Unspoken Truths

Oliver sat in silence as he ate his cheese sandwich. He recalled how Amelia once had tried to make a cheese sandwich for him when she came to know he loved it. She failed miserably and ended up burning the bread and her hand while grilling it. A huge tantrum followed after, and Oliver had to take her out for an ice cream treat. Ice creams made her normal, and calm. He smiled and wondered how she would be handling the pain she was going through now, she was so fragile...!

Dr. Ethan came into the cafe and saw Oliver sitting quietly in the corner. He ordered a cup of hot chocolate and walked towards him.

'Mind if I join?' he asked playfully.

'Oh, no doc. Feel free!' Oliver suddenly said, jerking awake from his daydreams. 'I was anyway getting bored alone here:

'Then I am happy I saved you' He laughed. 'I wanted to talk to you about something if you don't mind.' He said; his tone a bit serious now.

'Sure doc. What is it?' Oliver looked up and asked.

'Well, quite a personal thing to ask, but, I wanted to know why would you guys break up? I mean, she is a beautiful girl, and you too look handsome. You guys might have made a great couple. What went wrong?' Ethan asked, hesitating a bit. But he had to know, if he had to know his Sleeping Beauty better.

'No doubt she is beautiful, and no doubt we make a great couple. But that is what all think, doc. No one knows or understands how I feel. It's not that I don't love her, or don't want to be with her. But, we have been together since we were born. Our parents are old friends, and this friendship was sort of forced upon us. I don't regret knowing Amelia, but having someone all the time together with you like a shadow was too much for me' He paused, to see if Ethan was listening. He saw Ethan deeply involved in this conversation, so this was the time he could vent out the feelings he had been feeling for years now.

'We went to the same school, same college, and same hobby classes. Everything we did was together, and I feel I never lived a life of my own. My weekends were not mine; nor were the weekdays. I liked it in the beginning, but then I got bored. I tried to tell Amelia a couple of times, that we should try to broaden our ways a bit, try to give each other some space, some time alone or with others, so we can miss each other.

One time I told her this, she got so angry that she tried to cut her wrist. She didn't like it if I talked to anyone else other than her, and I ended up having no friends in my life. I know she isn't a wicked girl, and I know she loves me more than anything, but I never could love her with the same intensity

Ethan interrupted. 'You said she tried to cut her wrist, I hope nothing bad happened. And I can understand, we as guys get bored of something every day. But you could have simply told her, she would have understood

Oliver laughed at this, 'No, I did not let her do anything stupid. But after that, I feared that if I ever told her, she would do something stupid with her, which I did not want. So I kept on going further. It's not that I wanted to leave her, all I wanted was some time away from her. To be alone, be myself, make some friends out of this, and enjoy life. I never would have been in a romantic relationship with her, but our parents, the school and college mates, and almost everyone expected that to happen, so I had to propose to her' Oliver said sadly.

Ethan wondered how some love stories can be so different, yet so intimidating. He wanted to know more, understand more. But, could he help them? He did feel sorry for Oliver, knowing that he was sort of trapped in a relationship he didn't want. But, he also wanted to make sure; he really didn't want Amelia in his life anymore.

Sometimes life is not what we expect it to be, it plays with us. To check if we can stand against the obstacles, or if we fail and quit. Life can be so mean at times, yet a great teacher for all.

Ethan was still wondering when he heard Oliver talking further and his thought trail stopped.

'I was still happy in the beginning that I had my best friend as my lover, but later on, things started to turn sour between us. We both did a lot to make it work, she was the one who did the most, but I was just not ready for it. I wanted some time to be alone, to be myself. I started getting irritated easily and started ignoring her, but she always found a way to reach out to me. I thought someday she would get tired of my behavior and leave, but she never left my side. I adore her for that, but, my heart would pain for doing this with her.' Oliver continued sadly, it was feeling good in a different way, to be able to talk to someone after all these years, to let out his feelings in front of a stranger.

"A stranger who saved your Amelia", a tiny voice in his mind said.

Ethan felt sad for Oliver, but at the same time, he felt sad for Amelia as well. He was not sure how is she going to handle all this when he could understand that she loved this guy a lot.

'Doc, is there any possibility this can happen? I know I have done something unforgivable, but I want to see her smile soon. I can't see her like this anymore' Oliver almost cried in pain.