Unhappily Ever After

‘Dedicated to my parents, the two people who have loved me unconditionally'

Index

· Prologue

· Chapter 1-Girl meets boy

· Chapter 2-It’s time to say good bye

· Chapter 3-Mumbai calling

· Chapter 4-A new love

· Chapter 5-A whole new world

· Chapter 6-The road downhill

· Chapter 7-A reason to live

· Chapter 8 -One day in a million

· Chapter 9-Nothing lasts forever

· Chapter 10- A final goodbye

· Chapter 11- Until the very end

· Epilogue

Prologue

This is a story just like many that you’ve read before about a young girl and her life but unlike most of them this story isn’t about a happy ending or about two lovers riding out into the sunset but about the stone cold reality of life. It isn’t just a story about two people but many love stories in the lives of one person.

Chapter 1-Girl meets boy

Isabella was an only child, with amazingly loving and overprotective parents who tried to give her the best they could and who tried to shelter from all the pain in the world. They did their best but they couldn’t shelter her from ridicule, humiliation, jealousy, heart break and so much more because in their eyes she was a star, their beautiful Isabella Kimberly Davis. She was hard working and studious, not brilliant but just enough to ensure that daily practice would secure her a place in the top three rankers in her class. At the age of thirteen she was a confident, intelligent young teenager whose only desire in life was to have a boyfriend.

She’d spend days envying the other girls who flaunted the gifts they got on valentine’s day and fantasizing about the hot prefects in high school, but she knew no one would ever want her. What was wrong with Isabella? Well nothing really, she was the type of girl who everyone loved to talk to, who was always making people laugh, the girl who was considered to be the very epitome of decency, and a girl who every guy would love to have as his best buddy but not his girlfriend simply because she was overweight. She thought she would always be alone, that is until the day she met Samir.He was not the most amazing guy she’d ever met,frankly she had hardly even noticed him until he walked up to her one day and told her that he liked her. ‘Like me’ she said looking at him with disbelief, ‘Is this some stupid joke? Someone has probably dared you to come tell me this right?’With that she stormed off. After a sleepless night of tossing and turning, she met up with him in the school quadrangle the next day and softly asked him ‘you really like me, why?’Samir looked at her, a look she never forgot for decades and simply said “I just like you”. That was it, therein followed a whirlwind innocent young romance. They were as alike as fire and ice but they were inseparable. They enjoyed simple pleasures of sitting together at the back of the class, stealing secret glances at each other when no one was looking.Samir always felt he was never good enough for Isabella and so they kept their romance a secret, not even their closest friends knew and anyway no one would ever believe that the Oh! so studious miss goody two shoes was in love and most importantly that there actually was a boy who had the courage to fall in love with her and actually confess his love for her without fear of bodily harm.

Isabella’s parents were very particular about boys calling up at home and she wasn’t even allowed to go out for coed parties till she was fifteen so she and Samir spent the next two years falling more deeply in love with each other from a distance in school. However just like all star crossed lovers fate was cruel enough to separate them when they reached grade ten and that was when they started to lose each other. Samir envied the other boys making out in hallways and at parties and he hated the fact that he couldn’t be more intimate with Isabella, but she had made her stand very clear. She was focused on her studies and on eventually becoming the Student body President.

By the time they were sixteen they had drifted apart,Samir got busy with his friends getting in trouble in school and Isabella got busy preparing herself for exams and school activities. They would run into each other in the canteen or brush by each other in the library and smile but Isabella believed she had lost him, after all who would have waited for a girl like her. A year later Isabella achieved her greatest dream when she was elected school student body president and after the investiture ceremony all she wanted was to see Samir.He was overjoyed for her and strangely even though they hadn’t spoken in almost two years she looked at him and simply said ‘call me’. That is just what he did after being given strict instructions as to the time and the code word to be used in case her parents answered the phone. It was all back again as though they hadn’t missed a beat, Samir had stayed away from Isabella not wanting to tarnish her perfect character record in front of school officials but now he didn’t have to do that.

