A Trip To Remember

“Hi Nicholas!”
“Hi.”
“Hi Nic!! You look good”.
“Hi, Thanks”.

I managed to get a quick glance at him. My god. So cute and so adorable. Almost everyone in the college knew the famous and most popular Nicholas Jefferson. Not only good looking and adored by all the college girls for his French accent, he was also smart, intelligent and was a college representative in almost all the clubs and events. Could anyone ask for more? Sighed. Deep sigh. Just forget it. He aint gonna look at you. I looked back again hoping to get another view of him but too bad he is gone. Maybe class. Maybe home.

“Hi Caroline, how are you?”. I stopped. I knew the voice. Very familiar, but it can’t be.
“Hi …Nic..Nicholas..I am fine..” Trust me.. I never had this huge smile in my entire life!

I squeezed myself in a tight black dress, which I bought just last weekend. It was hard at first but then it went easy after a push here and there. Looking at the five feet mirror in front of me, I can’t help it but to smile at myself. The PT200 slimming pills worked finally. Not to say heavy but just to reduce some spare parts here and there. Finally, I can feel something big going to happen tonight. Its been four years and two months since I and Nic dated. After college, we went into the same university and we could not help from falling deep in love with each other. Each year passes by and our love grew stronger and stronger full of promising. All these years we had gone through so many ups and downs in life. Entering into career life had been challenging for both of us as fresh graduates. But we manage to get jobs with good pay and time passes by we ended up moving in together. Nic had this job as a research analyst for a banking and finance company and as for myself I settled down as a marketing manager in a fast food manufacturing company. Everything seems to be so happy and perfect.

Life was busy with hard work and busy appointments. Seeing this we had decided to take a break and travel to get away from all this busy and hectic life. Both of us chose Asia as our traveling destination. China to be more precisely. As a French and an American, both of us had little knowledge about Asia. We never been there but we had heard a lot of the whole different part of the world. Asia is known for its culture and people and hearing the great experience from our friends that had visited China had triggered us to keen on this vacation.

“Ladies and gentlemen. We have now reached the international airport of Beijing, China. Thank you for flying with us and we hope to see you again.” The first thing I noticed the moment stepped out of the plane, was the hot temperature. My god. It was burning hot!
“Ni Hao! Hello”. A sweet voice welcomed us.
“Caroline dear, this is Shen Mo. She will be our guide during our stay here.” I smiled. Nic had a habit of arranging everything as a pre-caution to avoid any difficulties. And more over as a research analyst, this went easy for him. He managed get a tour guide for us, although I must say a very young and beautiful Chinese lady and our room readily booked. Perfect. Just a beginning for a perfect vacation.

Three weeks passed in China. It was such a lovely country with many friendly people. Well, China bears the largest population in the world and everywhere I went, there will be surely packed with people. The food was marvelous and I had burnt my lips several times as the food was very spicy and hot. We reached home safely. And things back to normal. Sometimes I did regret going for a vacation as the office work had increased to double now, waiting for me right on my desk. I had these thousands of questions being thrown to me by collogues who were so eager to know all the happenings in China, souvenirs, food and all. Deep inside, I can’t wait for another one.

Something is wrong somewhere. I could feel it. Nic had changed. Or something might have been bothering him. He was not the same Nic that I knew. For the past few months, he had been sent to overseas to handle some research projects. And most of the time he had to stay at his home in France as all the projects was placed in Europe. Sometimes he had to travel as far as Asia. At first I was getting used to not having him around because of his travel. He would call and let me know his whereabouts or at least leave messages when he will be back. But not lately. Things getting worse when he was missing for the past two weeks without any info. Not knowing what to do, I called his office. Surprisingly, they told me that this month he had none projects outside of the states. One of his friends told me that he might be in his old apartment. I hung up. What on earth is happening? Is he alright? His old apartment? He still has them? As far as I know he already left when we decided to move into this house of ours. Not knowing what to do, I dressed and decided to drive to his place to make sure that he is alright. Many things ran into my mind while driving. This is so new for me and I just hope all this is nothing but one of his joke.

“Kringg”
“Who is that?”
Silence.
“Hello who is there outside?”
Silence.
The door opened. He was there, standing right in front of me. I felt like seeing a total stranger and not the Nic that I knew, loved.
“Caroline..I..you.. what are you doing here??”
“Honey, who is it?”
I stumbled hearing a voice from the kitchen. I knew the voice. Yes I knew I heard it before but no it can’t be. And there she was. Coming out of the kitchen, untying her apron and stopped when she saw me. I never thought I would ever see her again…after our trip from China…

“Mama! Can I please change the discovery channel? Its so boring to see China.”
I opened my eyes. My four years old son was busy looking for the TV remote. With memories that had just come back after long time, with a smile on my face, I nodded.