Change! That is the word

Most good, difficult and challenging stuff comes into life with the definite want and need for a change. A change is always desired and it is accompanied by the hope that the situation will get better, though in reality there is always the chance that the reverse might happen. Still, for those willing to take a chance do have a chance, and if things go right, the change that comes to them might be the change they had hoped for or had dreamed of.

In Soulmates Never Part, Sheila at a certain stage in her life needs a change and she looks for it. She takes a decision and goes on with the tide that it leads her to. It drops her at a point that is an immensely challenging issue for her as she has never done it before. Should she or shouldn’t she? A glimpse of the situation through pages five to eight follows.

“You are the best Personnel Manager I have ever had, Sheila,” he told her, being overly lavish with his words. “I would go on to say that you manage people better than I do!”

The warmth of the compliment unexpectedly spread through her, and Sheila was glad that his cell phone chose to ring at that precise moment. 

“I’ll deal with this file before I wind up today, Mr. Paul, and I will also put down instructions on my desk,” she said after he had answered the call and got up, holding a file. Once she had unfolded herself, she stood taller than his wife at around five feet four inches plus two-inches of her high heeled sandals, looking cool and elegant, and Nathan Paul suddenly had a weird feeling that he was going to lose her sooner than later.

“See you after you get back, Sheila,” he said anyway, as she moved towards the door, “Do make sure that you have a good time and get back refreshed.” 

An hour later, Sheila cleared her table, put down the instructions for the coming week as she had promised her boss she would do, so that her substitute would be able to manage well in her absence, and then she checked her computer.  When she was ready to leave, she picked up her purse and left her cabin, shutting the glass door softly behind her.

It was a Saturday, and normally a half-day in Nathan Paul’s comfortable office. But Sheila was used to working late, usually till seven in the evening even on Saturdays, if the circumstances so demanded. Today, however, she was lucky that the work load was lighter and it would be splendid to reach home early for a change.

Change!  That was the word, Sheila told herself, her heart suddenly beating fast, as she waited for a bus to show up at the bus stand.  As she was leaving early today, she had to use public transport in place of the company van that she normally commuted on every day. Well, this was a change too in a way, wasn’t it! Was change really on the cards? Was she finally going to be happy?

Everything had changed since that call from Abel Freeman came in last evening. Sheila felt an unfamiliar thrill run through her as she recalled his clear, masculine voice on her cell phone.  She suppressed a smile that threatened to appear madly on her lips. Soon she got inside the bus that luckily, was taking her route.  It was great that she did not have a long wait at the bus stand.

Taking a seat beside a plump middle-aged woman, she looked out of the window.  Inwardly, Sheila had been unusually happy throughout the day but she had carefully maintained her regular cool, distant attitude in the office.  Essentially, Abel was a name that she couldn’t share with anyone, and though she hadn’t even physically met him as yet, he had hinted that they were soulmates.

The richness she had felt ever since their relationship had surfaced in her life was a miraculous shot in the arm for her at this stage of her life.  Abel had emerged out of the blue and had dispelled her worries, anxieties and loneliness, all in one go, and had given her the confidence to face the world with poise, the urge to move on. It was a push she desperately needed.

“Abel, oh Abel, that deep voice of yours, the words you used and the thoughts you have expressed, all of them haunt me so,” she whispered to herself as the bus speeded on to take her closer to her home. “I am so glad that at long last, we will be meeting each other tomorrow!”

Her gaze traveled across the western sky that was dotted with clouds and was held by the wintry looking sun, so pure, so lovely, and so impossible to touch.  Sheila felt that that was how her love was - Out of reach, unquestionably warm, and as certain as the celestial ball.

“It is time we met, Sheila,” Abel Freeman had said when he had rung her up from Mumbai yesterday, “I am dying to see this woman who has had me enchanted, held my interest for five continuous years now.  I have wondered a million times who exactly you are, what are you like and countless other such things, and every time, I ended up holding an enigma. I want to see you Sheila, more than anything else in the world.”  His voice had been earnest and compelling.

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