73 Don'st you remember?

"I'm joking." Ash had a wry smile on his face, catching the novel sight of usually the cold Ira with aflustered appearance.

Totally losing her cool!

She let out a sigh: "Are you really fine?" She sounded worried.

"Drop that expression. Look I am really fine, laughing. How do you get scared so easily?"

Ash's joke was harsh. The situation made Ira panic, she struck his head hard.

"Is this your attitude with an injured person?" He exclaimed.

"I am in pain all over."

Ash cries for plea were ignored. Though he was still laughing.

"I don't find anything funny. Why are you laughing?"

With a beaming smile, Ash was on high clouds.

Reason: Red hair.

In that moment of terror, fear and pain, all he felt for her was love and longing. He wanted to hold and kiss her. He wanted her to ease his suffering and thought she would magically make all of his pain go away.

Similar feelings apparent on that night when he was with her, in the bar drinking their sorrows off.

She was a firefighter who saved his life out of her duty. Even though this was all irrational, at that moment she saved his life, he loved her. Ash could not deny his feelings anymore. With all of his heart, He had fallen in love so easily with another.

They say, in times of crisis when the feelings of risk and insecurity are heightened, the door to love is wide open. It is even easier to fall in love but such love is just a 'Mirage'

But why can't the rough patches in life prove to be fertile ground for love to blossom? Does love need a reason?  

Even though it is a mirage, it is love. Can love be defined by the situation you are in?

Ash decided to find the girl.

-----        

In a high-end restaurant, Ira and Viv were sitting facing each other. In candlelight, Ira's eyes sparkled. Viv was staring at the beautiful Ira who kept looking around.

"Ira, you seem anxious. Is there a problem?" Viv noticed her anxiousness.

"You are thinking about it again. Right?" He guessed it was because of Ash's accident.

"No, That's not what I am worried about. I am thinking about something else." Still looking around.

Not digging deeper, Viv picked up his knife and fork, slicing streak in smaller sections and like a gentleman, exchanged his plate with his wife.

Ira: "Viv, why have you brought me here? This place bought many unpleasant memories to me."

"It has good food," Viv replied with an unpredictable smile, busy cutting his streak.

"Most of my blind dates were set up here by dad. I hate this place. I have met the stupidest people here." Noticing a questioning gaze on her, Ira looked into his eyes. She recalled Viv was one of the blind date, one of the people she called stupid.

'You are Stupid. Idiot. Dumb.' she said to herself.

With pleading eyes, Ira inquired: "Viv was our blind date also set here. Wasn't it?"

Viv with Irony in his eyes, questioned her: "Don't you remember?"

Actually, Viv had already guessed the reason for her distress. He bought her to the restaurant deliberately, to make her recall their blind date.