I can’t believe it had been seven months of my miserable life. I am living a zombie life. I get up–eat–bath–go to office–come back home–eat–sleep–get up and repeat the routine again. I have never felt as hollowed as I do from past seven months. I have lost any interest in my life. Nikki took every color from my life when she left me. The thing which hurts more than her leaving me was, not knowing the reason behind that. She didn’t give me a chance so say or explain anything. I have tried to talk to Sammy and Nolan, hell I begged them to tell me where she was. I have cried like maniacs some nights when it was unbearable for me to stay without her. I have tried everything I can to find Nikki. Every time I think I am getting closer to find her, it comes out to be impossible to do so. I tried to end my life and be done with this hell, but then I would remember her smiling face ad stop myself. These past seven months had been the worst torture of my life.
“Where in the hell are you Nikki?” I mumbled to myself. I want to see her, hold her, and kiss her desperately. I am going nuts without her. My phone rang and broke my train of thoughts.
“Jake” Dad said from the other side. I know my parents are concerned for me, but I can’t help it. They wanted me to move on. I can’t move on from Nikki. She is the only one for me. No one can replace Nikki ever and I will never give up on her.
“Yes dad” I replied sounding calm.
“Look I want you to listen to me very patiently and not to act without thinking ok”
“Dad just tell me what it is. You don’t need to freak out” I was confused with his words.
“I think we saw Nikki”
“When? Where? Tell me dad I leaving my office. Tell me where you saw her” I found a ray of hope in my voice.
“I saw her at the airport a few weeks earlier, but I was not sure, but then today your mother saw her too on the sidewalk. But she can’t be sure as it was for a second and the girl just vanished from their”
“Dad will you please tell me where?” I was impatient to find her.
“In Paris”
“Paris?” damn that is why I was not able to find her.
“I am coming to Paris dad. I am going to find her” first time in seven months I was hopeful. I tried Sammy’s number, maybe I can convince her to give me Nikki’s address. No answer. Who else can help me? Nolan. Yes, so I went to Nolan’s apartment.
When I reached there I knocked on the door.
“Who is it?” he shouted from inside.
“It’s me Nolan, Jake”
“What do you want Jake?”
“Nolan man I only want to talk to you for a minute” I replied. He opened the door and let me in.
“Jake I don’t know where she is if that’s what you want to talk about” I know he is lying. I have to do something. I am not going out of here empty handed, I am going to get the information about Nikki by hook or by crook. I have already waited too long.
“Can I get a drink please” I wanted to find something in the apartment which can lead me to Nikki. He nodded and left the living room. I got up from my seat and started searching. I can’t believe my luck I found his phone sitting on the side table. I sent silent prayers to god and adding up to my luck the phone was unlocked. I rummaged through the contact list and there was Nikki’s number. Finally, relief washed over me. I could breathe after the seven months of hell. I was closing the contact lists when by mistake I opened the gallery in Nolan’s phone. I was shocked to see a picture of Michelle and me kissing with a caption “Golden Ticket”. What the hell was all this? What was this picture doing on Nolan’s phone? I wanted to check further when Nolan came running towards me and snatched his phone.
“What the fuck are you doing here looking in my phone” his face was getting red. I clutched his throat with enough pressure not to choke him.
“You have got flat two minutes to tell me what is that picture of Michelle and me doing in your phone and what does golden ticket mean” I saw straight in his eyes so that he knew not answering me could be a big mistake for him.
“It’s nothing” he tried to say. I increased the pressure.
“Nolan I don’t have any patience left for these games. So if you want to live you’ll start talking right fucking now” I threatened him.
“It was Michelle’s idea” he confessed.
“What? How did Michelle come in all this” I was feeling the anger build up in me. I didn’t feel good about wherever this was going.
“Michelle wanted you and Nikki to break up so she can be the one getting you. She knew you were in love with Nikki. She thought if you two broke up you will be heartbroken and then she can be there for you. She thought you were going fall in love with her after your breakup. She set this all up” shit it was a setup.
“What did you tell Nikki” I kept my one hand on his neck and with other I clutched his hair.
“I showed her the pictures. She didn’t trust me at first and then Michelle asked me to send Nikki to the jewelry shop where you were buying a ring. She saw you putting that ring on Michelle’s hand and …”
“And she thought I was asking Michelle to marry me” no this can’t happen. I remember that day. I wanted to ask Nikki to marry me. I wanted to give her the family she always wanted. On Christmas, I planned everything. After coming back from Hong Kong, I went straight to get a ring from the airport. Michelle said she can help me out with the ring. When I picked the ring she was squealing like I was going to ask her. When I raised my eyebrow she said she was acting like Nikki would do when she sees the ring. I smiled at her for that. She offered her hand and said she has the same size fingers as Nikki and I should try the fitting before selecting the ring. I was not thinking at all so I just slipped the ring on her finger. She hugged me and said thank you. I was a bit confused, but I let it go. I was so stupid I should have known she was up to something.
“How did you know Michelle and why would you do that?” I can feel my throat choking up. I wanted to break down but now was not the time.
“She called me and convinced me that I can get Nikki back if you were out of her life. So I helped her but…”
“But Nikki moved to Paris” I completed that for him. Suddenly I was feeling so tired. I left his throat and let him go.
“I want to rip you throat off right now Nolan for making me and Nikki suffer for all this, but you know what I pity you. You got what you deserved which was nothing. When Nikki will find out what you did she is going to hate you Nolan and her hatred will be the best punishment for you” with that I left his apartment. It was time for getting my Nikki back.
MY HAPPY ENDING
I called the detective who was working on finding Nikki for me.
