Lost

LOST 

Sitting in the back of his SUV, he looked out of the window pane and his eyes fell on the florist shop and the memories flashed into his conscience. The beginner days of his carrier when he used to walk to the practice grounds, but this florist shop hold some special moments for him. The only special relation he had in his life, had its beginning from this florist shop. 

“I have been waiting for you since three hours.” Her voice echoed in his memories. “Is your soccer more important than me?” She had asked him on his nineteenth birthday.

“Excuse me Sir, where are we going to stay tonight?” His manager’s voice broke the league of his thoughts.

“Book a good hotel, there are couple of them out in the city.” He replied.

“Sir, can I aske you a question, if you won’t mind it?” his manger asked.

“Yeah, go for it.” He replied. 

“This is your hometown and still you don’t own a house here, can you share the reason?” The manger asked.

He did not move his sight from the pane, for a while there was a silence in the car but then he spoke, “It’s because I don’t want to be here.” 

Rodney Max, the famous young footballer, was back in his home town, for the inauguration of his new orphanage. He had affection for those people, once he was among them. Rodney was at the high peaks of his carrier, recently he was awarded for his extraordinary play. He was on the high peaks of his success, prosperity and money were like dust for him, he owned different bungalows throughout the different part of country, his fames among his fans was huge, after all he was a good looking and humble star. Life was at its fullest for him, his present was all he had planned and his future was in his command yet he was not contended in his life there was something from his past that he had missed a lot and it made him unhappy.

Rodney Max, the famous soccer player once was a wonderer of the streets, being an orphan life was hard upon him but yet he had a dream to accomplish, he toiled hard day and night, the struggle made him sick but this wasn’t the thing that made him unhappy. Tina Jade, the girl he had met at first by accident but then fell deeply in love with. Tina, a very supportive and a girl full of life. Both of them shared a deep bond among themselves but everything didn’t go well. Rodney was selected by a club and his struggle got intense. Rodney had seen the life without money and this made his so obsessed with his goal that the only bond he had in his life started to shatter.

The SUV stopped before the hotel, crowd showered towards the car to meet the rising soccer hero. Moving from the crowd, Rodney walked into the hotel and then to his room, the function was three hours later. An hour later after his arrival, his coach shown up to meet him. 

“It’s been a while since you have been here.” John Tesla, asked his pupil.

“This place brings back the old days, and those days bring back her.” Rodney replied.

“So, it’s been late but you realized that she had left.” 

“She used to mail me after every match, but I had no time to see those messages, by then our meetings were already shorten, slowly the texts disappeared too. I thought she would return when I had money, but you know I never felt that I had enough money, I went on and on and when I looked by my side I was alone all alone.” Rodney replied, looking into his reflection in the cup of tea.

“The taste of success is addictive, once you had it on your mouth you want more of it.” John replied.

“But after a certain period, it gets boring and tasteless, and it is when you need someone by your side to enjoy the meal.” Rodney said, “Now, I realize why you stuck to this city.” 

“I have someone with whom I am contended, We don’t hope for big cash or big house, none of us. We are happy with what we have, and the memories we have made in the past.” John replied.

“I guess those things are delicious than success.” Rodney said.

“Who knows? Each one of us have only one of it.” John replied and silence followed. “You never tried to meet her, did you?” 

“I was so busy that I had hardly time to breath, and when I had it, she was gone, vanished like she was never there. I tried to get info about her but nothing got me.” Rodney replied.

“Hope that you will meet her soon.” John said.

Rodney smiled and the conversation was halted. The coach left and Rodney was left in the room with his memories and regrets.

The air was stiff in the city, it was giving him ache in chest, it was making him remind what he had left in the life. He stared out of the hotel in the streets and saw a couple walking together, holding hands. There was a time when he used to do so, his walks were full of conversations, she used to tell about her college and he about his matches but then slowly the walks reduced and replaced by practice sessions, overtime and then they vanished. She used to wait for his for hours at the florist shop and he would arrive late and sometimes he would even cancel the meet after making her wait for hours, but still she used to wait. A drop of tear slipped his eyes as her face blinked in his conscience, the wealth and fame he had could not replace the thing he had lost, not even a bit.

The knock on the door, broke his thoughts. The manager called him it was time for the function. He dressed himself up and soon they were in the function, everything went on well. The function ended and he was all set to go but then he saw a kid blocked by his guards, a little girl was waving at him. He signaled his guards to let her in and he gave her an autograph and a pic. He was not sure but he had a feel that the girl was something to him, there was something in her that was identical to him. 

The little girl said, “My Mom is a great fan of your too.” The kid pointed towards her Mom and his eyes met the very person he was looking for; she was standing among the crowd gathered to see him. Her eyes meet his, and those eyes were lit with happiness, unlike his cold, blank black balls. He looked at her for a while, he swallowed the lump. He smiled gently at her and she did it too, he then turned towards the child and asked, “You are here with your parents.” 

“Papa, is getting ice cream for us.” She replied. She was a lot alike Tina, it was why he had this feeling about her, he bent down and kidded her hand. Holding his tears back, he rushed towards the car, the loss he had made was irreversible and he had the regret of life with him, the cost of his success was his loneliness throughout the life.