Chapter 18

25th December 2019

Cathy's POV:

He seemed to have planned everything perfectly. Probably the previous night he wholly spent thinking about all the safety measures he could take to still keep things hidden from me.

He was carrying me to the front door so that I wouldn't memorize the number of lefts and rights I take even though I am blindfolded. That too he didn't walk properly. He purposely walked unsteadily like a drunkard so that I couldn't make a single guess about how he exited the house. This was stupid!

As he climbed down a couple of stairs I felt the warm sunlight shine over my bare skin and the cool breeze that whipped past us. So we are finally out of the house. He then trudged along the path occasionally throwing me up and holding me against his chest firmly as I gradually slipped down his arms as he continued walking.

After what seemed like five minutes or so I felt the wild bushes and branches brush against us, some even leaving small scratches on our skin.  I heard dry leaves crushing as he stomped them under his shoes while he struggled to get me past the overgrown plants. Maybe it's that dense area that I always see from my window.

He then walked into a clear space as we were now free of all the branches and thorns scraping against our skin. He gently laid me down on the muddy ground. Are we finally near the lake now?

I was very curious to take off the blindfold and see who was standing in front of me. I was about to untie my blindfold when he suddenly grasped my hands, "Don't! Wait for a minute"

I then heard him unzipping something followed by some shuffling sounds. Now, what is he up to? I felt him grab my hands behind me as he tied them together with a rope. Oh gosh!

He then slowly undid the blindfold and took it off. I squinted my eyes against the blinding sunlight and turned towards his direction. As the darkness that scattered my vision slowly drained off allowing me to see the person in front of me, I froze at what I saw.

He was wearing a big bushy dramatic red wig that was even larger than his head. Then a joker mask was pulled over his face with tiny slits for him to see, too tiny that I couldn't see his eyes at all. He was probably wearing five or six t-shirts inside the two-three jackets with a loose pair of track pants below so that his physique wouldn't give away his identity.

His hands were covered in rubber gloves with sports shoes on his feet and a shoulder bag with so many things stuffed inside was lying at his foot. What the actual fuck?

"What is this?", I asked scanning him from head to toe, "Why have you come like this?"

"Because I wanted you to be free without your blindfold since so badly you wanted to admire the lake", he said.

"Does it mean that you have to come like this? Not even an inch of your skin is visible!", I said shocked by his disguise.

"I have to. I don't want you to know my identity yet", he said.

Seriously dude? I didn't have anything to say I just shrugged and turned to look at the lavender lake. I moved forward gazing at it from one end to the other. It was big, very big indeed. I wondered why it was named lavender. The greenish-blue water looked so pure unlike the other water bodies in Coimbatore...Coimbatore?

He moved forward and sat down on the mud at the edge of the lake gesturing me to do the same. I sat beside him as his hands pulled me closer to him and held me tightly with one of his arms wrapped around my body.

"Are we still in Coimbatore?", I asked him as he silently nodded.

"Where in Coimbatore? Because I have never seen a beautiful and pure water body like this anywhere in Coimbatore before", I asked when he suddenly looked down at me.

"You don't have any business in knowing that", he said. Flop! Okay, let's go for the next. I dipped my feet inside the lake and played with the water. It felt freezing cold against my skin and tickled my soles softly.

"Why is it called lavender lake?", I asked with my eyes still on my dipped feet that refracted from the transparent water.

"It is not actually called Lavender lake! My mom named it after her favorite color", he said rubbing my arm up and down.

"Oh wow! Lavender is my favorite color too", I said.

"I know it, Lisa, you are so much like her in many ways", he muttered gazing at the sky. "She will be happy that I am going to share the rest of my life with an amazing woman who is so much like her"

"Where is she now?", I asked as I turned to glance at him.

"She is in my head, guiding me what to do and what not to", he said. "Her voice is what keeps me going. Do you know something? Even the first day when I saw you at your fresher's day party I was busy doing something else. It was she who asked me to drop everything I was doing and look to my left. That's when I laid my eyes on you for the first time"

Damn you, lady! "Did you see me at my college? Why were you there?", I asked as his body tensed.

"Are you trying to dig information from me?", he snarled making me curse under my breath. Take it slow Cathy, take it slow! Don't let him start doubting you.

"Oh no! I was simply asking out of curiosity", I faked a chuckle though he didn't laugh along with me. Shit! Do something to change his mind, quick!

"How about you tell me more about your mother? Since she is more like me, or I am more like her", I asked pulling my legs up to my chest and swaying from side to side. He softened at the mention of his mother again.

"She was an angel Lisa, just like you. She was the best mom anyone could ever have. My childhood was the best period of my life before you happened of course. It was like a beautiful dream until things started changing suddenly", he said as his voice almost broke towards the end.

As I guessed he does have a dark past. He was close to crying now, using the opportunity I tried to dig further, "Why? What happened?", I tried my best to sound concerned.

"My dad started having affairs with so many women. It was a Monday afternoon when mom and I returned from our grandmother's house during summer vacation, we returned earlier than we said. That was the first time when my mom caught my dad with another woman, aunt Lily on our living room couch.

After that things changed drastically. My mom and dad started fighting often. He came home drunk and bet us both black and blue until we bled. Then he started...", his voice wavered as he swallowed hard.

"Started?", I asked moving even closer to him. He didn't answer instead he shook his head, "Nothing! I don't want to talk about it", he said sniffling. Is he crying already?

"I am very sorry", I said leaning over his chest.

Suddenly for some unknown reason, his body stiffened. I ignored it and wondered how to make further use of this outing. Looking around here was useless since all I could see here are greeneries, the lake, and the sky. So what should I ask him next?

As I was immersed in my own world, a male voice suddenly caught my attention, it was not Victor. My head quickly spun around to see who it was as Victor was already staring behind us, his body shuddering in fury. My eyes landed on the guy who stood behind us glancing between both of us. Finally a third person in this woods with us!

HAPPY READING!