Mr. Romantic(The more you hate the more you love series)

"You're insane, Inessa Suarez,"

Inessa’s beige-hazel eyes shimmered with the utmost amount of happiness, hearing those words of her best friend, Mirana, whereas an alluringly warm smile crept on her full pink lips by watching that little puppy snuggling in her arms.

"Well if it makes me insane then I guess…I am insane, Mirana,” She replied while giggling and stroking that puppy's head gently. In return the little puppy rubbed its face on her chest that was covered in mud.

"Oh! no. Ness. Place it back on the bench. Look, it's dirtying your clothes,” Mirana uttered with a frown.

A soft chuckle escaped from Inessa's mouth, hearing Mirana but instead of following her best friend's words, she cleaned the puppy's muddy face gently with the sleeve of her plain, white midi dress, which was covering her till her knees.

"You're never going to change,” Mirana sighed, seeing her best friend brushing the nose bridge against the puppy’s cheek.

"Till the last beat of my heart,"

Inessa's response made her friend chuckle, especially by watching the puppy snuggling its face inside Inessa's neck.

"Hold on, Ms. Suarez. It's not your baby,"

"Are you calling me a b*tch, Mirana?" She questioned her by giving her friend a fake glare, which made Mirana laugh and shook her head.

"No, I am just praising your precious habit for caring about each and everything,” Mirana uttered in a teasing tone.

Both the girls tittered but their attention darted towards the puppy which had started barking in her arms.

"Now look, even he's agreeing with me,” Mirana remarked, pointing her finger at that puppy, making Inessa smile and caress its head.

"Ok but now, what are we going to do with it because I can't keep it with me as my brother is allergic to dogs and you can't keep it with you because your aunt would never let it get inside her house?"

Inessa's smile fell from her face at Mirana's words. She swallowed hard, just by remembering her aunt, Rein and her house, where she was living from the age of 15, after she lost her mother.

"But we can't leave it alone like this. Look ,it's so tiny and even weak. It won't be able to survive the night here in this chilled weather," Inessa sounded extremely concerned for that puppy.

"Then I guess, I have an idea,” Mirana spoke, making her eyes twitch again in excitement..

"Really? But what?"

"I will search the nearest animal shelter on my phone, then we can drop it there, so they can look after it,"

Her hazel eyes filled with happiness again, hearing her friend. She immediately nodded her head at Mirana.

Mirana took out her phone and then found the nearest animal shelter from their location.

"Yeah, I got it but there's a problem," Mirana uttered ,making Inessa tense.

"What? "

"The shelter is a little far from here, almost one and half hour drive from here, so we need to book a taxi for it because there's no vehicle service facility available from the authority of that shelter, "

Inessa heard her friend's words and the hesitancy in her voice made it completely evident what was the problem, which made Inessa to heave softly.

"Don't worry, I'll pay for the taxi as I have gotten my remuneration from the cafeteria today, "

Her friend's eyes widened hearing Inessa's reply.

"Have you lost it, Ness? Your aunt will kill you if she finds out that even a single penny is missing from your remuneration. Did you forget what she did to you last time when you took some money from your salary? No, don't even think about it,"

Her hazel eyes, on their own, got deprived of every emotion as her mind recalled that day, when how brutally her aunt torn her clothes and had pressed an extremely heated ladle on her bare arm to make her remember that she should never even dare to think about doing something for her own self, just because she had taken some money from her own earnings for buying a shirt for her that day for the first time in her life.

Her painful thoughts got broken by the soft barking of that puppy. Inessa blinked her lashes to clear her teary vision.

"I can't leave it here alone, Mi. I'll take it to the animal shelter, "

Her friend exhaled a firm breath and nodded in agreement because she was completely familiar with Inessa's nature.

"I am sorry, I wish I could have gotten my wages today but I haven't and I don't have that much money," She apologized with her regretful voice, which made Inessa beamed.

"Hey, it's okay. Don't be sorry. I know if you would have had the money then you must have surely helped me, Mi," Inessa responded, smilingly, because she knew her only friend Mirana was a very warm hearted person, whom she had met at the cafeteria where they both were currently working as a waitress, for the past 3 years.

Inessa knew that her friend would never step back from helping her but she was in need of money more than her because Mirana's younger brother had been diagnosed with cancer and she had requested their cafeteria owner to give her salary to her on a quarterly basis for her brother's treatment.

