It's never been easy!! C5

    

Though James doesn’t wanted to go, he forced himself to because he somehow wanted to overcome her. Attending his girl’s wedding was the only way he had in front of him to send her off from his life. 

While getting dressed up, her memories started to haunt him. All he needed was an answer or at least a reason to get apart from him. As time goes, he lost his hope on getting an answer from her. Because he never had a chance of asking her after that evening.

“Where are you going?” Stella asked. “To a wedding!” James answered. “Who’s?” Stella asked. “Julie’s” James said. “WHO?” Stella asked again. “The same person, who you have in your mind” James said. “Are you out of your mind?” Stella asked out of anger. Stella was the only person to saw how James struggled without her. He nearly killed himself several times.

“It’s the only way I have to send her off from my life” James said. His eyes filled with tears but he controlled himself from shedding it. 

          She doesn’t even know what to say and how to say. She knew who Julie was to him and what she did to him. Stella jumped in front of him and hugged James, not to comfort him but to comfort herself.

          Stella decided to go with him as she always do. “If you are going, I’m also coming” Stella said in her very sweet voice. After some long breaths, James realized that there was no use of going alone because he needed someone to be with him when Harry takes Julie’s hand.

          James wore his black coat upon his neatly tucked t-shirt. “Ain’t you coming?” James shouted. Stella came downstairs wearing a beautiful white lace. He couldn’t believe that his little princess became a girl today.

As they nearing the wedding hall, James heart became heavy. His fight between the memories and reality got worsened.

When James and Stella entered the wedding hall, some familiar faces welcomed him. They were all his old school friends. James introduced his niece to everyone.

Every faces were unfamiliar to Stella. Among those unfamiliar faces, there was a face which was very well known to Stella. It was the face of a boy with whom she decided to spend her life with. She saw Arun. With a shock in her face, she turned to face James. James winked at her.

James distracted himself from Julie and Harry in beautiful view of the town by leaning on the balustrade. 

A girl tapped on the shoulder and handed a glass of champagne to James. The girl behaved like she knew him but he doesn’t know who she was. He tried to figure her out but he couldn’t find her, anywhere in his memories.

“Do I know you?” James asked. “Don't you remember me?” the girl asked. James shrugged. “You did saved me twice, didn’t you?” the girl said. “Did I?” James still doesn't know who she was. “That day at the cassette shop and a few days back at the crossroad” the girl said. “That short girl!” James finally figured her out. 

“Finally! I'm Sam” said the girl by giving a hand. He accepted her hand with a gentle shake and said his name, “James.”

On hearing his name, Sam suddenly released her hand from his gentle grip. Sam’s face changed from greeting to disguise. There was a weird silent from her after hearing his name. James felt bad but he doesn't know why.

Stella spring up into them. “What is happening here?” Stella said by putting her hand on James’s shoulder.

“She is my niece” said James. “I'm his princess” Stella corrected him. “She is like that, don't mind her” James said to Sam and introduced her to Stella.

“Do you know, he even saved my as Princess S in his mobile” said Stella. James gently hit her head and send her back to Arun.

There were many questions poured into Sam’s mind.

“If ‘Princess S’ was Stella, then who the Sara is and what she does here?”

“What if is this is all a misunderstanding?”

“What if James is innocent?”

“What if Julie is the one who doesn’t give a chance to prove him?”

There were so many questions Sam needed to find answers for.

“You loved Julie right?” Sam asked. James smiled at her. “What happened to you two?” Sam asked.

“I don’t know

Sometimes,

Things have to fall apart

To make way for better things!” James said.

Sam could feel the pain in his words. Sam felt bad for James, because at least Julie had a reason to fall apart from him though it was misunderstanding or something but James neither had a reason nor had a hate. He stood there as a little child who doesn't even know how to express nor to convey. Sam too doesn't even know how to console him. All she could was that to distract him from Julie.

