Old Love

It all came about by chance. He noticed her as he was waiting for his friend at a moderately priced restaurant to join him for a casual reunion. She was sipping coffee at a table by the window. Her face had that ageless quality that gives the viewer the impression that it is one of the faces that is frozen in time and she could be in her twenties, thirtees or forties as she chose to present herself. This time she looked to be in her early thirties. She was fashionably dressed, though not expensively. She had a moderately priced handbag. She looked remote, looking inward, mildly arrogant. However, as he looked at her longer, he thought what he detected was a deep sadness and a fragile veneer of remoteness and arrogance on top. Beneath all this was a sadness that said "Go away, I will bring nothing but gloom, I am one of the depressed kind that's good on stories and movies but bad for real life". She must have felt something. She looked in his direction and into his eyes. Their eyes locked for a full minute;. his, with curiosity, and hers, with defiance and longing and suddenly a force. He gasped and realized that beneath all her outer veneer, there was an underlying primitive force, a primal nature and a sensuality that had never been recognized and understood fully.

Unconsciously, he started walking towards her as she looked at him with a hint of a sardonic smile on her lips. He reached her table and stood looking at her, hesitating. She did not speak, but she did not look away either. Then suddenly, "Oh there you are"; He turned around and saw his friend calling him loudly. He looked back at her and she was still smiling sardonically. Reluctantly he turned back to join his friend. Throughout the lunch, his eyes kept wandering to get another look at her amidst the cheerful chatter of his friend.

"Oli what the hell is wrong is with you? You haven't touched your food at all. Are you ashamed to see me, now that you have become the great millionaire?"

With a start Oliver turned to look at his friend. He noticed that he had indeed been rude, flushed and quickly apologized. "Matty, I am really sorry, I didn't mean to be rude. Tell me, how is the gorgeous Hanna?" Matty looked at him as if he had lost his mind.

" Hanna is very well thank you, and we are expecting our first son. I have been telling you that at least twenty times since I arrived. Really Oli, is this how you treat your friend from childhood?"

Oliver flushed more. "Matty, you know me. It's not lack of interest, and I don't get distracted easily, but I thought I saw someone I knew". Matty looked in the direction Oliver was looking. He saw her as she was looking out the window finishing her coffee. He turned back to Oliver. "Doesn't ring a bell to me. But it feels like I've seen her somewhere. The face is so familiar, I cannot seem to put a name to the face. Must be one of those deja vu cases. In any case, she's not the type you like. Could she be one of your staff or someone you met in a business meeting?"

Oliver shook his head. "Anyway Matty, we are here for you. Tell me more about yourself. I heard that you got funding for your research. That's fantastic. Tell me more about your research"

"Note: View this Note""Well, as you know, my research is to reverse ageing. Ever since we mapped out the human genome, we have been looking for ways to slow ageing, even reverse it and cheat death. But so far, we have not really been successful. Also, because of some confusing ethical reasons and government control, unless you are working in military research or for a private firm under strict government controls, we coudn't really validate our findings with human subjects. The best knowledge we have on the possibilities of reversing are from the infamous Dr. Killer experiments. And as you know Dr. Killer, as he is called, is not really someone you can talk to or a name you'd like to be associated with....""Note: View this Note"

As Matt kept talking, Oliver turned to look at her again. She had left. With a disappointed sigh, he turned his attention to his friend. He owed something to Matty. After all, Matty was in some ways, responsible for his current success. He tried to listen to Matty, but he couldn't help thinking about her.

.........***............

Oliver sat down heavily in his chair and started gazing out the window of his plush office. Usually the magnificent view of the city and the bay would have calmed him down on a stressful day. But today, he felt spent. He was happy that he had been able to see Matt. Matt was one of the few childhood friends, whom he could count on to be a true friend, and not one of the countless well wishers at his office who were eager to please him, but would stab him at the slightest opportunity. Seeing Matt brought to him a memory of a world where he did not have to be cautious, alert all the time, a world where he could lose himself in simple pleasures. Then he thought of her; the enigmatic woman at the restaurant and felt a strange thrilling feeling course through his veins. But something about her had also unsettled him. He wanted to see her again and something told him that this was not a closed chapter and that he would see her again. Sighing deeply, he composed himself and got back to his work.

Oliver and Matt had studied together at high school. Both of them had grown in a quiet upscale suburban neighbourhood. While Oliver had the good fortune of growing up in a wealthy household, Matt's life seemed to be full of misfortunes from the beginning.

To be Continued...

"Note: View this Note": This section is not factual. I'm reading up and will be refining this as I go. Inputs are most welcome to make this correct and factual. Dr. Killer is an invention.