A soft breeze is coming on her way, when she is impatiently tapping her heels on the floor. The tap is in sync with the ticking in her wrist watch. In every two seconds, her eyes dances between the clock and the crowd surrounding her. It's a good morning, but patience is not her forte. The platform is a little crowded than usual. A usual Thursday morning, but not so usual for her. A smile flicker on her face, when she thinks about him. Her reflex tells her to close her eyes, and go into the captured moments, the one where his one look at her makes her whole body shiver.
The ringing phone inside the pocket of her purse makes her jump. And the name flashing on the screen makes her heart flutter.
"Hey." The deep voice calls her, the way he always do it.
"Hey."
"Why that sigh?"
"I am running a little late." Caroline rolls her eyes in exhaustion.
"The time will pass. Don't worry."
"Yeah, it will." And she can feel her tensed muscles getting relax. Like a waving wand, magically, his voice is enough to make her feel less crazy.
"I can smell the orchids." His words catches her off-guard, and she looks at the orchids she is holding in her hand.
"How do you know that I have orchids in my hand." She demands, with a frown on her forehead. She looks around her, looking if he is around.
"Now, don't look for me in the crowd."
"How the hell did you-"
"Caroline… I just…know it." His simple words like this makes her fluster, and she can feel her cheeks getting hot.
"Of course you do!" he chuckled her comment. "I think the train is coming. Wait for me."
"I will…. I am waiting. See you soon." The conversation ends like that, and she can feel two eyes watching her from the side, when she walks towards the bench and sits there, besides the stranger.
"Boyfriend?" The stranger girl asks. She is a stranger because they never caught each other's name. They used to smile to each other every day when they see each other on the station.
Caroline shakes her head, mouthing a "No". "Friend. Just a friend." The sadness is obvious in her voice.
"If it is meant to be, you will get it."
Caroline looks at her, and smiles. "Thanks…. Big day?"
Yup, it is… he proposed me exactly one year back." Caroline widens her grin. She loves to hear the love stories.
"What about you? A special day for you too?"
"Sort of." She answers. She is in her own world, and she didn't realize the trains arriving.
Thinking all the way, knowing that he is waiting on the other end of the line, she takes the train.
One Year before
March, 2003
"No boys from now on. They don't own me." She was chanting all the way to the station. She was broken, after the disastrous break-up with Tyler, the guy with whom she had been in a relation for around one and half years, give or take, she wasn't ready for this.
"I am Caroline Forbes, dammit. Suck it up world. You can't beat me." She laughed at the sky, like she was challenging the higher beings. If anybody around her would have seen her like that, talking to herself, they would have thought she was crazy. Well, she did felt being a crazy person as well.
Hurriedly she took the train, like she always did. She was early today, and so she decided to finish her unfinished work after reaching the office.
The next stop name was announced in the train, and then it hit her. She checked the name twice, and groaned.
Wrong train! She took the wrong train, and now she was going to be late. She was going towards the door, to get out, but stopped in the middle, when her eyes fell on the guy sitting on the corner seat. Green flannel shirt, buttoned up, black jeans, he looked gorgeous. She couldn't believe that Stefan Salvatore still had this kind of effect on her. His all concentration was on the book he was reading, turning one page after another. Within a minute, she had checked him out from top to bottom. She could even smell the cologne he was wearing, the same one he used to wear in the high school. She missed the station again. But she didn't regret it.
Next day, she took that same wrong train again, but this time… it was on purpose. Luckily, he was still travelling through that train. She sat on the opposite seat, diagonal to the one he was sitting. He was reading again, and she was tempted to see the title. But, her eyesight wasn't that good. And she wished to have a magnified eye-sight. She felt his head turning up, and in fear she kept her hand on her side cheek, in a way so that he couldn't see her face. Giving an impression of a stalker was the last thing she wanted.
The days passed by, and she continued to take the wrong path every single morning. It had become her habit now. From the grey shirt to the James Dean style jacket, his every single cloth from his wardrobe had been memorized by her. He still used to go with grey, white or black. Just like old school days. The guy totally needed some colors in his dictionary.
She was meeting Bonnie for lunch. It was usual for the two best- friends, to catch on every Wednesdays. And when she reached, Bonnie was already waiting for her.
