Strangers & Secrets
Page 13
“It’s because you are smarter than him” Yuleika said from behind.
They both turned toward her. She was in her usual black, standing outside the white wooden gate.
“Hi” Devin said dropping the spanner.
“Hello, Butterfly girl” Yuleika greeted with a blank expression
Eva’s face lightened as she remembered her. “Hello, witch lady”
“You know each other?” He asked
“Yes, we have met once” Yuleika said and looked at Eva
“What is up with this butterfly today?” He opened the gate, allowing her to enter.
“She was tasting it last time when we met”
“What? You are a crazy little monster” Devin said with a shock.
“What? You jed it ij jweet. It wajn’t jweet at all” Eva’s face turned into disgusted expression
He chuckled. “I didn’t mean it tastes sweet.”
Eva shrugged, stuck her tongue out. He looked at Yuleika. “Why are you here again? Another apology?”
“No, I’m all done with that.” She said keeping her hands inside the side pocket, in her burka.
“You want to come in?”
She looked at the house, the red door, the top left window and at the Grey cloud above it. “I guess so”
“Then come on in” He said, and they all went inside.
Devin went straight to the kitchen. Yuleika sat on the couch. She searched for Senandra. The whole house looked lonely. Eva climbed on the couch and sat on the arm of the couch, facing her.
“Whaj your name?” She asked leaning forward.
“My name is fifty-five”
“Pipty pie? Your name ij funny” She smiled. “I like it”
“What’s your name?”
“Eeeeeee-va”
“Why Eeeeeee-va?” Yuleika mimicked her squeaky voice.
“becauje people will ijmile when they jay my name” She puzzled over her dress. “Why are you wearing that?”
Yuleika looked at herself. “This is a protection”
“phrom what it will protect you?”
“Actually, this is just to trick my mind. No one can protect anyone in this world. We will just have to do whatever we can”
“Thatj ejactly what I jed to my mom. Jhee waunt lejen to me”
“But it is the truth, isn’t it?” She admired the little girl.
She nodded “Devil jed itj jhaienj”
“Jhaienj?” Yuleika confused over the word
“Mmm. Jhaienj... Chemical and other things...” She gestured with her hand.
“Oh, science!” She thought for a moment and asked. “How is that?”
“I don’t know. He jed jomething” She rolled her curly hairs with her finger.
“That’s comforting” She exhaled. “Last time you said he is your boyfriend. Is that right?”
Eva nodded quickly.
“I know a secret. Come here” Eva came toward her, lending her ears.
“He doesn’t think you as his girlfriend. He treats you like a child. You saw how he talked to you outside. He is a liar”
“I know it” Eva whispered back. “He alwayj treat me like that”
“You know what, we can be secret friends. I will help you and you can also do it. What do you say?”
“You mean like an ij-pie?”
“Yes. A Spy”
“Deal” She whispered throwing her thumbs up.
“What you people are whispering?” Devin came back, carrying a tray full of sandwiches, glasses, and juice.
“We were discussing science” Yuleika said as she received the glass from him. Eva giggled, covering her mouth.
“What science?” He gave the choco chip cookie to Eva.
“You remember you jed jomething about bad thing will always happen. Whatj that?”
“Murph’s law”
“Ya, that one” Eva pointed at him and looked at her.
“Now careful. That’s the last set of cookie. So eat and enjoy slowly. Nothing there for the whole week”
She struggled to climb back on the couch with the plate. Yuleika grabbed her and helped her sit. She felt a tremor in Eva’s body. She felt the clothes vibrating under her fingers.
Eva frowned, looked at Devin. “My mom ij calling”
“If you bring it, she won’t let you eat it” He said sitting on the side couch.
Her face saddened. She looked pathetically at her favorite cookie. She kept the plate to her side and climbed down. “You will keep it par me. You waunt eat it, promij?”
“Don’t worry, I won’t eat it. I promise”
Eva looked back at Yuleika and eyed Devin. Yuleika nodded slowly closing her eyes. Eva winked at her and ran out through the door.
“Silly” He said watching her reach her home.
“Smart, actually” Yuleika corrected
He turned back, looked at her. He thought about how different she looked in that leather jacket. She gazed at him with her intense look. Her iconic dress and the pitch black eyes brought back the memories of their first-time meet.
“So, how is the weather?” He asked breaking the silence.