“Stella is your niece, right!” Sam asked. “As she said, she is my cute little princess!” James corrected Sam. “Her parents?” Sam asked. “They passed away!” James said. “I’m sorry” Sam said. “Don't be!” James said. “What happened to them?” Sam asked. “It was a car accident in the December of 2015” James said. “It was the month you two got separated right” Sam asked. “It was a week before Julie” Stella again spring up into their conversation. “Julie is so cold hearted to leave him behind. After my parents, James became everything to me.” Stella said and she added, “You know how much he suffered to overcome her, unfortunately he still does.”

“Stella stop!” James stopped her and send her to back Arun. After saying a goodbye to James, Arun took Stella for a romantic dinner. Arun arranged it with James help.

“So, your little niece Stella is that Princess S” Sam said casually. “What do you mean by, that princess S?” James asked.

Both heard a sound of glass shuttered. The shuttered sound that got their attention, also got everyone’s. Everyone was looking at the three. It was the glass that slipped from Julie's hand. Julie stood there with an eyes full of tears and a face full of guilt. She looked like she heard everything.

Sam grabbed Julie's hand and took her away from him before she broke herself down. At last Julie realized that she made mistake but James was still stood there as a child who doesn't even knew what was happening around him.

Sam handed Julie to Harry and Sam went back to James. James was not there. After a quick search, she found him in the corner standing alone. “James” Sam said by tapping his shoulders.

James became a master of hiding things from his face. Though he cried, Sam couldn’t find a trace of it in his face.

“By the way, thank you!” Sam said. “For what?” James asked. “For saving me twice” Sam said. Sam felt something with James that she doesn’t feel with anyone else. She doesn’t even know why but her heart longed for him.

“Haven’t you seen Julie after that evening?” Sam asked.

James thought,

“After a years of gap, James got to know about Julie through his friends. James got excited to see Julie after these years. He got all prepared. With her friend’s help, he planned to meet her.

On a beautiful evening, he brought a bouquet of red roses for Julie from her favorite flower shop.

The falling sun sent him off and the guardian of the night guided him to her. Bouquet of red roses attracted the butterflies which were going to their homes. The scent of the roses and the love for her made him forget all his anger for her for leaving him without a word. His iris expanded in the excitement of seeing her. As he walked further towards her, his eyes were filled with tears. He took a minute to correct his dress before entering the cafe. 

The first thing he saw was her glittering face. As he moved closer, he saw a man kneeling before her with a ring. 

Instead of coming out, his tears flooded into his lungs and made him suffocate. It was a pain, he could feel all over his body. He took a two foot back and ran away from her, from the place. He ran to a place where no one could find him. An old bridge, from there he saw the drowning Sun.

They both were in the same situation. Their time was finished, now they were useless to anyone. He threw the bouquet of red roses into the river. As the bouquet drowned in the river, he walked down the road. He heard many voices inside him. Many of them told him to drown in the river like the bouquet. Some of them told him to live well. Among them, there was a voice which reminded him of Stella, the poor little child who lost her parents.

When Stella came into his mind, he saw her standing under the street light waiting for him. 

As soon as she saw him, she ran into him.”

“James, have you met her after that evening?” Sam asked. “I haven't” James replied with a forced smile on his face. 

After a formal hand shake with Harry and a smile for Julie, he left the place. 

“What are you doing, there?” Sam asked James by seeing him standing alone on the bridge. “Just!” James said by rotating the ring on his finger. The ring was the last piece of memory of Julie he had with him.

“I'm afraid of the dark” said Sam.

“Are you afraid of the dark or afraid of walking alone?” James asked. 

“Looks like you're reading my mind” Sam said with a laugh. 

James silently watched his ring. Sam took a few steps further and said, “Didn’t you heard, I'm afraid of the dark.”

He saw the writing on the sidewall of the bridge where he was leaning.

“Life is not where we started, it’s all about where we are going and who we are going with!” which made him smile. 

Sam stood in same place and waited for him. James threw the ring into the river and walked to her. Sam put her hand into his hand and walked with him. For very first time in her life, she felt secure. For the first time in her life, she wasn’t afraid dark.

“Aren’t you afraid anymore?” James asked. Sam lean in his shoulder and said, “Not like this, not anymore.”  

to be continued…

Previously on It's never been easy,

👉 Chapter 1 

👉 Chapter 2 

👉 Chapter 3 

👉 Chapter 4