It was just her reflection.......

He lifted her up in jubilation. "Yay! We are going for a vacation. Finally, just you and me", Paul expressed his happiness. Julia looked excited too after all it was a vacation post a tough time of 2 years with her boyfriend. Paul and Julia have completed 5 years of their relationship. They are dating each other since college. But the engagements at work, drifted them apart since last 2 years. This would be the best of their time. Julia said, "thank you Paul".

"It's packing time. I am gonna pack up all my new dresses. Oh! I gotta carry my make up kit too. Paul, eeeeehhhhh...... I need to go shopping as well. How would I survive those 2 weeks there in the woods," Julia exclaimed shaking her hands. "Alright! Don't worry lets plan a shopping outing this weekend. We will get the requisites and leave for Ooty on Monday", comforted Paul. The two went shopping on the weekend, happily shopping for their planned upcoming trip. Both the days were consumed in the un-stoppable shopping. "Gosh! I guess we did enough. I am happy. Thank you so much", said Julia hugging Paul. Paul replied, "Thank you for being in my life and never leaving me in those tough times". The two kissed and retired to beds preparing for their early departure next day. The drowsy couple slept like babies and woke up sharp on time the very next early morning.

The cab was waiting for them. The luggage was stowed and the two caught their flights to Coimbatore. Paul was very possessive about Julia, her glances disturbed her most of times. Paul was short tempered and so if Julia happened to interact with some stranger of opposite sex, he turned loud. Aware of this, Julia usually avoided such close interactions. But being a part of journalism, she loved interacting with strangers irrespective of their genders. Something, similar happened that day. On-board, Julia got a chance to meet one of her seniors working for the same journalism firm. Her happiness knew no bounds as she had been following his works since quite a long time and always wanted to meet him in person. Those respectful gestures and pleasant smile on Julia's face, didn't please Paul. However, Julia was aware that Paul would be jerked off and will be furious on her. Therefore, she constricted her interaction to a couple of minutes only. But the worst had already happened. Paul wasn't talking to Julia.

The couple de-boarded the plane and continued with their onward journey to Ooty from Coimbatore airport via road. Still, Paul didn't exchanged a single word or expression with Julia, after her repeated pleads. The two reached the hotel they had booked. Julia knew, he will be convinced but as of now this day is totally ruined. The two checked in the room with luggage. Julia held his hand and before she could utter a word, Paul waved his held hand, in a way that Julia fell on the floor, loosing her balance. Paul didn't bother and snuggled in bed, closing his eyes.

8 hours passed by after which Paul woke up in fear of wasting one day of his long awaited trip. He uttered in a lousy voice, "Julia! It's fine. I am not angry now. Let's go. We have lot to do. Come on babes". He saw Julia sitting by his side fresh and dressed. He said, "Oh! your are already caught up. just give me 5 minutes I will be ready in a jiffy". He quickly dressed up in the most descent attire and asked Julia to walk by his side. The cab was booked and the two left out for the Ooty romance. Sitting in the car, moving from places to places, clicking pictures of the flora and fauna, the two had a splendid time together. "It's been 10 hours, we are out. Let's go Julia. You must be tired", Paul said with a regular smile. Julia nodded to his statement and the two retuned back to the hotel.

Reaching hotel, Paul decided to use the washroom first to buck up the tiredness of the journey. The moment he stepped out of the room, he noticed a stream of blood frozen as ice. He followed the trail and reached the pale body of Julia, lying on the floor. He touched her and found her cold as hell. It was obvious by the whereabouts that the body had been lying on floor since more than 10 hours. Paul who was now in trauma now drifted back from the body and questioned himself, "Whom did I roam around with for the last 10 hours?"