“Weather?” She confused.
“Of course, you won’t answer any personal questions. I don’t know anything about our common interest and the places we went were also not my type. So Weather it is”
“You are frustrating” She took a swig from the glass.
“I am frustrating? I guess you are right”
“Fine. I’ll give you one chance. Ask me anything. If it is too much personal then it’s your loss”
She caught him by surprise. He surmised over the invitation and thought about the best question. Everything seemed to be either too vague or too close. He searched for the one question to get as much information about her. Finally, he thought of asking something else other than herself.
“I don’t know where you come from. I don’t know why you are here again. I don’t know if it is another test of yours. So I’m not gonna ask anything about you but you gave me this option. So tell me about your family”
“My family?” She raised her eyebrows with widened eyes.
“Nothing too much personal. Just an abstract description is enough”
She showed her empty glass to him. He poured some more in her glass. She began to swallow ceaselessly and emptied the glass. “You don’t have wine?”
“No, I’m sorry”
She inhaled deeply. “My family. Where to begin?”
“You can start from the very beginning”
Her sharp eyes gazed at him. Her face became serious. “Sorry to interrupt. Go ahead”
“My family is a complicated one. I grew up pretty much alone. My father was a RAW agent, so he was barely home. He loved his work and his country. He taught me to live by myself. He wasn’t there at any happy events in my life but still, He is my dad and I love him more than anything else”
Devin didn’t expect her to open up about her personal stuff, but he realized she has more to say. He studied her face, it was anything but emotional. He took another sandwich from the plate and listened keenly.
“Then My mom” She exhaled. “I don’t know my mom. She died lately after my birth. The person in his job wasn’t suitable to marry someone. But they loved each other and they married. He tried the best to hide my mom from the rest of the world. He had some friend inside the agency, and they helped him with a safe house. Fortunately or unfortunately, my dad didn’t have any picture of my mom. So I don’t know how she looked”
“I’m sorry” He offered water to her. She refused with the wave of her hand.
“It must be really cool, right? Being a daughter of secret agent” He asked trying to lighten the mood.
“Not really. I became his weakness. So he hid me from the rest of the world. I grew up as an orphan. I cannot tell who my father is. He visited once or twice in a year. I learned more from him than my school”
“So that’s how you are doing all your detective business like
sneaking into my house, huh?”
“That’s a basic 101, for Eva’s age girls”
“That young? Maybe he was preparing you to join forces”
“No, he said he was preparing me to live in this world”
“Protective father instinct, I guess. So you were the only child?”
“Yes”
“It must be hard to live away from him”
“Not as hard when he died away from me” She said matter-of-factly
“Oh. What happened?” He asked with concern.
“Just another day for him. He was working undercover. Some guy from Government came and said they cannot announce his death publicly, it will jeopardize their mission. They cannot do any ceremony. No one will ever know what he did for his country. So the orphan girl to the outer world became the actual orphan in her inner world too”
She raised the glass above her mouth and turned it down. The last drop of juice slid down and hung at the edge before falling into her mouth. Devin sat there watching her. She wasn’t showing any signs of sadness in her face.
“That was a lot of information” He said finally. “I can only guess it must be hard to reveal”
“That stopped being a secret long time back. I don’t reveal my secrets unless I feel the other person is worthy”
He tried to surmise her statement and failed. One thing was clear, just like her dress, she was full of secrets. He brought his focus back. “So, your father is the reason why you love secrets?”
“I don’t love secrets. I’m addicted to it. He always said secret gives power”
The door next to him began to close slowly with the blowing wind. The room grew darker and shady.
“Why were you knocking the door?” Devin asked “I mean the other day... instead of using your keys”
She pulled out her purse, dug in and brought a key out of it. She placed it on the table.
“That’s the only key and I have already deleted the photos”
He caught a glimpse of her driving license in her purse. The name on the card was same as what she had called herself, Yuleika- 55. “So you were not lying then. It is your name”
She noticed his glance. “So you believe in printed letters than the word comes out of the person. I don’t have to lie about this. Yes, I am Yuleika-55 and it is my name”
Money does find its way he thought. “So you didn’t lie?” He sat on the arm of the couch.
“What?”
“No, I thought you lied always. Since you are a private person”
Her sharp eyes gazed at him, studied his eyes. She turned back, looked at the curtains flying in the hallway near the stairs. “She is right”
He followed her eyes, looked at the top of the stairs. “About what?”
