. Not for her, she reminded herself. Her sadness was short-lived because the next moment she felt his hand over hers and a moment later his lips covered her mouth.
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