Arcanum 184 Paul and I

"It's so peaceful here." Helen said, looking around.

"Are We There Yet?" Daisy said popping her head out the front.

"We have no idea... Jay said follow this road." Helen and Grace answered.

"Jeez it's only been an hour... we still got a long way to go." Jay replied to Daisy.

"But it's so boring!" Daisy complained, "Hey Morgana what you writing!" She asked noticing Morgana was doing something trying to entertain herself.

"I'm taking notes on plants and herbs I see, in case we need them or I need them later." She answered.

"This place looks pleasant to live in." I said noticing it was remarkably peaceful compared to other places we've been.

"Peaceful may be good to live in, but it not good for business." Jay answered.

"How comes?" I questioned.

"Well lack of monsters means lack of adventures, and adventures bring huge business, food, weapons, supplies, inns etc... so an area that's peaceful is just stagnant." Jat explained.

"Surly being peaceful means it would be good for farmland and animals." I questioned.

"that would be great is the rich barons didn't own all the land, stopping or restricting people from doing anything." Jay explained.

"Ahh I see..." I answered.

"Oh Morgana.. I need to tell you something.. but it's a bit of a secret." I said to her, remembering I needed to tell her my secret.

"That you're from the same home plane as Paul?" She questioned without even a sign of shock still writing into her little notebook.

"Wait how did you know?" I asked in shock.

"It's obvious Mother told me Paul isn't from here, you and him seem to have more of just a friend's relationship, specially to go out his way to make a deal with mother and got tricked because he was panicking. So I concluded that you guys must be from the same plane." She explained, still focused on her wiring.

"Well, I didn't know I was that obvious." I answered surprised as she worked it out the first day we met.

"You not so much.... I feel your feelings towards him is a little different, Paul on the other hand he hides it poorly." she chuckled still focused on her book.

"We've got a lot of time to burn. Tell us about you and Paul." Daisy asked with a raised eyebrow.

"All right time to get up, I need to listen to this." Jay said sitting up.

"Hey she's finally going to talk about Paul?" Grace asked popping her head in.

"Hey aren't you steering?" I instantly questioned in shock.

"It's all right, it's a straight stretch of road." She laughed.

"So where are we starting?" How they met?.. or when they were together." Grace asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Urghhh." Morgana sighed, "I'll take the reins." She offered switching places with Grace.

"Okay fine.." I reluctantly agreed. "He tell's me we first met when we was 16 on the first day of college." I began to tell the story.

"What's a college?" Daisy asked curiously.

"It's a place you go to learn things a bit like Atlantis." I answered.

"Oh, okay." She smiled.

"He say's he always remembers it vividly, I met his best friend before him because we both studied business studies together and his friend's family was from the same country and village as my family so we naturally hit it off as friends. He told me that his friends introduced me to him and it was like love at first sight, for him like his heart skipped a beat and he could never forget my smile." I recounted to them.

"And you didn't notice him?!" Daisy asked in shock.

"No, I didn't at all, maybe he didn't make a big impression on me or I'm forgetful but I did met many people that day maybe he just got lost in the mass of people I met." I answered her.

"Oh, no." Grace answered, fully invested.

"I'm sorry but I've got to listen to this." Helen said jumping in the back making herself comfortable.

"So about a year passed where we didn't really know each other he had a girlfriend at the time a Chinese girl who was in his class called Jade." I told them.

"NO!" Daisy gasped in shock.

"What's a Chinese?" Jay questioned.

"Chinese is a race, Paul is Chinese because his family is from a country called China whereas I'm Indian because my family is from India, over there everyone is human and where you come from is akin to races here. Generally people prefer to be with people their own race, my parents always preferred me to be with and marry an Indian person to keep traditions and stuff, and Paul's parents would similarly prefer him to be with a Chinese girl." I answered Jay, trying to explain as simply as possible.

"Oh understandable." Jay nodded.

"So we didn't really become friends till a year after, like some weird game of fates one friend dropped out of a trip our friend group was planning to go on. Just as we were discussing who to invite to fill the slot, Paul happened to pass by, his best friend noticed him and called him inside to meet us, everyone got to know him a little and agreed to invite him. He was a little weird at first, distance not very talkative but he was always there for us when we needed." I explained.

