Lucas has turned my dream into reality.

I clutch the soft white curtain as my eyes witness my dream turning into reality. Through the glasses of the french door, I can see a field which has been turned into a canvas of colours. It has been painted with timid and soothing petals of purple and white flowers. With the night greeting the last light of the day in the background, the flowers are swaying to the calm rhythm of the wind.

My heart wrenches as water starts pooling in the corner of my eyes. I still remember the dream which I saw some days ago of our first anniversary. It made me so happy that I told Lucas every inch of the dream. But what I didn't know that he took every word of mine seriously that day.

"This was supposed to be the surprise gift of your second anniversary which is..."

"which is also Lucas' first death anniversary." My throat closes up as the pain returns once again.

I sit on the floor with a thud as tear pours out of my eyes while the darkness of the night slowly starts engulfing the whole field.

"Get up Eve. Your dream is waiting for you. Lucas has planted all these plants with his own hands. It's true he is not here, but his love is still there amidst that garden. The love and happiness which I've seen in his eyes while planting those, are very rare to find. Go and embrace the love my child." Steph says as she caresses my head. I look at her with tear-stricken eyes and she gives an encouraging smile.

"Go. Fill your emptiness with the unconditional love this field holds." I stand up trying to shake away the pain and open the door while Steph switches on the garden lights.

The whole garden is filled with cozy white lights. Removing my heels, I step onto the land. The moment mother earth touches my naked feet, a sense of calmness embraces my whole body taking away all the pain that I was feeling even a second ago. I take deep breath in and the uneasiness inside me soothes away. A genuine, happy smile appears on my face for the first time after Lucas' death which to my astonishment, didn't need any human beings to occur. And out of nowhere, I feel like this place is asking me a question.

Do we really need to depend on others to be happy or can we be happy on our own, if we really want to?

Like a hypnotized person, I start walking on the field, amidst the blissful flowers with the smile still intact on my face. I bend down on both the sides and give fragile touch to the soft petals with my finger tips. And as I keep on touching them, tears start rolling out of my eyes. But this time, I don't feel any tingling pain in my heart, nor burning in my eyes and neither choking up of my throat. Instead, I'm laughing, laughing with my heart open. And I finally feel the emptiness within me getting an embrace of love and happiness.

I gaze up at the sky letting all my tears out. The full moon is shining brightly illuminating the whole universe. Splatters of twinkling blue stars here and there. A soothing wind is caressing my wet face. I inhale and exhale one deep breath. I can hear my breaths mingling with the melody of the crickets present in the garden. My eyes catch a bright light at one corner and I start walking towards that direction.

After walking for a few minutes, I end up standing in front of a beautifully carved wooden sign board. I walk closer to the board and touch the words written on it. Another rush of happy tears pour out as I recognise the handwriting.

With a scarlet read coloured ink, a beautiful message is written on the board.

To
My Love, Eve

Do you know why I love flowers so much? Because they are exactly like you. No matter how much they get crushed or torn apart from their lives, still they spread fragrance until their last breath. Just like you spread light and fragrance of love, no matter how many ways life has crushed you. Always stay like this my love. I love you and will always love you, even after I leave this body.

From
Yours and only Yours,
Lulu.

Lulu! A name which I had given to him when we were still at loggerheads with each other, always teasing and arguing like kids.

A winking sign is drawn beside that name. Even after I finish reading the message, I caress those words over and over again as I cry happily.

I love you and will always love you even after I leave this body. My fingers touch these words again and again without my own knowledge.

I don't know for how long I have been standing there. My legs start getting numb, so I look around and find an empty spot beside the board. The grasses on that spot have been beautifully treamed. I rest my tired body by sitting there with no intention to leave right now. I sit in a cross-legged posture and close my eyes feeling the warmth and love of this heaven.

"Thank You Lucas. Thank you for everything you did for me, for Steph and for all those whom you helped. Thank You for loving us." I stay quiet as I feel a certain stillness in the atmosphere.