“Hello Thomas”
“Hello Mr. Collins. How can I help you?” he asked.
“I need you to trace a number for me”
“But what about the case I am working on?”
“I found her. She is in Paris. Trace this number and give me the address before I reach Paris” I hung up the phone and boarded the flight to Paris. It was five pm when I landed in Paris. I got a text from Thomas with Nikki’s current address. I went for a cab and told him the address. When I reached there I saw a car coming to a halt in front of the apartment so I stayed in the cab. A guy came out of the driver’s seat and went to open the passenger seat. A girl came out of the car with her hair covering her face. She was pregnant. Looking at her reminded me of Nikki, how she’ll look if she’ll get pregnant with our baby. It made me smile; I cannot wait to see her. And then it happened with a hand the girl removed the hairs from her face, all of a sudden I can’t breathe, a heavy weight was crushing my chest. The girl standing with that guy was Nikki and she was pregnant. My world shattered to pieces. It was too late. I was too late to get to Nikki and tell her what had happened. I have waited too long and now Nikki was with someone else. She was having a baby with this guy. The dream which I saw was getting true for someone else. I fe
lt a tear slide down my eye. All the hope I felt in those seven months of separation was dying now and with that my heart was dying too. I wanted to ask the cab driver to move but my words were frozen. I couldn’t make myself speak.
The guy kissed Nikki on the cheek and left. Wait he left? He was supposed to take care of her. She was carrying his baby; he had to be there for her. Jake looked at Nikki once again waving the guy and his eyes fell to her swollen belly. It looked like she was six or seven months pregnant, but how was that possible. To be this pregnant she should have conceived the baby after Christmas and she moved to Paris in February. How can this be possible until…. Then it hit Jake, this was his baby. The sickness during Christmas Eve was not the flu. She was pregnant with his baby. Jake’s heart started beating faster. He felt so light like he can fly. Tears started flowing from his eyes aging but this time they were not because of pain. They were the happy tears; he was going to be a father. The dream of getting Nikki knocked up was coming true. Jake shuddered with excitement. He saw Nikki going to the apartment. He wanted to run after her but then thought against it. He didn’t want to catch Nikki off guard. So he let her go inside the apartment and came out of the cab. He paid the fare and went to the apartment door. He rang the bell. Suddenly he was feeling a little nervous. What if Nikki will not accept him or the mess Michelle had created was too much for her? No he can’t have negative thoughts now. The door opened and Nikki stood there frozen like she had seen a ghost. She started backing away from Jake. It put her off balance and suddenly she was falling. Reflexes kicked in time for Jake and he caught Nikki.
“Oh my god Nikki are you ok? You could have hurt yourself” I was shaking with the fear of losing Nikki or the baby. She started crying and mumbling something.
“It’s not true. You are not here” I made it out after some times. She was confused.
“Shhh” I took her in my arms and sat on the floor with Nikki on my lap, “I am here baby. I am sorry. I am so sorry. Calm down please. I’ll make everything better I promise” I was rocking her and trying to comfort her with my words. She cried for a few more minutes than without moving her head from my chest she asked me.
“Why are you here now?” I can feel the hurt in her voice.
“Nikki I am here because I love you” I answered.
“No. You don’t love me, you love Michelle. I know you were cheating on me with her” then the new pool of tears started. Looking her like this broke my heart.
“No Nikki I can never cheat on you. The picture Nolan showed you were from the past. It was two years before I met you. That was a setup Michelle and Nolan did to break us up” I explained everything to her. What Michelle and Nolan did? How I got her number and traced her address.
“So all these months we were apart for nothing; I can’t believe Nolan could do this to me. Oh god Jake I am so sorry I should have trusted you. I shouldn’t have done what I did” and she started sobbing again. I hugged her tightly to myself.
“No it wasn’t your fault. It was Michelle who planned all this. I am really sorry Nikki I should have listened to you and take your issue with Michelle more seriously. It would have saved us both the pain and distance. I am sorry” we stayed there for half an hour without speaking. I wanted to make up for all the lost time when I was not holding her in my arms.
“When did you find out?” we were still sitting on the floor. I wanted to be a part of her and my baby’s life. I have already missed on most of her pregnancy. I didn’t want to miss it anymore. I wanted every detail.
“The day you went to Hong Kong. I went to see a doctor and was surprised to find out that I was pregnant”
“Why didn’t you tell me at that time Nikki?” I was feeling a little angry now. We could have prevented all this only if she would have told me about the baby.
“I was afraid. Remember that day in the bathroom when we forgot to use a condom and you thought I could be pregnant. You were freaked out at the thought of a child and you said you don’t want children. I thought you’ll go crazy if you found out on the phone so I was waiting for you to come back” how very stupid of me.
“I am sorry baby” I kissed her on forehead and said, “I want to confess something”.
“Hmmmm” she replied.
“You know when you were upset about me and Michelle I thought I will impregnate you so that you’ll never leave me” she chuckled.
“Really” I nodded.
“We wasted seven months over nothing. I promise I am not going to make that mistake again. I love you so much Jake. I can’t live without you. These seven months were the worst time of my life. I was not living without you”
“Me too Nikki” and I kissed her with all the love I had for her. She moaned. I missed that sound a lot. Then my hand went to her waist but I landed on her belly. I broke the kiss and smiled ear to ear.
“This is our baby” she smiled too.
“Yes Jake that’s our baby” I put my hands on her belly and rubbed her belly slowly. It warmed my heart to the core.
“Hello baby this is your daddy. I love you so much baby and I am going to take a very good care of you and your mom” I bent down and kissed Nikki’s belly. I couldn’t stop myself from doing that.