Chapter 2-It’s time to say goodbye

Their final year at school was the best year of Samir and Isabella’s life. Everything was perfect, he would wait each morning to see her walk by his class room and she would find excuses to walk into his class. They would exchange little love notes each time they passed each other in the hallways or in the school auditorium and finally Samir plucked up the courage to take Isabella’s hand in his. She would never forget that moment, the warmth of his skin against hers the triumphant smile on his face and the love in his eyes. Samir wanted the whole world to know that Isabella was his and he looked on suspiciously as he watched Isabella move around with other guys in class and for school events. She was totally oblivious to all of this for she was on cloud nine with everything perfect in her life. As they reached the end of the school year reality hit them, Samir was going to Kerala for further studies and Isabella’s family had planned on returning to Mumbai. Samir borrowed money from his uncle one day and bought a silver ring and a silver chain with a silver heart shaped pendant. He had planned to kiss Isabella when giving her the gift but like most comical and regrettable events in life the timing just wasn’t right. Their first kiss was an event they would never forget, not because of its perfection but because of the utter disaster it was, Isabella wasn’t ready and was scared and Samir was just like every boy his age, overly eager and had too many expectations from the moment. Strangely enough even after the disaster they were happy, happy that they had tried and happy that they had created a memory. Isabella wanted to give Samir some token of her love, something to remember her by because she was sure he would forget her once they had both gone their own ways, but buying something was almost impossible so she made him a bracelet and gave him her photograph and they promised to write to each other every week.

So ended Samir and Isabella’s simple love story, at least that’s what they thought.

Chapter 3-Mumbai calling

Mumbai was a whole new world to Isabella, a girl who had never left the comforts of her house alone started to explore this strange new city. She threw herself into every activity she could in college and in church trying make new friends ,travelling by bus, auto rickshaw and train to unknown destinations, tasting new exotic food and meeting new people. She hadn’t forgotten Samir, they would still write letters and he spoke of marriage. Now Isabella had matured into a sensible young woman and she was aware that her parents would never permit her to marry a man of another religion so she would conveniently avoid discussing marriage with Samir in their letters and just as suddenly as their relationship had started it stopped abruptly. Months went by without any letters from Samir and Isabella pined for him trying to imagine what could have happened to him and then the truth hit her, he had met someone else. She was devastated not just because she had lost Samir but because she was back to being the same girl in school who didn’t have a boyfriend, who would never be asked to dance at a party because she wasn’t hot enough. That was when Isabella met Sean. He was intelligent, opinionated, funny, generous, carefree…..everything Isabella could ever have imagined finding in a man and they became best friends. They would volunteer for church activities together, spend hours talking on the phone, they challenged each other on an intellectual and a spiritual level, they completed each other’s sentences, they were……inseparable.

Chapter 4- A new love

Isabella was happy, she had graduated from university, she was planning to get a teaching degree, she had great friends and someone who she hoped would become something much more, but as always life never turns out the way we planned. Sean introduced Isabella to Adrian one day; little did he know that he had set in motion a whole series of events that would change the course of their lives. Adrian and Isabella became close and very soon Isabella realized that Sean wanted nothing more than friendship from Isabella but Adrian was open to a relationship. Isabella being the dominating woman that she was rang Adrian one evening and confessed her love for him and he admitted that he shared her feelings albeit reluctantly and after much trepidation (something she realized in hindsight). Isabella was happy once again, Adrian wasn’t exactly romantic and neither did he shower her with gifts or take her out to expensive places but he was hers, someone who she could talk to and someone who loved her in spite of the way she looked. Yes, Isabella was still the butt of jokes in college and even among friends when it came to her weight and so she realized that it was something she had to live with. No one would ever see beyond her looks and appreciate her intelligence her kindness and her great heart, except Adrian….at least that was what she thought. Sean was shocked to see Adrian and Isabella together but he never said anything to either of them, afraid to lose one or both of his closest friends and so he watched their relationship soar high and just like a firework display fizzle out after burning brightly. Isabella never knew how it happened but it did. She and Adrian stopped speaking and meeting, he needed space and she became clingy. So just like she had started the relationship she courageously told him that she felt it was time they went their own separate ways and he agreed. Sean wasn’t too surprised and so he was there to comfort Isabella and life went on.

