How I Love You (Zac Efron & A Non-Famous Girl)

Chapter-49

Zac's point of view:

You in my life, my life revolves around you...I'm here waiting for you...waiting to hug you. Waiting to touch you. Waiting to hold you. Waiting to feel your presence. Waiting to look into your eyes. 

"She should be back today, Mom. Yeah...I spoke to her dad. He said she'll be back by now. Yeah mom. Yeah, you don't worry.  what?  No no...everything will be fine...she'll come. I know." said Zac on his phone in an exciting voice.  He was talking to his mom.

Mark comes to meet Zac in his house. 
"Yo man! How you doin'?" asks Mark walking towards Zac in his house. Giving a high five and shaking hands.
"good....actually a little excited..." says Zac smiling, almost gleaming.
"Grace?" He guessed
"Yup!" says Zac like a little baby.
" goofy,you are... " says Mark teasing Zac
I know that's how I am..."says Zac smiling and shaking his head lightly while shrugging his shoulders.
He was so happy that Grace was coming back from her trip today.  He wanted to go to the airport and surprise Grace there. He planned a date for him and Grace at the beach and planned a secret dinner there and to propose to her.  this was his second time trying to propose but not actually getting a chance.  He made sure he apologizes,first. He was in his own bubble of thoughts.
"the worst is over for you, Zac... I'm glad you can finally be happy " said Mark.
"Thanks man...how's Meg doing? " asked Zac
"she's not good. She's really angry about how Grace left without a word,you know? " said Mark.
"Grace did it because she wasn't thinking right.  Meg will be fine...I'll talk to Grace... " says Zac trying to cheer up Mark while defending Grace.
Mark smiles and looks at Zac.

Meanwhile, Grace looked for a new apartment with her new friend Priya.  They took a bus and just looked all around the city of Hyderabad. Finally, somewhere in Nizampet...in a beautiful colony where the entrance was enveloped with green trees and heavy bushes,they were welcomed.  The driveway into the colony was pleasant and calm. Grace loved the serenity of the colony. She saw the 5 store building. She found the apartment that she loved.  The building was on the side of the road facing the traffic.  Priya and Grace took the lift and asked the keys of the apartment from the watchman as the apartment's owners were not available at the moment.  The watchman helped opening the door of the apartment and welcomed them inside to take a look at the apartment.  Grace took a look at the empty apartment. It was clean and neat.
"I'll take it" said Grace smiling. Priya smiled and looked at Grace.
"I'll send the paperwork... You can pay the advance to the owners in a week." says the watchman.
Grace agreed and goes back to Priya's house for the night. 

Priya was a Hyderabadi girl who lived away from her parents, in the city of Hyderabad.  She was working as an intern in a company with a business major.  She's a student in college and worked in a library as an assistant to the librarian at evenings. She was about 5'7 and chubby. She had a cute face and a warm aura.
How did these two meet?  When Grace was trying to buy some bangles in Koti(a famous market in Hyderabad) ,Priya helped her out. Conversation after conversation passed.  They became good friends.  Both in their twenties.

They reached Priya's apartment and Grace got her bags with her.  She brought all her luggage from hotel to Priya's apartment.  They freshen up and change into some soft cotton clothes and turn on the air conditioner. Priya went inside the kitchen and put in some pop corn in the microwave. Grace put on some deodorant and brushed her hair in the meanwhile. Just then...her phone rang.
It was her dad.
Dad:Hey,Grace... How are you doing? 
Grace :I'm good dad... How are you? 
Dad: I'm good...Zac kept calling me all day. What do I say? 
Grace :what did you tell him? 
Dad:I said you'll be home in a few more weeks when he called me a few days ago. Now he's growing impatient.
Grace: Dad...what is he saying? 
Dad: He loves you baby... He won't stop for long. You have to tell him the truth one day or another.
Grace: But dad...
Dad: He deserves to kn-
Grace :dad?  Hello?  Dad... Are you there? 