"Wow, so it was fate that brought you both together." Helen said eagerly, waiting to hear the next part.

"Slowly he got more and more comfortable in our group eventually becoming a great friend, everyone loved him, he was funny, smart, always willing to help and looked like he had everything planned out, but something felt odd like he didn't want to get to know me too well. He'd always avoid conversation with me getting too personal. At the time my parents we're pushing me to meet a guy called Raj, his dad was friends with mine very wealthy famous and he was Indian." I carried on telling the story.

"Dramaaaaa" Grace laughed, listening intently.

"Oh, no!" Daisy gasped, fully invested in my side of the story.

"We had a group discussion about our partners and crushes which lead to my relationship with Raj and how my parents were looking to seal the marriage. Then like a switch Paul was suddenly invested in my life. He kept telling me what Raj wasn't the right match for me and he isn't as great as everyone thinks he is. He kept making these points that at first seemed ridiculous, but it gave me some doubts." I began explaining.

"Like what?" Jay asked curiously.

"Like he's too rich you won't have a fulfilling life, I wouldn't like all the fame and limelight, he would spend all his time at work and no time for me and lastly I'd hate all the attention he gets from other women." I listed a few of the problems I could remember on the top of my head.

"Interesting." Jay asked.

"And he didn't know this Raj at all?" Grace and Helen asked.

"Nope, not at all, even till now they have never met or anything." I answered.

"How would he know so much about him?" they asked.

"No idea.. maybe a gut feeling or reading stuff on him.. Raj was a little famous." I answered.

"And he didn't have any magic at the time?" they questioned.

"Nope, as far as I know he couldn't use magic." I answered.

"Weird." They both answered.

"Then Paul and his girlfriend wasn't doing to well and broke up, we all thought it was a bit sudden but he insisted they had underlying problems. We got a lot closer at that point, I was helping cheer him up over his breakup, we would always talk to till sun rise because I always found it hard to sleep." I told them.

"And that's when you both fell for each other." Daisy smiled, predicting the story.

"Not quite actually, my parents kept pushing me to accept an arranged marriage, at that time Raj and I met a few times and I kinda liked him and he seemed so great so our family met with his family to accept the proposal and discuss wedding plans." I answered her.

"Wait what?!" They all answered in shock.

"Yeah.. I could really see my future with Raj, wealthy to the point where I wouldn't need to worry about finances and have the freedom and time pursuing my dreams and travel the world with a loving partner and family. Also, best of all my parents won't need to stress or worry about my future." I answered, chuckling at their reaction. "Soon after that.. Paul mother died, he was absolutely devastated at the time none of us knew, all we noticed was that he vanished for about a month of two, literally vanished no one could contact him or find him.. all I remember was a missed call and text one night, telling me that his mum passed away." I carried on telling them.

"His mum died?.." Daisy asked in shocked sounding saddened.

"Yes, sadly.. he told me it was sudden and unexpected... one moment she was here and then the next she wasn't." I answered, remembering how saddened he was when he told me.

"What's a text?" Jay asked.

"In my world we have a device called mobiles which let use talk to each other no matter how far we are, we can also send messages and these messages is what we call a text." I answered him.

"So then what happened?!" Helen asked eagerly, ready to hear the next part of the story.

He returned coming back to school like everything was okay and normal, like the time he vanished was the closure and time he needed to deal with the grief. During that time Raj and I wasn't doing the best either, I missed Paul dearly while he was gone all the time's we spent together in college and all the late nights. Raj being a full-time student and working in his Family business didn't have much time for me, creating doubts in my mind that just kept growing and growing. Then like a whirlwind Paul came back into my life, he told me he loved me. At first I told him that my parents would never accept it and that I'm committed to Raj, but he didn't care he said he loved no matter what happens even if my parents would never accept him. I concluded half the story.

"And that's when you realised you loved him?" Daisy questioned in anticipation.

"And.. that's the end of the story till now." I chuckled, making them all boo me.

"You have to tell us what happens next!" They all begged.

"The rest is boring stuff, really." I laughed at all of their disappointment amusing.

Chapter end