“About what you said. I am a liar. Yes I do lie a lot but you won’t be able to spot one”
He amused at her degree of awareness. He wondered how she knew it was Senandra who called her liar.
“And one more thing. You are bad at lying so don’t try that with me” She said.
He agreed to her comment, smiling he asked. “You looked nice that day”
“OK”
“OK?” He asked. “No courtesy of thank you? No politeness?”
“So you say these sentences expecting me to say thank you. It appears you didn’t mean it then. You just wanted to control my words”
“Seriously, what is wrong with you? Making everything harder to speak. I need to take a course to speak with you”
“You didn’t answer my question” She rose from the cream colored couch.
“Which one?”
She looked around and began to walk. She started noticing the color patterns around her. “Your house looks different now”
“Of course, you were always busy running away from it”
“You have a keen taste in designs”
“Thank you” He kept the glass and followed her. “See, it wasn’t that hard. Thank you”
“Again. I didn’t say it for your ‘thank you’. I said because I meant”
She pushed the curtains away, walked past the stairs. She observed the thick molded pillars on the rail, curly patterns on the brown wallpapers. She finally approached the closed door of his bedroom. She stopped before it
“Painful memories, I hope”
She ignored him and looked at her front. She saw the door to the back yard. This was new to her. She pushed open the door, saw a finely maintained lawn and perfectly trimmed shrubs. In front of her stood a huge brick wall of someone’s building. She stood confined by the three tall walls on each side and the unique isolated home behind.
The chillness in the wind indicated the arrival of rain. She walked off the patio, climbing down the steps. She saw a wide trampoline at the left corner. She looked at him asking the questions with her eyebrow.
“That’s for my little friend” He pointed behind him.
She went near to the dark Grey trampoline and touched the stretched mat and metallic springs. The smell of fresh leaves hijacked her senses. Devin went down to his right and sat on his faux wicker chair, under the shaded umbrella on the other corner. She came back and sat opposite to him. The bright chair darkened in her presence.
She looked at him. He stared back before averting his eyes. Her long dress flew under the chair in the blowing wind. “You said you were trying to help her” She asked.
“I’m trying to find help for her”
“And I asked you what if you can’t. What will happen to her then?”
He sat quietly for a moment. “She is not planning on quitting. She will be here forever. She wants that child, and she is ready to do anything for that”
“How far you have gone for that?” She emphasized on the word ‘you’
“I’m trying everything I can”
“Why does she trust you?”
“No, she doesn’t. She never trusts me”
“But you said – ”
“Yes, I said she is like my sister” He interrupted “But she is focused on her child. She doesn’t care about anything else”
“Are you worried that you might fail?”
“I have a backup plan. But I’m trying to avoid that”
“Do you think she will hurt you when you fail?”
“No, she won’t hurt me. I know that” His voice grew stronger. The clouds began to thunder. He saw the Grey cloud racing forward.
“How are you sure?” She peeked at the nail marks on his wrist.
“She promised me”
“You believe in promises?” She gave a disapproving look.
“She keeps her promises. That’s why I know she will not hurt me” He said boldly. His voice became sharp. “Because she is going to kill me”
She studied his eyes, couldn’t find any lies in it. “And yes she promised me she will kill me painlessly if I fail. So I don’t have to worry about any pains”
“But you don’t have to agree your defeat?”
“Yes, I don’t have to” He paused. “For three months” he said finishing his sentence.
“That’s your deadline?”
“Yes” He nodded.
She looked at the back of his house and the sky above it. Her phone buzzed in her pocket. “You have any suggestions for me?” He asked.
She stood abruptly and said “Goodbye, Devin”
He became used to her unprecedented moves and gave a pleasant smile. “Goodbye, Yuleika-55”
Chapter 14
BYGONES ARE GONE FOREVER
A tiny, little girl was walking in the lawn alongside a nun. She saw a few children running on the other side of the metal fence. They all were wearing a uniform similar to hers. A milky white shirt and navy colored skirt with a matching wool vest coat.
The church bell echoed from the distance. They both walked further into the ground and reached the dark, crowded forest. She brought her into the woods. The chirping noise of birds and the crunching sounds of their footsteps were their only com
pany.
“Where are we going?” The little girl asked pushing her hair away from the face.