"Ok, now call the taxi. We have to get back before the sunset," Inessa said while swinging that puppy in her arms which made her friend smile.

After a couple of hours, they both reached the animal shelter and then handed the puppy to the shelter authority.

"Bye.I am going to miss you, little one,” Inessa uttered, pecking that puppy's head.

The old lady, who was in incharge of that shelter, smiled, watching her. She took the puppy from Inessa.

"Thank you, dear. Nowadays, when a human doesn't even hesitate to take another human's life in their own selfishness, you thought so much about this innocent animal's life,"

Both the girls beamed at that lady's words .

"Because she's our one and only Inessa, who is a little bit different and unique as compared to today's people," Mirana spoke, chuckling, which made Inessa roll her eyes..

"Yeah…she basically means, I am insane,” Inessa also laughed while stating her own words, until she heard that lady replying.

"It's better to be insane than to opt for the fakeness of sanity,” The lady's words broadened Inessa's smile.

"Exactly, I totally agree with this, "Inessa commented, making everyone laugh.

“Ok, now it's already very late. We have to get back home now,"

Inessa sighed hearing Mirana's statement because for her, there was nothing in her life which could be considered as 'her home'. But she still reluctantly nodded and spoke.

"Ok then, it's good to meet you. "

Inessa said to that lady with a smile who returned the gesture with a soft beam.

"And I hope, I will meet you soon little one, take care," Inessa uttered to that puppy, while tapping on its head, and then both the girls walked out from that shelter.

After half an hour, the taxi stopped in front of that small wooden door, which made her hazel eyes turn almost lifeless because that was where her journey ended, but her destination was never supposed to be this

"Ness,"

Inessa trailed her eyes away from the glass window and then looked at her friend.

Inessa caught that extreme amount of fear in Mirana’s eyes because Mirana was the only person in her life who knew what was possibly going to happen to her inside that door..

"Ness...I..."

"It's ok, Mi. I am fine,"

Her reply made her friend's eyes to slightly fill with tears because Mirana was completely familiar with the cruelty which was hiding behind that closed door for her friend.

Sighing heavily, she held Inessa's hand.

"Once again happy birthday, Inessa. Hope your this birthday would end your each and every pain and tear, and is going to get you blessed with the things you deserve in your life,"

Her beautiful words made Inessa's smile broaden. Today was Inessa's 20th birthday.

Inessa gave her friend a soft hug and replied with a beam.

"Thank you so much, Mi,"

The thing that hurt Mirana even more was that Inessa had never let her smile fall from her face, even when she clearly knew how much pain that smile was going to cost her.

Mirana weakly beamed and then nodded at her.

"I'll meet you at the cafeteria, tomorrow," Inessa said, which made Mirana's grip tighten around her palm.

Inessa darted her eyes down at their collided palm and sighed.

"I am fine. I really am. Don't worry,"

Mirana breathed out sharply at her words and then freed her hand from her grip, which she didn't want to but she had to.

"Bye. Take care, " Inessa uttered with a warm smile. Mirana bobbed her head, hesitating.

"You too, "

Inessa nodded at her, and then she opened the taxi’s door.

As soon as she stepped out of the taxi, a bone chilling air struck against all over her body and face, which dried up the lone tear that was rolling down on her cheek as she also knew what kind of pain awaited inside this closed door for her.

But she had no escape from that pain. She needed to endure it, so she walked towards that closed door.

On the other hand, sitting inside that cab, Mirana just helplessly stared at her friend's figure, which was getting closer to that door of pain, where her soul was going to get ruptured.

A single tear fell from Mirana's eyes when her eyes saw that door to get opened and Inessa to get completely disappeared inside it, and then the door behind her to get closed.

"Hope this new year of your life really gives you the love you deserve where you will not have to hide your tears and fake your smile, Inessa....” Mirana breathed out, gazing at that closed door with her glossy eyes.

And little did Mirana know…that night her prayer was going to get answered.

That tonight…. Inessa was going to come in front of a man, who was going to love her more than his life.

.......................

Disclaimer:

This book is a work of fiction. All the characters, names, places, businesses, events and settings are either made up from the author's imagination or are used in a fictional manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, locales or events, is purely coincidental.

Thank you so much for reading and supporting the book. Take care.