"is there a problem? " said Priya with a bowl of popcorn in her hand.
"It's Zac... " said Grace. She already said a few things about her relationship with Zac but didn't reveal that he was an actor and all. She didn't want to gain attention out of her love life.
"Well, what about him?" asks Priya
"He's waiting... And I'm bad luck to him" says Grace
"What? " asks Priya
"Yes...one of us gets in trouble every time we meet...I love him dearly.  And I don't want anything bad happen to him" says Grace looking at the ground as tears were rolling down her eyes.
"you're over thinking this... " says Priya in a polite voice.
"No I'm not...I can't afford to lose him. The last time I tried to test the waters,it almost killed us both" says Grace wiping her own tears.
"What are you going to do now? What are you going to say to him? He surely deserves an explanation for what and why you're doing this." explains Priya
"I tried explaining but he won't understand " says Grace
"because he loves you so much that he's ready to risk his everything to be with you " says Priya. 
"I know I'm hurting him beyond the meaning of pain but...I'm doing this to protect him...I promised him I'll always save and protect him....I'm going to keep that promise. " says Grace
"What about your other promises?  You promised him that you'd stand by him and love him forever " asked Priya
"He has to be alive if I want to keep those promises... I'd rather love him from here and cause no harm than be with him and put him through all that over and over " says Grace as she felt a huge lump inside her throat suffocating her voice.
"You love him too much..." says Priya.

"What did she say,Mr.Eva? " asks Zac in a tensed tone.
"she said she's gonna be late" says Grace's dad.
"you're lying... She isn't coming back is she?" asks Zac. He could feel his feet shaking and heart thumping.
"I'm sorry, Zac. " says Grace's dad and shook his head.
Zac's heart was shattered.  He lost all hope on everything he believed in so far.
He turns around and was about to walk out of the door.  Just then..
"Ask her...if she had no intention of being with me then why would she made me believe her love was true? " says Zac turning his head half way through, looking at the ground. 
To that Grace's dad couldn't respond.

Silence is torture to those who are dying to hear a just answer. 

He walked out of the house where Grace's dad and mom were living for the week. He got inside his car. He turned on some loud music and started crying out loud, hard. He shut all the doors and windows of the car.  He cried his heart out. He felt betrayed and broken.  He never cried this hard in his entire life.  For Grace... He was ready to just give up everything and spend the rest of his life with her. Now he had no idea what to do. Where to go. Or anything. He felt like his heart was being burned because of the intense pain he felt.  He held all of it in for way too long.
"WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME,GRACE?? " He Screamed while still crying out loud. 
"WHY ARE YOU TORTURING ME LIKE THIS?" He Screamed. 
"WHY CAN'T YOU LOVE ME BACK? " asks Zac crying."WHAT HAVE I DONE? " asks Zac, literally screaming at the top of his lungs. 

He drove home quietly. There Meg, Mark and Zac's parents were waiting for his arrival.  They see his car and got alert.  He slowly parks the car and walks lifelessly towards his house.
"Zac...  " said Zac's mom and paused. She came near him and held his hand. Zac felt numb.
"She didn't come, did she?" asked Mark
"she's never coming back " says Zac confirming
"What? " asks Mark.
"Remember when you said the worst is over?       Well, that was not... This is the worst" says Zac as tears roll out of his sore, pain-striken eyes.

For love it tests your guts,
It tests your strength and your will to love.

How far you travel with the person is uncertain,
if there's anything that's certain, it's pain.

I love you so much that my every breath breathes your name,
my heart sinks everytime I hear your name,
reminding me of how beautiful your heart is.
How far the ocean and the sky is.

Just when I think you are the one,
You break my heart into a million pieces and leave me in this tsunami,
Don't you dare leave as I do not have the strength to survive this pain.

For you are my only strength. If you want to leave me,
might as well just cut the strings and end the pain with me,
Than leave me in these hallows where I do not know where to go crying like a bird who's lost its wings to fly and survive.

Save me Oh,my love! Come and give me your love. Set me free from this pain and give me strength by spreading my wings.

  Give me love and keep me alive.
  Give me love for me to breathe.
  Give me love for me to live.
  Give me love for me to survive.