It Worked: The Experiment

         Two words - no chemistry. A physicist theorized it was chemical reaction. The story of Mel and Reez didn't have the necessary chemical reaction, and so no chemistry. They couldn't understand each other, failed to muster each other's feelings. They were the opposite in every sense. For all intents and purposes, they agreed on one thing - their relationship was doomed to oblivion. So, split. Why? There's no why.

         "How can we end this relationship?" Again that's not a question.

         "Right now, Mel. This is all futile. Let us end this right away." No dice rolls. Though both sometimes acted like kids, they were educated.

         A week had lapsed, Reez called Mel. The couple realized that in as much as they could not live with each other, neither could live without the other. That's a Shakespeare. Now here's the twist.

         Five in the afternoon on a lazy Friday, with drizzles outside her window, Reez wasn't expecting Mel that cold, sleepy day. In bed with somebody, curling her lazy, and sexy container with someone like Carl, whose hairy face was right in her bosom. Mom made a tap on her door.

         "Mel's here!" Carl meowed away.

         "Tell him to go away."

         Right away, Mel packed his things, settled in an island.

         "I'm thinking of not seeing you for all eternity," he muttered to the wind.

         The cell phone rang.

         "Mel, I'm sorry."

         "Here we go again ... sorry, sorry."

         What's sorry for?

         "All right, I was mean and I'm sorry. I promise it won't happen again, Mel."

         "I'm trying to understand you Reez."

         "You have to. Remember it was no time for you to pick me up."

         "I know, seven o'clock was our agreed time, but you did the thing I hated most - sending me away, you know that."

         If it was a line phone, Mel could have banged it. Talking of chemical reaction. Newton's law of motion states: for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

         The couple were together one lovely, final evening. Lovely as the sun turns its face away. Mel got up from his seat, talked with Reez by the eyes, held her hands so tightly, as if to say "I love you".

          "It's time, Reez."

          "Time to what?"

          "End up."

          "Split up?" Reez stretched her eyebrows, her eyes were dry.

          "Yes?"

          "How?"

          "Seek counsel," Mel said, as if it was the easiest way to solve a puzzle.

          "Talk to a lawyer?" Reez stood up, like she understood it all along.

          "Yes, I think so."

          "Wait a minute, we're not yet married!" Now, she really understood the case on hand.

          "Yes, but we can seek counsel," he gesticulated, looking for understanding.

          "We're not yet married, then how can you say we ask the assistance of a lawyer." She talked like a counsel.

          "It is the only way, Reez. We can't go our separate ways, but we can't live together. A lawyer can help us settle this legally."

          "You think so?"

          He nodded; she agreed. The second time they agreed on one thing.

          In an office, the couple consulted their case. They could have been more prudent had they read the sign: WE SPECIALIZE ON ANNULMENT.

          "I can't think of any advice - you can't file for a divorce," the lawyer reasoned out, "but you can file for a restraining order."

          "A restraint order? What's that?" Mel jumped from his seat, faced the lawyer squarely.

          "A restraining order to order either of you to keep away from each other, within a radius of a hundred meters, meaning you can't get near each other within the specified distance, if not, the court will order the arrest of whoever will make an attempt."

          The counsel breathed, paused for a few seconds, and looked at her clients to see their reactions.

          "Do we understand each other?"

          Mel nodded, Reez was dumbfounded. The counsel repeated her question, the two agreed.

          And they lived happily... no, they lived peacefully. A day after the restraining order took effect, Mel and Reez went their separate lives - Mel a successful businessman, Reez a high-quota car saleswoman.

          On the second day, Reez woke up so early. "A nice sleep, tension-free evening," she thought.

          Mel started the morning with his regular exercises. "This is the life that I imagined. Oh, Reez, why didn't we think of it before? We could have lived separately long ago. That restraining order was a simple solution. God, oh God, thank you, thank you."

          The cell phone rang.

          "Reez?"

          "Yes, Mel, it's me. And I didn't call to say that I miss you. I just want to tell you that IT WORKED." It really worked. It was a duet, from their respective cell phones.

          "What about you, did you not miss me?"

          "Oh, no, just a couple of thoughts."

          "What are those? Why don't you share it with me?"

          "I just imagined the last fight we had."

          "Oh, the one when I hit you, so sorry about that Mel."

          "My gums ached for days, but it's okay now."

          "I'm glad you've forgiven me on that."

          "And I'm glad we're okay now, we can live peacefully."

          "Yes, but anyway the restraining order only covered the distance - not the cell phone." Reez's voice was melancholic, captivating to the ears of Mel.

          "What do you mean, Reez?" Now Mel sounded like a sweetheart, fatherly. Something Reez loved of Mel.

          "Oh, you know, we still can talk through our cell phones."

          "I also think so... we can talk for hours without being apprehended by a police officer."

          "Yeah, without being near each other."

          "Okay, a hundred and ten meters from each other in the park, and we can talk for hours, the order can't cover that."

          "That's wonderful!"

          "Oh, I really miss you, Mel!"

          "Miss you too, Reez!"

          The third time they agreed. What a love! And what a crazy world they lived in.