She still hoped Sean would change his mind but Isabella was content with their friendship until the day she found out that Sean had been secretly in love with his cousin Shirley for over eight years. The news broke Isabella, she couldn’t believe that her best friend, the one person who she thought she knew as well as she knew herself had let her down and hidden the greatest truth about his life from her. He had always told Isabella that he wasn’t looking for a relationship and so she never had reason to doubt him. Sean tried to explain matters to Isabella but she was too broken hearted to listen, she had always hoped that he would fall in love with her one day; that he would look across at her over a cup of coffee and see that his best friend was the love of his life but theirs wasn’t a love story written in the stars. Isabella would never forgive Sean and she told him that she never wanted to see him or speak to him and after almost three years of waiting he finally said the one thing she always wanted to hear from him, ‘I love you Isabella’. But it was too late, Isabella always wondered if he really meant it or if he had just said those words out of pity but she was too proud to ever go back and find out. She went ahead with life throwing herself into her work; she had given up on love and had planned to look for work out of India. She had plenty of friends, she went out with plenty of guys who always considered her to be their closest confidante pouring out their hearts to her, sharing their dreams and fears with her and she would listen patiently, quietly and comfort them or advise them. She was the ultimate non romantic girlfriend. It was one such friend of hers, Eugene who started to take a great interest in Isabella and they would have a lot of fun going out and discussing many of Eugene’s complicated relationships. On one such outing Isabella met one of Eugene’s friends, Samuel Faria a man who seemed to view Isabella as though she was from another planet. A man who was very unlike all the other men Isabella had met before. There was something about him that moved her, that made her want to be with him and she would think of him months after they had met, so she decided to speak to him one fine day on the phone and was surprise to hear him invite her for a picnic that he was going on with a bunch of his friends. Isabella had never been impulsive but for some strange reason she trusted Samuel and so she accepted his invitation .They spent most of the picnic talking, all through the night, at the pool and Samuel learnt that Isabella had an amazing voice and loved to dance. The end of the picnic was difficult for the both of them and so they spent the evening talking on the phone after reaching home.

Chapter 5-A whole new world

Isabella left Mumbai for a holiday in Goa with her girlfriends, she needed to clear her mind and decide what her next course of action was, should she stay in India or should she look for a job somewhere else in the world? Goa was fun, girl talk and time on the beach did much for Isabella’s spirit until she got a phone call from Samuel .He wanted to speak to her and he kept telling her he was missing her and thinking of her. Not wanting to have her heart broken again Isabella told Samuel that she wasn’t ready to date anyone, her next relationship would be with the man she would marry and so Samuel confessed his love for Isabella over the phone. He asked her if she would spend the rest of her life with him and she said yes. Isabella was shocked at her own impulsive behavior but it was too late to take it back, Samuel was in Goa and he swept her off her feet literally. He professed his love for her mind her spirit her heart and yes even for her body. In his eyes she felt she was beautiful. She couldn’t believe that she had finally met a man who found her attractive, who didn’t expect her to change who made her believe that she was perfect. She was in heaven or at least the illusion of heaven. They spent the next four years of their lives getting to know each other intimately and Isabella realized slowly and surely that Samuel was not all she thought he was. He was hot tempered, impatient, secretive, jealous and a perpetual liar. Each time she felt that she had had enough of him he would be repentant and swear to change and Isabella would believe him, after all it was better to have someone however full of faults he was than to go through life alone and that was what Isabella said to herself each time she and Samuel fought. He was ready to do anything for her so he bought a house and then they decided to get married.

Chapter 6-The road downhill

They say your wedding day is supposed to be the most memorable day of your life but for Isabella it was the beginning of the end. Her illusions of a perfect marriage were broken each time Samuel came home and fought with her, each time he ridiculed her in front of her friends and every moment he made her doubt her abilities and talents. Isabella couldn’t believe that her own husband was jealous of her, of her popularity with their friends and family, of her musical talent and of her leadership skills. He hated her caring nature and made fun of her religious attitude, all the qualities which he had appeared to have admired during their courtship. Isabella would spend nights screaming into a pillow and crying herself to sleep and Samuel would ignore her for days after which he would feign amnesia and try to kiss and make up. The ever jubilant happy Isabella looked at her options of suicide and divorce and realized that either of them would only hurt the two people she loved more than life itself; her parents and so she convinced herself that she had to live in the hell she had made her home. She lived for each day, when Samuel was happy with her, life was good and he was a loving and caring husband and she believed that her life had purpose and on days when he was angry she had started to shout back at him in anger. Isabella woke up each day and looked at the cross lying next to her and fought back. She fought back her tears, her anger, her desire to run away and she survived believing that she would never be happy again until the day she saw Samir’s name pop up on her computer screen.

