Aruna and Rebecca Pt. 03

"So this is her, is she?" Nicky spat. "The one who stole you from me!"

"No, Nicky. I got to know her after we split up. She lives under me, she's the new tenant." Rebecca tried to explain. "I know you don't believe me, but I never cheated on you."

I thought about our first kiss, but kept my mouth shut.

"Didn't take you long to get over me then, eh?" Nicky said. "You're right, I don't believe you, but I forgive you for the cheating. After all there a lot of fish in the sea, some even prettier than me. But her? Why?"

Rebecca squeezed my hand. "It's none of your business anymore Nicky. We are finished, I moved on, and I suggest you do the same. I never want to see you again."

Nicky snorted a laugh. "Moved on? Ha! She's only your pathetic rebound! Don't come back when you're finished with her. I wouldn't want you after you had that ugly paki."

Rebecca opened her mouth to speak, but I beat her to it. "First, I am Indian, not Pakistani, and second, she is never coming back to you. She is mine now, and I'll treat her so right that she will never even think about you again. Now stay the fuck away from her, you fucking lunatic, or I'll send my brothers after you."

It was the first time that I ever attempted to sound threatening, and it didn't work as planned, because Nicky and Rebecca both stared at me, and then Nicky started laughing. "Stay away from her, huh? Well, I can make sure of that. I promise I will never see her again, or she me for that matter."

Rebecca pulled my arm and guided us outside.

"Is she that crazy, or am I just that low of a threat?" I finally dared to ask when we walked the corner and back into our own street.

Rebecca's hand let go of mine while she searched for her house keys. "I think a bit of both, but don't worry, in your case it's part of your charm."

We went inside, started kissing and forgot all about Nicky and the incident.

Of course we should have know she wouldn't just leave it at that.

Chapter 15

The following morning right before I left for work I checked my mailbox and found a card from the crazy ex in it.

It had no stamp, so she posted it herself.

The text read: "I promise Rebecca and I will never meet again. Kisses, N."

On the front there was a picture of an old police car and two cops arresting a criminal.

I threw it in the trash straight away, partly because it was from Nicky, and I wanted nothing to do with her, and partly because it gave me a very uncomfortable feeling, as if something really bad was about to happen. But what could she do to us? I loved Rebecca and she loved me.

I convinced myself that nothing could tear us apart, ran upstairs again to give her a last kiss, and then left for work, for real this time. Of course Nicky did knew a way to hurt us, and what she did changed our lives forever.

When I got home that evening I was greeted by Rain, Rebecca's cat.

She stroked against my legs a few times before I picked her up. "What are you doing here in the hallway?" I asked, scratching behind her ear. At that point I didn't think anything of it. Rain probably escaped that morning as Rebecca left her apartment.

But when I came upstairs and saw that her door stood wide open, I knew something was wrong. First I thought of burglars, but when I went inside, with a very loud beating heart I admit, there was nothing missing or out of place.

"Maybe she accidentally left her door open." I thought naive.

I fed the cat and pulled my cellphone out of my bag to call her. It immediately went to voice-mail, which was also odd.

"Maybe she turned of her cell phone because she is working." I told myself to ease my first feelings of worry.

I knew better though. It was half past 6 already, she would have been done by now. Normally she got home around 5:30 or 6 at the latest.

I tried to distract myself with some TV while I waited for her to get home, but when it got later and later my initial worry grew and grew. I think I must have left about a dozen messages on her phone before I started looking for numbers of her friends and family.

In this age of smart phones almost nobody I know has a paper address book and Rebecca was no exception to this, but after a long and thorough search I finally found an old agenda in the bottom of her bookcase. Igor's number was in it, and Nicky's. The agenda was 3 years old, it must have been from the time they started dating each other.

Hoping Igor still had the same number, I dialed it.

"Hello." He said.

"Hello, is this Igor?"

"Yes,who are you?"

"Aruna."

I paused. What was I supposed to tell him without sounding extremely controlling of Rebecca? "Uhm,.. You don't know me. I live in the apartment under Rebecca." I started. "You helped me with moving my piano."

"Oh yes!" Igor exclaimed. "Rebecca's new special friend!"

I smiled briefly at how he called me her 'special' friend.

"So, what's up? Why do you call me?" He asked.

My smile disappeared as I tried to explain what was going on.

"I don't know where she is either." He said after I finished. "Have you tried calling her friends yet?"

"I don't have their numbers." I answered.

"I will call them, and then I will call you back. Don't worry, together we will find her."

He sounded so sure of himself that I immediately felt better and less worried. "Ok. Thank you so much."

"I will call you in half an hour." He said, before hanging up.

Those 30 minutes were the longest of my life. As time ticked away I imagined worse and worse scenario's. Rebecca stuck in an elevator with almost no air left, in an accident, wounded and in hospital, dead and in hospital,...

When Igor called me back and told me nobody knew where she was the little hope I had left disappeared as snow before the sun. She must have been dead, otherwise she would have contacted me by now. It was already 11:30 for Christ sake!

"Do we need to start calling the hospitals?" I asked with a shaky voice. I didn't want to hear yes for an answer, but what I got was even worse.

"I think we need to call Nicky first." He said.

Only then did I remember the card from that morning and new hope arose in my chest. Not dead, just back to her ex. Anger and jealousy welled up right beside the new hope.

"I will call you right back." I answered Igor with a monotone voice.

My hands shook while I dialed her number.

"Hey, with Nick."

"If Rebecca is with you, you can tell her to go fuck herself!" I yelled in her ear.

Nicky laughed. "I guess this is the new girlfriend. Aruna, wasn't it?"

I was fuming, unable to utter a single sound.

"Didn't you get my card? Rebecca is not with me. I made sure I can keep my promise of never seeing her again, or she me for that matter. Not even running into each other somewhere. She is probably halfway back to Russia by now. I called immigration and told them where she lived."

My mouth fell open and I had to sit down. "You what?!"

She laughed some more. "Oh, and could you be a dear and tell that sorry bunch she calls her family that they will also come knocking on their door in the near future?"

Still giggling, she hung up.

I couldn't, wouldn't, believe it. No. Away from me forever. Illegal. Not her.

"But that's probably why she ran from those cops a few days ago." a little voice in my head whispered. "And why she wouldn't leave contact info at the animal shelter."

Shaking all over I called Igor again.

"Was she illegal?" I asked very softly.

"Yes." came the answer.

"What will they do to her if immigration gets her?"

I heard Igor gasp. "Send her back. They got her before, but she escaped. This time they wont wait."

"That cunt called them." Is all I said before my world crashed down around me. "You and your family can expect them too."

*

To all those who are still with me:

-thank you for reading on until the end of part 3

-comments and criticism are always very very welcome :)

-and don't worry: I am currently working on chapters 16-20, in which everything will get all right again. (Hopefully they will not take as long to write as these.)