It's like everything has stopped here. Crickets are not singing anymore. Wind is not playing around nor the plants are dancing anymore. I open my eyes but don't move my gaze away from the glowing full moon sky.

"I love you... my Lulu." The moment I finish saying the sentence, wind picks up her pace and starts moving randomly. Almost as if they all were waiting for me to confess my love holding their breaths. A bright smile appears on my face as two single drops fall from the corner of my eyes. I stay like this, don't know for how long, until I hear Steph's voice.

"Eve! Your phone is ringing for a long time." I turn my gaze towards the house and find Steph standing at the door with my still ringing phone.

"Must be Pa." Standing up, I look at the sign board for a few seconds and then start moving towards Steph with a lingering smile on my face.

My phone has stopped ringing before I can reach, so I quickly take the phone from Steph's hand and check it. As expected, it was Pa. I call him back while we enter inside the room. Just after one ring, Pa picks up the phone.

Where have you been? I called office and got to know you have left an hour before lunch and never returned! Why didn't you pick up the call till now?

Pa hurls out his questions while I hear Mom whispering and asking Pa to calm down and let me speak.

"Pa!" Hearing me scream, Pa stops.

Speak.

"Umm... I'm at my home."

Home? What do you mean?

" I mean my home, where I used to live with Lucas."

What? What are you doing there?

"I just wanted to spend some time here but I lost track of time. So, I'll stay here tonight."

What? But why? It's still not that late. You can...

"I'm sorry Pa, but I want to stay here tonight. I'll be there tomorrow during breakfast. Goodnight Pa."

Goodnight.

Pa hungs up the call with a heavy goodnight. I know he is stressing but I know mom will handle him.

"Why did you lie? You could have tell them that you are here, staying with me." Steph says while closing the french door.

"I didn't lie actually. I really want to go back to my home tonight." I clear the confusion with a smile on my face.

"Oh. Okay then. I will not hold you back today. I know you need that lone time tonight. But before leaving, you'll be having dinner with me. And you can't say no because you have nothing to cook at your home." Steph vanishes inside the kitchen not giving me the chance to stop her. Mumbling an okay, I sit on one of chairs at the dining table as I hear sounds of utensils and a humming from Steph's voice.

***

"Wait for me." Steph walks in the corridor which is beside the kitchen as I stand in front of the now burning fire place. Steph has gone to her room to bring something for me. My eyes are wandering over the things lying on the grey mantelpiece when they get fixed at some peach coloured diaries stacked beautifully. All the diaries are of same colour and on the topmost diary it's written, Walking with Steph.

Curiosity picks my interest and I take the first diary. As I flip over the first page, I saw beautifully written words with black ink. I search for date but there's no date written on the page. My eyes start roaming over the words.

Dear Diary,

I never thought that I'll talk with you one day. All my friends do. They say it's fun because you hold all the secrets, specially their secret crushes. Hehe...

Do you know I also have a secret crush? But... I don't know how to tell him. His name is Matt. He is the popular boy of our school but no! Not like those bad boys. Those boys are just bullies. But Matt, he is different.

Ahem!

I jolt out of the diary while the diary lands with a thud on the floor. My ears turn red with embarrassment as I bend down to pick up the diary.

"I... I'm sorry Steph. I..." Cat caught my tongue and I start behaving like a kid who has been caught while stealing candy.

Placing the diary on the stack, I turn around and bite my tongue. I feel two taps on my shoulder. Turning around, I bow down without looking into Steph's eyes and keep on saying sorry. But to my utter surprise, Steph's laughter hit my ears and I gaze at her laughing face still bowing down.

"What?" Frowning, I get up. But Steph goes on laughing holding the mantelpiece.

"Why are you laughing? You are supposed to be angry!" I cry out like a kid and for a moment I feel like I'm talking with my mom.

"You are really cute." Steph stops laughing and keeps her right palm on the stack of diaries with lots of care. Her eyes are again reflecting the same sadness which I saw previously in the stable while she was talking about her family. The question which I had at that time pops in my mind again.