Chapter 7-A reason to live

Isabella couldn’t believe her eyes and she was too afraid to even hope it was her Samir so she sent him a casual mail asking him if had studied in her school and she waited with bated breath….for days, weeks and finally…….Samir replied. He was the same boy, her first true love who was now a married man. Coincidentally they had both gotten married in the same year almost a few weeks apart from each other. They started to chat every week and then every day. Sharing simple facts about each other’s lives, not revealing too many details. Samir apologized to Isabella one day, “I’m sorry for hurting you Isabella, you were the best thing that ever happened to me and I’m sorry I stopped writing I really regret it.” Isabella read those lines again and again and replied “Its ok I forgive you, you were the best part of my life too.” Samir was overjoyed and he dared to ask her one day “Are you happy with your husband?” Isabella had never told a single soul about what she was going through and so the dam of silence finally broke and she poured out her heart to Samir who sympathized as he too was trapped in a loveless marriage. He had married a girl whom he had met in college and just like Isabella the first few years of his marriage had passed uneventfully until he decided to move to the Middle East in search of job prospects that was when he started to have fights with his wife whom he had left in India. So Isabella and Samir would communicate everyday via email, video chats, text messages and even phone calls. Life began to look better and Samir planned on coming to Mumbai to meet Isabella but again fate intervened and his plans fell through because his wife decided to join him. Isabella was miserable, their communication had almost come to a halt and so she decided to cut herself off from him not wanting to create problems between Samir and his wife who had figured out that her husband was in love with another woman. Where was Samuel in all of this you may wonder? He was right there totally oblivious to his wife’s feelings and troubles, unconcerned with why she had changed and content with his occasional intimate encounters with his wife once a month. Isabella had her own personal demons to fight, she was trying to get pregnant and since Samuel wasn’t interested in getting tested she was the one making a round of the doctors and getting different opinions from each of them. Samir on the other hand had become a father of a beautiful baby girl Samantha and his first instinct on receiving the news was to call Isabella and tell her. She was overjoyed for him but slightly jealous, she would now have one more person with which to share him and his affection, but all she wanted was his happiness. Their relationship continued strangely as they would give each other missed calls to let the other person know they were being missed, send occasional emails or text messages and they were both content. They knew that they were not destined to be together physically.

Chapter 8-One day in a million

It had been twenty years since Isabella had met Samir face to face and now she was standing at the airport looking out for him, every person who walked out of the automatic doors looked like him and she was growing impatient. They had finally decide to meet, it had taken them a year of planning and coordinating schedules, doubting and questioning themselves and finally Samir decided he would spend a day in Mumbai on his way back to the Middle East after visiting his family in India. He had convinced his wife to stay a few extra days and so he could make the stopover in Mumbai. Isabella was now a mother, she and Samuel had adopted a beautiful baby boy Jeremiah, who was now two years old. Their lives revolved around him and so they had less time to fight, Isabella was the decision maker and the adult and Samuel played along when he felt like it. Isabella didn’t care about Samuel because Jeremiah was her reason for living now and after a great debate with her conscience she left him with her parents telling them she had to attend a conference and would not be available all day. She hated lying to them and she usually never did but she knew they wouldn’t understand no one would….they would talk to her about commitment, her marriage vows and adultery and she wasn’t interested in listening. After all she had thought about all of that a million times and had decided that what she had with Samir was beyond comprehension. So she was there amidst a crowd of people waiting to see the love of her life. Isabella would remember that day forever, the first glimpse she got of Samir as he came out into the sunlight his eyes searching for her, she took a few minutes to convince herself she was not dreaming and then walked up to him without a word and hugged him. They stood lost in each other’s embrace for what seemed like forever ignoring the looks and remarks of the crowds milling around them. They were together for the next twenty four hours ….. Finally.

