The Cherry-Blossoms !

Those cherry-blossoms had always reminded her of her home. Even after they had brought her the life of misery but they seemed to carry the essence of homeliness, harbinger of some good ol’ times. After all, George had proposed her to marry him … under one of those cherry blossoms!

But, this was all 6 years ago. And, she was revisiting the town again. It took her a lot of courage to finally think of going back. She was convinced she needed the kind of closure to put her life back on tracks. After all, it was not her fault! When George, the one person that she had chosen for her, the only person for whom she went against her parents, left her at the altar with an excuse that he was not in love with her anymore; she could feel the crippling eye-balls on her, slicing her right through her heart and she could not even raise her eyes. She could not defend her then.  But, it was 6 years ago.

She reached Longville after long journey of 7 hours. The town hadn’t changed much while she had been away except there were few more stalls at the curb and a little less greenery. She could see all those familiar houses passing behind from the rear-view mirror of her car. Her heart had started pacing thinking her own house was just few blocks away.  She wanted to overcome it just didn’t know how. She started thinking what reaction she should expect form her parents when they see her. What about George? Will they be happy to see her? Should she have gotten different gifts for them? There were a lot of questions in her mind and her seat-belt suddenly started reining in on her. She was nauseated and she pushed the brake hard, very hard. Then only she realized she was sweating. Profusely! She opened the water-bottle and splashed some on her face. It took her few minutes to finally convince herself this was not what she had come here for.  

Finally, she reached the curb of her house, the house she had vacated 6 years ago. Everything was same except it was repainted in a different shade of green, most probably her mother’s choice. She emptied the gifts in her right hand. There were lots of them. With just her car-key in her right hand, she pressed the bell. Praying to Almighty for things to turn out good, she waited impatiently.

A moment after, the door opened and she saw her mother standing, drooping and with a little more grey hair. And all she could do was leap at her to hug and cry while the mother was trying to accommodate the fact that her little girl was finally here. They held each other in a tight embrace and those lifeless eyes looked so sprightly … suddenly! Now she could just think of why it took her so long to come back. Had she just seen into her mother’s eyes 6 years back, she could have seen how torn they were and all they wanted was to take her daughter and hug her and tell her that this was not the end. But, it took her 6 years to learn that!