The Quest for Love

The Masters Story

The rest of her words trailed off after she said ‘honey’. Both Shane and me instinctively stood from our seats and looked at her in horror. Honey? Was she..?

The Master sensed the awkwardness in the room and got up from his seat as well. “Love, that’s fine. Steve, Shane this is my girlfriend. Kris honey, maybe you could bring them something to drink?” He said and my heart skipped a beat.

I felt like a huge wave had come over me. There was a storm of emotions going on in my head. I couldn’t stay here anymore. Not one second. My brain stopped working and I said the first thing that came to my lips.

“That will not be necessary. We’re leaving. Shane?” I snapped, my head unable to let me think about anything else. I picked up Coco from the chair and turned. “Steve wait! What are you doing?” Shane said behind me but I did not budge.

The lady had her eyebrows raised, her eyes filled with worry. She looked at the Master for help and he gave her a knowing look. She nodded and rushed inside not wanting to interfere.

“Steve, wait.” He began. “I can’t Master. I fail to understand what you and your ex finance thought before misleading so many people in the name of love. What do you even know about love? I’m not going to stand here and witness all of this anymore. Shane are you coming or not?” I barked. There wasn’t any filter on my words anymore.

“Steve calm down.” Shane tried in a soft voice. “Shane, come!” I had no plans of listening to him.

“That’s enough Steve. Sit in that chair. Now.” The man before me ordered. I stood straight staring into his eyes. “I don’t consider you as Master anymore. You cannot possibly order me now.” I answered in a straight tone with hurt in my eyes that I wasn’t ready to portray.

“Listen Steve, you don’t know me.” he replied, returning my stare and making me loose our eye contact. My fingers ran across my head and I looked at Shane. He looked rather calm and quiet. “Steve. Calm down. Maybe there is something we don’t know. We’ve come so far. Don’t you think this deserves a little more patience?” he tried to convince me.

I considered for a while, trying to erase the rushing thoughts in my mind. I hesitated but took the seat again, my gaze fixed on the wooden floors. I felt Shane and the Master take their places again.

There was deep silence for a few seconds. “You have a pretty wife.” Shane made an attempt to speak in his own way hoping it would break the silence and make the air less suffocating. “When did I mention wife? That’s my girlfriend, Kristine.” He informed. My face changed as soon as I heard that. I still didn’t have control over my tongue.

“Oh so that’s how your plan works?” I taunted. Somewhere in my subconscious, I knew it was getting over the line but my conscious yelled otherwise. “Steve..” Shane warned me but his words were cut off by the Master.

“Listen here boy. If you really think that way of me you can leave right now. I decided to help you because I saw respect in your eyes. For me. But looks like it doesn’t exist any more. So it’s better you leave and don’t waste either of our time.” He snapped at me.

My breath was heavy and my head down. I didn’t know what was happening to me. It was probably all the hurt I thought I went through. But I really did not know the truth. Maybe I was overreacting and I needed to calm down now. I was embarrassed at saying something like that but sad at the same time. I wanted to lash out and just because I couldn’t, I was reacting with words.

I slumped back on the chair and wiped my hands on my face. “Sarah and I never fell out of love the way your thinking Shane.” The master began speaking. With that, my eyes dared to meet his and I attentively listened to him.

“You already know where it all started. After ‘El Lugar del Amor’ we were getting married. Just as planned. Everything seemed perfect. Sarah was my life, my heart, I couldn’t live without her. That’s what I thought at first. But then she made me realize that I could live without her, I just did not want to.” His head was low, his eyes on the carpet. It looked like he was talking about this after a long time and it hurt him all over again.
“On the eve of our wedding, I was ready. Prepared, no hesitation, no questions. I knew she was the one and I was ready to hold her in my arms and claim her mine. I had the best suit, the best church, the best party, each detail planned perfectly. I was at the alter, a few minutes before time waiting for my bride to walk up to me, to kiss me and be mine. The clock ticked, but Sarah wasn’t there. Still, my smile did not fade even once. I remember assuring myself that she was taking time getting dressed up as usual but that little fear in a corner of my heart still existed.” He shut his eyes as if that fear came crawling back in his heart again.

After a silent pause, he continued. “When it was too long, my friends looked at me with worry. I had no family except my close friends and Sarah. I kept fighting with my dad and had decided to take Sarah to see him after the wedding. But, it never happened. The love of my life did not turn up on the day of our marriage.

I wouldn’t move, I wasn’t ready to accept it. Half the day had passed and I stood there, at the alter, waiting for her. My friends kept calling hoping she was fine but she wouldn’t pick up. I gathered all the courage from my broken heart and pulled out my phone to dial her mother’s number. I brought the phone my to ear and after a few rings, her mother answered it.
‘Blake.’ she said. With the tone of her voice, my legs were falling weaker.

‘Where is Sarah?’ I asked her softly. She took her time, pausing into the phone and replied with a sad voice, 'She picked her bags and moved away Blake. I can’t tell you where she is. She does not wish for you to know.’

I hung up as I heard that, my mind failing to respond. I swear, I did not shed even a single tear that day. Not one. I returned back home, alone, telling myself that there was never love. All those years, all I did was asking myself where I made a mistake, when did I love her any less.

I couldn’t stay in that city with the same people around me. I kept loosing those few friends I had and started being alone, just to myself.
I shifted here, to this place where no one had ever seen me before. After spending a few months, getting to know this place, I fell in love with it. I decided this kind of love did me better. The owner of the resort up the street offered me a job as a tour guide for the tourists staying in his hotel. I accepted it and decided to make it my life. You two will get a free tour from my side too.” He said easing the tension to some extent.

We nodded and put up small smiles on our faces, nodding. “Kristine works at the resort too, but I distanced myself from anything that could make me love a human again. I ignored her, acted rude to her and pushed her away until..” his eyes shined as if there was a whole scene playing before them.

“Until the day Sarah walked into my life, again and changed it like she was always capable of doing.” Shane and I looked closely, adjusting to the sudden information. “She came back??” Shane asked surprised.

“I received a call from a bank back home and they said I needed to be present to close my accounts there. It was a tough thing for me to do, to go back to that place but I had no option. I told myself I would finish all my work and wouldn’t even meet dad so that I could avoid any negativity or maybe just leave a note telling him that I’m alive and then return here. Little did I know what was in store for me there.

I was on the way to meet a close friend and Sarah’s house was just on the way to his. My heart beats picked up as I was passing her house. For some reason I could not speed up the car, maybe my heart didn’t want to. I told myself that I wouldn’t steal a look at her house but when was my mind in control anyway? And I looked. First, only my eyes and then, as they caught a glimpse of the most beautiful woman standing at the window, my head turned and I stared.

Without noticing, my legs automatically stepped on the brakes and my car halted beside her house. If not for the eyes, I wouldn’t have recognized her. She was probably sitting because I could only see her upper body. She looked at the sun and smiled. Her long brown hair was cut short and I stared at her like that until she moved away from the window however, with the way she moved, something didn’t seem right.

She hadn’t seen me yet. It was my best chance to just leave without having to face anything. But my eyes had now seen her and they hadn’t had enough. My breath began to quicken and my mind was clear. Unlike what I had expected, I wasn’t thinking too much. There weren’t many thoughts in my head because it wanted only one thing.

I shifted my eyes and breathed heavily as I clutched the handle of my car door and stepped out. The same familiar wind that greeted me every time I came to pick her up for our little dates blew against my face. I did not know if I was doing the right thing. But I knew that this is what I wanted to do. Combing my fingers through my hair, I walked towards the entrance of her house.”