They spent the day holding hands, afraid to let go of each other even for a second; talking laughing and just enjoying being physically close to each other. Samir checked into a hotel room and as they entered he took Isabella in his arms and kissed her with all the urgency and love that he had stored up in his heart ever since he first laid eyes on her and she surrendered to him, melting in his arms, kissing him back with the same passion and desire. They didn’t realize how the hours slipped away and when it was almost night and Isabella had to return home to Jeremiah, leaving Samir was like tearing a part of her soul away and they couldn’t bear to do it. Samir couldn’t bear to let her go, he wanted to keep her with him forever to take away her pain ,her tears to make her his wife…but they both knew that it would never be possible. They spent an hour sleeping in each other’s arms listening to each other’s heartbeat and enjoying the breath of each other. They would always speak of this day with great joy decades later as the day they celebrated their love even though there was no sexual relationship, their love was pure and clean and Samir as always respected Isabella and the vows she had taken. In their eyes they had committed no sin. Isabella left Samir reluctantly, both of them in tears and returned home. Little did she know that it would be the last time she would ever lay eyes on him.

Chapter 9- Nothing lasts forever

Samir left the next morning and life continued as usual. Isabella did her best to be a devoted mother and Samir was a devoted father. They still wrote to each other and spoke to each other at least once a year. Years went by and Isabella and Samir decided that it was time they met again. Their children had grown up, Samir’s wife spent most of her time shopping or socializing with friends and almost no time with Samir. Samuel had started a business and was immersed in it and so had little or no time for Isabella and Jeremiah who was every bit his mother’s son with her mannerism, her sparkling eyes and her ever present smile. Nobody would ever say that she hadn’t given birth to him. He would spend hours talking to his mother and would share his greatest secrets with her. He had always sensed the strain between his parents but had never said anything because they had given him the world. Jeremiah always knew when Isabella was upset and so he observed that his mother seemed different and somehow distant. She would try to hide her tears and her worried look with a smile but he knew something was wrong. Isabella had not heard from Samir, she had sent him mails, text messages and even tried calling but had received no reply. His account was deactivated and his phone was eventually disconnected .Isabella was terrified imagining the worst, that Samir’s wife had convinced him to cut off relations with her or that something had happened to him. Months went by and she was helpless, they had hidden their relationship from the world so there was no one to turn to. Isabella mourned the loss of her love and even more the uncertainty with which she had lost him. But she didn’t have long to focus on her troubles as she started to prepare for Jeremiah’s wedding. It was a bitter sweet experience as she walked her baby boy down the aisle and watched him dance happily with his beautiful bride. They were perfect and she prayed they would always be this happy. The night she returned from the wedding she found an email that took her breath away.

Chapter 10- A final goodbye

Isabella found herself at the airport once again but this time she was waiting for Samantha, Samir’s daughter. She had been shocked to receive a very polite email from the young girl requesting that they meet since she was coming to Mumbai on work. Isabella dared not ask any questions but she was filled with hope, had Samir wanted her to meet his daughter? Had he left his wife? Her mind had countless questions. She had no idea how she was going to recognize Samantha since she had only seen a few photgraphs of her but the instant Samantha walked upto her Isabella knew who she was. She had Samir’s eyes and his smile and Isabella’s eyes were filled with tears as she looked at her. They hugged as if they were old friends and then Isabella looked over Samantha’s shoulder and asked softly “Where is your dad?”. Samantha squeezed Isabella’s hand and hugged her again and whispered “I’m so very sorry to be the one to tell you that Appa died three months ago.” Isabella felt like someone had reached down and removed her heart from her chest, she couldn’t breathe and she crumbled to the floor. Samir was dead! The thought had crossed her mind but she never let herself believe it. Samantha helped Isabella up and they walked slowly to her car and held each other while they both cried for hours. Isabella brought Samantha home and finally asked her the question that was on her mind from the moment she had set eyes on her “How did you know about me?”. Samntha looked at Isabella and smiled,the slow deep beautiful smile Samir always gave her and said “You were the one true love my father always spoke about, the princess he described in all the fairy tales he told me, the kind of best friend he hoped I would have and the the amazing woman he always told me I must grow up to be.When I was young I thought Appa was making up stories but as I grew older I began to wonder if he was actually inspired by someone. I knew it definitely wasn’t Amma and so I once asked him who he was always referring to and he said that he would tell me someday.” Isabella looked at Samantha in amazement, the young girl wasn’t angry at her for having loved her father, in fact she seemed grateful. She was speechless for the first time in her life, overwhelmed by the courage and confidence of the young woman in front of her. Samir had died of a heart attack but he had been ill for over a year .He had sensed his end was near and so he sat down with Samantha one day and told her about his great love story with Isabella Davis. She had found it difficult to understand initially but as the days went by she realized how her father’s happiest moments had been spent with Isabella and how he had sacrificed his love for the sake of their family and his marriage to her mother, a woman who loved no one but herself and who had not shed a single tear even after her father’s death. She tried to convince her father to tell Isabella that he was sick and they had planned to make the trip to Mumbai together to tell her everything until Samantha walked into his room one morning and found him at his desk with a letter in his hand and Isabella‘s photo on the table. He had written her a letter and had died just after finishing it. It was as though he knew his time was over. Samantha spent many months grieving the loss of her father and when she was given his ashes to be taken to India so that they might be poured into the Ganges so that he would have eternal peace she knew that her father’s soul would only rest if Isabella was at peace and so she had decided to meet Isabella and give her the letter personally.

