“No, Meena, it is all over between us!” shouted Michael.

“Please, Michael, it is not like that! He was my distant cousin and he had come to meet us after seven years,” she had tears in her eyes.

“So that is why you were going around arms in arms with your distant cousin for three days and avoiding me?”

“Oh, my god! You misunderstood it.”

“Good bye, Meena. It’s all over,” said he and swiftly walked out of the room.

After three days, Meena went back to her college in Alabama and Michael remained in New York, helping his father in his restaurant.

It was not easy to forget her but he was not ready to reconcile, though she phoned him several times from Alabama. He did not answer her calls and his adamant stance did not change.

At Christmas, when Meena came back home, she visited him but he did not want to see her. She was utterly disappointed and she went back.

One evening, at a party, Meena and Michael came across but he did not even greet her. She was hurt, deeply hurt. Michael was with a young blonde. He seemed to be having good time with the girl. They were drinking, dancing, and chatting with their friends. Meena was standing at a little distance but her eyes were constantly fixed at him.

After a few days, she went back to Alabama. Usually, when she went back after the Christmas, she would be very happy but this year it was different. She was broken-hearted, sad, and gloomy. She did not speak to anyone during the flight.

On the other hand, Michael pretended to be happy but it was not so. He dated many girls in the following years but it did not please him. He hardly went steady with a girl more than one month.

In that year, Meena called her twice but he did not answer her calls. Now, Meena actually believed that it was over and she began to concentrate on her studies.

Three years passed without any correspondence or meeting with Meena. Michael was not himself and he tried many things to keep himself away from the thoughts of Meena but the sleeping ghosts of their relationship always jumped up at the slightest hint.

After three years, he happened to visit Alabama. He was staying at his friend’s. One evening, they were in a night club. There he saw Meena with her friends, most of them girls.

Before the entry of Michael, she was laughing and joking with her friends but when she saw Michael everything paused and she got serious. She felt she could not move her eyes from him.

That day Michael did not have any girl friend with him. Meena rallied courage and approached him.

“Hello, Michael,” she smiled, standing in front of him.

“Hi, Meena, how are you?”

“I am fine, and you?”

“Doing well…”

“I don’t see any girlfriend with you?” she said in a sarcastic tone of voice.

“I have come to meet my friend here,” Michael tried to hide his embarrassment.

After that they did not speak much, expect for a few things about their home and home town.

When Michael came back home, he felt he had to do something because Meena’s face was haunting him everywhere. He dialed her number but she did not answer.

In the following two months, he tried several times but there was no response. He could not control his emotions and, finally, he decided to fly to Alabama.

He reached his friend’s house and told him everything. They enquired around and found that Meena had found a job in Dallas and she had been living there for two months.

Michael and his friend drove to Dallas and reached the company where she worked. They were shocked to know that Meena was in hospital.

They rushed to the hospital.

A nurse said, “It is all over now. She died six hours ago. It was a head on collision with a truck. Her car was literally crushed and she had multiple fractures and serious head injuries.”

Michael sat down on the floor and began to weep. Yes, it was too late. She had left him with unfathomable regret.