She didn’t want to leave without Peter, but this time itseemed that she had to face the dilemma of awaiting or losing the man she hadbeen loving. 6 minutes had never been longer than in her passed 32 years. Allof a sudden, a spooky phone ringing broke the death-like silence as if a swordripped off the darkest sky. Hannah was startled by this abrupt scaring sound. Apparentlyit distracted her for a while from being desperately anxious. She tried to neglectit, but failed.
“Oh, my God! It mightbe a call from that stupid lad!” She suddenly excitedly said to herself, withher suitcase dropping heavily on the floor.
The epiphany was an unexpected reassurance for her. Hurriedly
she rushed to the telephone where the eerie ring came from. Time meant everything
for her at that point, so she ran as if she was in a race against the ruthless time. The porter was shocked by the weirdpassenger running in the dark.
“What’sthe matter, Lady?”, he asked puzzlingly.
Nothing wasmore vital for her to approach the shrill ringing.
In a murky corner,she saw an antiquated telephone in a dirty shabby booth.
“Hello?! Isthat Peter?” She answered the strange phone as she gasped.
“Listen, Hannah,but please don’t ask why. I’ll tell you everything when I meet you in Doddaballapur….”
She was lostfor words, doubting whether it was true or a sheer dream.
However,before she was figured it out, a dirty old train was crawling to the station,and slowly stopped like a ponderous worm.
It was 11.58.
She hurriedlygot up the train, too mysteries continued to perplex her.
The carriagewas empty, as if it was a journey to nowhere.
One hourlater, she showed up at the platform of Doddaballapur, a totally remote placeshe had never imagined to visit in her lifetime. Their previously scheduled destinationBangalore was 1300 miles away.
When she waseagerly waiting for his man, her suitcase was taken away by a man behind.
As she screamed
and turned around, she was gob smacked to find that Peter was standing there. However,
it was not that familiar Liverpudlian hunk. Instead, it was man in black cotton kurta withfull-rim black glasses.
“Why…”, beforeshe blurted out, Peter clamped over her mouth and took her quickly to the exit.The screen above the exit showed it was 1:02 AM.
Outside of thetrain station, a limousine was waiting for them.
When they got in,a piece of music was being played by the CD, it was Yo-Yo Ma’sThe Swan. The melody was strongly reminiscentof their first date in Philharmonic Hall one year ago, where Yoyo Ma gave hisfirst ever performance in Liverpool.
As she was guessingand recalling, a bunch of rose appeared in front of her.
“You are the melodyof my life. Happy anniversary. Hanhan!”
“Oh, my goodness!” She was overwelled by a tidalwave of emotion.
“But, why didyou went off and didn’t turn up as ever before? Why did you ask me to comehere? Why are wearing like an Indian man? Why…”
She asked likea child filled with curiosity.
“It’s a longstory, but considering today is special, so let me tell you truth.”
“Come on! Quick!”
“I am Kingsman.”
“What? Youmean…you are an agent?”
“Yes, I am in
a mission. Me and Merlinhavebeen investing an assassination forthree months. As you remember, we travelled to Dubai, SaintPetersburg, Pyongyang, Kyoto and New Delhi. Each time I went off, I was on amission.”
“So, each timewhen you irritated me, you did deliberately, didn’t you?”
“Absolutely!”
When it suddenlydawned on her that why so many strange things had taken place, she heard gunshotsright behind their limousine.