They spent the day together talking and sharing memories about Samir and Samantha realized that Isabella knew and understood her father so much better than anyone else ever had. She had seen a part of Samir that Samantha had never got the opportunity to see. After a fond farewell and a promise to keep in touch Samantha left Isabella. Isabella looked at the letter and held it close to her heart, it was the last thing Samir had ever touched and now she was going to read the last words he had ever written in his life.

Chapter 11- Until the very end

My darling Isabella,

I know this letter is going to make you very angry but please trust me when I say that I have always had your best interests at heart. You have been the one great joy in my life and even though I always dreamt of growing old with you and dying in your arms I am not angry with God because I believe he is sending me ahead to prepare a wonderful place for the two of us. I know that we will be together in the next life and so I look forward eagerly to those days my sweetheart.

I beg you to forgive me for not telling you about my illness, but I could not bring myself to increase your burdens and trouble your mind even more. The doctor says my heart is weak but I guess that is because I gave half of it away to you when I was a boy so many years ago. Samantha is my only pride and joy in this life and it would have been my dream for her to have met you, I wish she had you as a mother to advise her in her times of need. Unfortunately I will never get to share many of the milestones in her life but I will be looking in on her constantly as I will be on you my honey.

I will shine down on you every night and kiss your eyelids in the moonlight, I will wake you each morning with the gentle caress of the wind and I will cover your beautiful body in the coolness of the rain. I have loved you with all my heart and soul in this life and I will continue to do so in the next and many more lives to come. We will be united in love in heaven but until then my beautiful Isabella I want you to live strong, love greatly and forgive unquestionably because life truly is too short. You have so much to give the world so shine bright and beautiful my star.

I know my words will not lessen the pain but I believe that you will survive because of the strong and wonderful woman I have loved and always known you to be.

So goodbye my love, my heart, my life…….until me meet again.

Forever yours,

Samir

Epilogue

Isabella Kimberly Davis Faria lived till the age of 95. She had four grand children and twelve great grand children. She never forgot Samir and the forty year long-distance love affair they shared and finally brought herself to tell Jeremiah about their great love story after Samuel’s death some ten years after Samir had died. She was the pillar of strength when everyone else around her was falling apart, she could finally breathe …..She was finally free. She devoted her life to her students and her family and to Samir’s family, who had become part of hers since Samantha would visit Isabella every year and talk to her every week on the phone.

When her great grandchildren asked her what her dream was on her 95th birthday she smiled mischievously at them and said ‘My dream is waiting for me in heaven’. A few days before her death she told Jeremiah and his wife Patricia that her greatest mistake in life was letting go of the one true love of her life not once but twice and so she was now eager to rectify her mistake and spend eternity with him. However her greatest treasure was Jeremiah and even though she had told him the truth of about his birth he knew he could never have asked for a better mother even if he had been given an opportunity to choose.

Jeremiah always remembered his mother’s love story with his father and the one she had with Samir and so her tomb stone read:

“Isabella Kimberly Davis-Faria:

A strong woman, a dedicated teacher, an ever loving daughter, a dutiful wife, an amazing mother, a fabulous grandmother and great grandmother…..

She taught us to love just as she loved and just as she was loved.”