"Caroline, you will cut your tongue, if you will try to keep the things you want to say in your mouth any longer." Bonnie raised an eyebrow, pointed the fork at her. "Spill."
"I saw Stefan Salvatore." Caroline blurted out.
"The loner from high-school?" Caroline frowned at the reaction she got from Bonnie.
"Hey, he wasn't a loner, okay. He just liked to keep to himself. That's it."
"Please, don't tell me you still have a crush on him?"
"I don't" the answer came instantly. Enough for Bonnie to catch the lie. The teasing smile started to play on Bonnie's face.
"So, did you talk to him?"
"Sure, why not. I should totally go and talk to the guy, who turned me down the day we met in high school." She said sarcastically and sighed. "Today I thought that he looked in my direction, and I got so scared, I chickened out and ran as if I was the participant of some 200m race."
Bonnie wanted to say, but Caroline wasn't finished. "Besides, he was dating the famous Elena Gilbert."
"And you were dating Tyler. What's your point?"
"My point is that he was so much in love with Elena, I don't think he is available… because that kind of love never dies."
"Then stop stalking him, you will end up hurting yourself again."
"Hey, I don't stalk-"Caroline stopped talking, when she saw Bonnie's face.
"You are right." She straightened herself up, and looked at Bonnie with a determined face. "I take a promise today, I am not going to take that train now."
And she did exactly the opposite of that.
"I need help!" she whispered to herself, looking around herself, in the place where she promised she won't come. She couldn't locate him though. Her eyes wandered here and there, but he was nowhere to be found. Maybe she was in the wrong coach or something. Disappointed and little sad, she took the seat. She was in her thoughts when she felt like a stone fell on her head.
"Hey…" the irritation was prominent in her voice, when she turned to see the cause of that thud on her head.
"I am so sorry."
Caroline's eyes widened when she saw Stefan picking up the book.
His hand automatically went on her forehead, touching her hair, looking for some kind of bump.
"Are you all right?"
"Um… yeah" her words were stuck in her thought, but he managed to speak two words at least.
"What color is it?" he pointed at his shirt, dreading for a concussion.
"Uh, black?" she wasn't sure if the color of his shirt was the correct one for a check. "I am fine. Thank god it wasn't a heavy book." She pointed her finger to the book he was holding, and her eyes scanned the cover.
"The great Gatsby… huh!" she smiled.
"Yeah..." his eyes dropped at the book in his own hand. "It's my favorite book."
"You are Caroline, right?"
"Yeah… Yeah I am." Her heart was beating fast, just by the thought that he remembered her.
"I am Stefan, we were in the same high school." He prompted when it looked to him like she didn't recognize him. "Looks like you don't remember me."
"Oh, yeah. I am remembering now. Stefan Salvatore, right?" she played it well.
He took the empty seat beside her, and nodded at her.
"So, it's been a long time since we met."
"Yea… yeah it is… totally." She wanted to talk about so much and now nothing was coming in her mind. "So, you travel in this route every day?"
"Yeah. My college is in this direction. I am studying medicine."
Doctors were always her weakness. "That's great."
"What about you? I thought that I saw you yesterday, but when turned to catch up with you, you were already gone."
Busted. "Yeah, my work is in this direction."
"Oh, where do you work?"
Dammit.
She didn't know what was with the hundred questions. He never used to talk so much. What was making the difference now? She wondered.
"I am working with 'The Wesleys'."
"Oh, I thought it was on the opposite way."
"I am doing an internship in one of the branch which is in this… direction." She almost patted herself on her shoulder. She could win an Oscar for the performance she was giving.
"That sounds great." he smiled slightly.
"How is Elena?" she asked the most important question, because if she was still in the picture, there was no point of everyday commute route she had been taking, and she had to stop it.
His grave face was telling otherwise. "We, broke up last year."
"Oh." The pain on his face was so obvious, that it was breaking her heart to see him like that. "I am sorry."
'It's okay." He smiled at her. "My station is coming in a minute."
"Mine too." They both stood up and walked out of the train.
"It was nice seeing you Stefan." she admitted.
"Same here." She grinned widely. And that kind of smile had a lot of unnoticed effect on him. It always had. It just never surfaced (to him).
The days became months, and she still took the same route, meeting him every day on the way.