Reflections

Amy was obsessed with checking herself, every time she passed by the mirror. Her break from this fancy obsession was a result of her losing her engagement ring.

She got engaged with her longtime boyfriend Adam, two days ago. Since then, the charming ring on her finger had been her excuse for procrastinating about her future with Adam. It was only last night that she got engrossed in reading a magazine and woke up to find her ring gone.

Amy remembered Adam telling her that he still had the first love letter she wrote to him. This thought made the guilt of losing the ring even harder to bear for her.

I should have protected it with my life. Thought Amy. The room was quiet for a moment. Amy stood up and looked in the mirror. Guilt reflected on her otherwise cheerful face. She kept staring for a while until the words escaped her slightly parted lips:

“I’ll find the ring, I’ll find it…”

It was nine in the morning and the room was lit with bright sunlight. A half read novel rested beside an adorable wrist watch on the desk next to the window. Amy grabbed the sipper and gulped generously from it feeling the sooth of the warm water running down her throat. She made herself comfortable on the rocking chair and began to figure out her actions from the past night.

Distant honk of vehicles disturbed her thoughts and she frowned at every sound that reached her ears. She was trying hard to find some lead as to how or where she might have lost her ring. She was sure about one thing though, she had her ring on while she was reading the magazine. She knew very well that she fell asleep reading. It was the last thing she did.

Amy rose from the rocking chair and began flipping the pages of the magazine she was last reading. She was hoping the ring would pop out suddenly somewhere amidst the pages.

It didn’t.

Amy’s untied brown hair rested upon her shoulders as she stood in the middle of her room figuring out things her lean body could lift and things that needed help of her neighbor to get lifted. She could feel her hands trembling and a constant shiver dancing throughout her body.

I want the ring. Where is it? The thought of the lost ring had captivated her mind.

Maybe the ring slipped from my finger while I was asleep, she thought. Maybe it’s still down there under the bed or the table, below the pillow or beneath the desk. Wherever the ring is, one thing is certain. It is here in this room. These thoughts left Amy excited.

She squatted eagerly and looked under the bed. She tried to stretch her hand as far as she could not to leave any territory under the bed uncharted. She did the same with the desk and the chair. She threw the pillow on one side and the books on another. Stood, sat, jumped and rolled. Found an eraser, an old lipstick and a pair of lost ear rings…but not the ring.

She looked in the cupboard and above it. In the bathroom and in her wardrobe. She met a nasty lizard and a hairy spider. Got caught in some cobwebs and struggled with some houseflies.

She sneezed, sniffed and frowned. Pushed ‘here’ to ‘there’ and ‘there’ to ‘here’. Pulled ‘this’ to right and kicked ‘that’ to left. She stopped only when she had hurt her head twice, her knees thrice and Adam’s heart once and for all.

She sat on the floor by the bed coiling her hands around her knees. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she breathed heavily. She knew the ring was gone. She knew that she’ll have to tell that to Adam. She knew it would hurt him.

“I’ll tell him,” said Amy almost talking to herself. “I’ll call him and ask him to come. I don’t want to disclose this over a phone call.”

She took a deep breath and swiped down her contact list until she reached ‘Beloved’, she tapped and the call connected.

“Hey, Amy,” said a melodious voice on the other side. It was Adam.

“Can you come over, I need to tell you something,” said Amy.

“Now? Is everything alright?” asked Adam.

“Just come,” said Amy trying hard to hold her tears.

“Sure, I’ll be there in a moment,” assured Adam.

Amy put her phone aside and began to explain herself.

“Look Amy, whatsoever happened was an accident. All you’ve to do is to tell everything to Adam honestly. Don’t cry in front of him. Just tell him casually. No need to act as if it’s a big deal…”

She nodded to that explanation and waited for the doorbell to ring.

Few minutes later the doorbell rang. Amy got up slowly and walked towards the door across the hall. Everything she explained to herself was playing repeatedly inside her head. Her heart thumped against her bosom. She held the knob and opened the door. At the sight of Adam, she forgot everything she had planned. She held him tight in her arms as her tears rained upon Adam’s shoulder. From a throat heavy with lament she said, “I’m sorry…I didn’t want to hurt you… I’m sorry…”

Adam had known Amy for ten years before they finally decided to marry. Never in these ten years had he seen Amy crying like that. She was crying indeed and while she was shedding tears in the arms of Adam, little did she notice that she was not the only one who was crying.

“I lost my engagement ring,” said Amy in almost a whisper.

“Is that the reason behind your watery eyes?” asked Adam.

“Yes…” said Amy as she burst into tears.

“Amy let me tell you something…” said Adam clearing his throat, “the day we got engaged I bought two places for us to live. For me in… your heart… for you… in my heart.”

Adam held Amy held in his arms. The couple rejoiced as the engagement ring watched them from under the dining table.