"If you don't mind, can I ask you something?" I ask trying not to hurt her.

"Sure Eve. Don't be so formal with me. Please ask." Steph replies with a smile but her eyes are still holding the sadness.

"I can understand that your husband..." I stop and look at Steph and she encourages me to go on.

"...has died but where is your grandson? I mean you talk about him so much." I ask looking around.

"Dead. My son and daughter-in-law died in an accident one year after Tim, my grandson was born. Since then, it was always Matt, Tim and I. With great pain, we started living for our grandson. Tim was just like Matt. They both were best friends. But..." Steph's eyes get pooled with water. I place my palm over hers on that stack of diaries.

"But when Tim was in college, he also died in an accident and Matt got absolutely silent after this. He rarely talked with me. I could see him getting weak with each passing day but I was helpless. We used to have visitors many years back. But after Tim's death, they also stopped coming here. Those houses in the alleys all were filled with people. Now most of them are just broken concretes. We two old people, staying in this huge farm house, all alone. I always preferred a bit of loneliness, so it didn't affect me much. But Matt, he couldn't hold it for long and next year on the day of Tim's first death anniversary, he died." Steph goes quiet and I can't find any words to say.

I go ahead and embrace her petite figure. I can feel her trembling as some wet drops land on my shoulders. And for the first time since I met her, I perceive the pain that this strong human being has been holding inside for decades after decades. After some moments, Steph breaks the embrace with a smile and tear-stained face.

"I'm sorry." As I utter this, my eyes land on the grey coffee table lying in front of the couch which I haven't noticed yet as I was busy watching the dream outside. But this time, I see a piece of my dream on that coffee table.

"This is your last surprise from Lucas." Steph points at the potted plant standing beautifully with little buds. A warm reddish hue is peeking from those buds and it can be said that the plant is taken care of with love.

"This is miniature rose. He wanted to gift you when they bloom but last year when they bloomed, I couldn't find you and he was... But now you are here. So, please take your treasure. They are waiting for you." Steph looks at the plant with warmth in her eyes.

"Umm... were you taking care of all these garden, horses, field and this plant as well?" I ask not understanding how she managed to do this.

"No. My family left me with only two things. Their memories and lots of money to live for the rest of my life. I am using them to hire some people who have been taking care of the gardens, fields and the horses as well. It's just this plant which I take care of." Steph says but her eyes are on the diaries.

Thinking that she may wants to read those, I say, "Okay. I should take my leave. I will be here tomorrow evening as promised. It's getting late as well and you should take rest now."I move towards the french door one last time for today to look at the garden.

"Bye Lucas, for now." I say while touching the glass of the door with a smile on my face.

"Eve." Hearing this, I turn around and find Steph putting something in a jute bag but to my surprise, the plant is already sitting inside another bag.

"What are you putting in that bag?" I ask her.

"Take these. These are the diaries. You can say my whole life." Step says with a bright smile while I look over behind Steph for the diaries. But they are not there any more.

"But..." Steph cuts me before I can complete.

"Take these. I'm going to die soon. These will just be some scribblings of a random human being if they lie here but my life for me is like a rollercoaster where I learnt many things. I know you are going through a lot. Maybe my childish scribblings will inspire you in some way. So, please keep it. Take it as my last wish." Steph's eyes turn teary again and I have no other option but to take them.

Exchanging a tight hug and some warm kisses, I leave the home behind and call a cab to start my journey towards my destiny. As I'm about to get inside the cab, I receive a text from mom.

Hope you are fine sweetie. Take care of yourself and have your dinner. Don't worry about your Pa. He is sleeping now and has calmed down. You can call me, if you need anything. Goodnight. Take care. I love you.

Love you too and I have done my dinner. Goodnight mom.

Replying this, I get inside the cab with all the belongings. As the cab starts moving, my eyes land on the mirror in front and I feel a certain change in those eyes. They are new and sparkling, as if they have taken a new birth. I smile and take out the first diary which I was reading before as the cab moves and wind touches my face.

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